We had a fun December with a lot of silly, just-for-the-fun-of-it activities. Love that! In addition to the stuff listed in this post, we also:
- celebrated Christmas, German style (here)
- escaped to a cozy little dome home (here)
Here's some of December's main events:
We did a '12 Days of Christmas' for the kids
This was a big project but super fun to put together. We made 12 different little gifts for each of Jac's four kids (+ families), and then we delivered them ahead of time so that they had something fun to help celebrate the 12 days leading up to Christmas.
Some of the gifts were goofy (like Mac n' Cheese one day, Spam another...). Some were
sentimental (like the Christmas pickle ornament they had when they were kids.) And
some were tasty (like cookies one day, chocolate another...) We tried to make a good mix.
One day was a bag of Jac's delicious homemade beef jerky. Here he is making it:
One day was these marshmallow reindeer pops (cute in a mangled kind of way).
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And another day was snowman marshmallow pops. These suckers were hard to make. Fun but hard.
Again, cute and funny in a sort-of mangled, made by little kids kind of way. Some look drunk. Jac made a few with mustaches, which adds to the hilarity. He even added labels with a name for each one.
While our execution was MANY levels below store quality, they were fun to make and actually tasted pretty good!
I'm no math wizard, but 12 presents for 4 kids each....that's a lot of packages to wrap. Yup. But like all the rest of it, it was fun and worth it. We hope they enjoy them!
We did our own '12 Days' countdown
Because I just can't help myself...I
decided to do a countdown for us too, with Christmas balls for each day that had little strips of
paper in them describing the fun activity we would do that
day to celebrate Christmas.
For day 1, we wore new Christmas socks and watched a movie together:
Even Billie joined in the fun. He wins the 'who wore it best' contest! :)
For day 2, we decorated the house for Christmas. It was a big ordeal and took the better part of a whole day...
but the end result is so cozy and cheery that it's worth it!
On day 3, we went to Hobby Lobby and picked out an ornament that represents this year. (A new tradition for us). We picked this cactus because 2024 is the year we went to Tucson--home of the saguaros-- and got married.
On day 4, we ate dinner by the chimnea. So cozy!
On day 5, we went to a Lantern Festival at the aquarium. This wasn't very Christmasy in the end, but we still enjoyed it. :) I took a lot of pictures, so buckle up!
They had a few non-lantern activities to do as well, including this oversized moveable pins thing (not sure that it's called.) Here's Jac, lol:
It was a fun outing. At $25 each, it was a little spendy for our cheap butts, but ya gotta splash out now and then, right?
Day 6 through 10 didn't happen, lol. When the time rolled around each day, we either weren't feelin' it or were more interested in doing something else. S'okay. This is our place, we make the rules. :)
On day 11, we celebrated Christmas Eve with my family. So fun! I got us some retro Christmas shirts to wear for the occasion (you can't really see mine, but it was a cute 50s retro Christmas tee).
My family requested to have a repeat of our Thanksgiving Hot-Dog-a-Thon, and of course Jac was game. Here he is with the first dawg (on the hot dog presentation boards that he made just for this occasion!)
He even invented one of his own creations this time around -- the French Poodle Dog:
Just like last time, we planned more than our stomachs could handle. After sharing four dogs, we couldn't take another bite.
But they were super yummy and a fun, unique experience! Thanks for another fun food adventure Jac. :)
We also played games. First we played the annual money game:
Cindy won and then gave it all to Ben (like mom did last year.) Good to be Ben, eh?
We also played a word game (forgot the name). In all, it was a really fun night...and great to have it over here for a change. :)
Day 12 was Christmas Day and we another hot-dog-a-thon & Christmas games fest, this time with Jac's kids! Like the night before, we got through just four hot dogs (sooo filling). And then we had SUCH a great time just hanging out together, talking, drinking maybe just a little bit of wine (lol), AND playing two fun games.
