A Christmas to Remember

2020 marks our first Christmas in our new house. Our first Christmas with a fireplace to hang stockings. Our first Christmas with three kiddos! And to top things off, it was our first full day without another adult in the house since Elvin (the twins shmush name) came home from the hospital. Between my parents and our newly-hired nanny - who is absolutely wonderful! - we've had an abundance of help these first two months. But Christmas Day we were completely on our own. And we survived! Video calls with family and baby-wearing saved the day :) We even ate well, thanks to freezer meals and a bit of forethought. 

All season long I had been on the hunt for new Christmas stockings for the kids. I looked online at Amazon, Target, and Etsy and never found a set that I liked enough to splurge on. Fortunately, someone in our "Buy Nothing" group posted three knit stockings the week of Christmas and I was lucky enough to snag them. Mr. Fleece installed the hooks and we hung them on Christmas Eve...just in the (Saint) nick of time! It made my holiday heart happy to see them hanging on the hearth. My other Christmas wish was taking photos as a family. These images make my heart happy too! What a chaotic little Christmas crew.

In all of these pictures we are literally telling NLW "Hold the pillow. Hold onto the pillow." 

Desperately hoping he won't grab, poke, or scratch a sibling. 

Sweet sugar plums,

- SJW

Guest Blogger | An Autumnal Acrostic

If you told me back in January that my parents would live with us for 10 weeks (+3 extra with just my mom), I would have thought you were off your rocker. But those were the days of "before." Before we knew about a global pandemic, before we moved to a four bedroom house, before we began caring for three children age two and under :) From the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice, it's been a wild season! One for the books. My mom captured these recent days so well in the poem below. I love these words because they