First we played a doubles game where the winner could get either a gift card ranging from $15 -$100 OR have to compete in a challenge. Here's some pictures. Everyone was 'all in' for whatever they picked, which made the game SO much fun. [I love when people have a good game playin' attitude. :)]
We also played the money game. (Maybe a new Christmas tradition is starting....maybe?) Madison cleaned house, winning the 140 smackeroos from this game PLUS the big $100 Outback Steakhouse gift card from the doubles game. Nicely done!
Michael came ready for fun and early in the night she dressed up in Jac's lederhosen (which we had out for Christmas in Germany). Love it!!
And...we got the COOLEST gift from the kids -- a camping tent that goes in the back of a truck bed. Michael remembered how MISERABLE I was sleeping in the truck bed (with a makeshift tarp covering) during the night we camped at Rockport this last summer, and came up with this super thoughtful gift because of that. We are really excited to try it out asap! Here's Jac just after we opened it:
What a fun, fun, fun night!!! We both so hope that this is the beginning of lots more get togethers with this fun crew!
How are Jac and I so lucky to have each other AND have two amazing families that come along with it. It's so good to be us!
Other than Christmas activities, this is what I was up to in December:
I closed the bookstore. Yep! Done. I packed up all 5,700 books and donated them to D.I. (Yes, I did explore a number of different options for what to do with them besides donating them, but I just kept hitting brick walls.) It took 2 full truckloads to take them all in:
But it is now done. Bye bye forever books. Not sad to see you go. Adios!!!!
Getting rid of the books was so freeing that I caught the bug and wanted to keep going. So, I decluttered and reorganized the whole house. And when that was done, I deep cleaned the house. (I was on a mission!) It took about a week, but aaaaaah, the house is so purdy now. I love a clean, organized house! I think I'm gonna make this a bi-annual tradition--deep cleaning and decluttering the house every June and December.
I also HYGGE'd the front room. I've been listening to a book called How to Winter, which explains why and how people in Nordic countries have learned to love winter. I want to love winter rather than HATE it (like usual) so I've been really trying to put the stuff I'm learning into practice.
(What's hygge? It's the Danish concept of coziness and comfort, creating a warm, inviting atmosphere that fosters contentment and well-being. In a home, it includes soft blankets, candles, warm lighting, natural textures, and anything that encourages relaxation and connection.)
I took down the Christmas decorations and put up my winter decorations with a focus on creating that cozy atmosphere that I love. And then, each night, we're really embracing it with low lights, blankets, snuggling.... Here's a typical night showing what our later evenings will look like in our newly hygge'd house--candles lit, blankets on, Jac laying near me to get back scratches:
...and the cats joining in on the coziness as well. I love it, and it's such a nice transition into sleeping time. Maybe we'll keep it up even after winter is over!
I also stop being 'productive' at night and start doing relaxing activities like puzzles. I did lots of puzzles in December. Winter is perfect for puzzle time (plus Cindy and Virginia are into them too right now and it's contagious):
And this is what Jac was up to in December:
Jac was Jac in December -- always busy cooking something or building something or fixing something. Does that guy ever sit down? He spent lots of time in his workshop (man cave) and he's really starting to like it in there.
Here's some of what Builder Jac did this month. He made this artsy, one-of-a-kind display shelf for the rocks that we collect on our different adventures:
He added some extra shelves to the pantry so that all the plates and baking sheets and other cooking goodies now have their own home:
Making this tiny house work for both of us has been a work in progress, and the kitchen was a big part of that. Now, over a year after Jac moved in, I think we're pretty much there. All the little improvements have all added up, and now chef Jac's got a kitchen he can really work in!
He also made this cool wine rack between the bookshelves:
And, just squeaking in on the last few days of the month, he painted the bathroom!!! It looks so purdy now! ❤️
On the silly side, he also continued the Where in the World Is Mini Teacher Betsy game (hiding this little look-alike doll that one of my former students made for me.) Such a fun-loving guy I married!
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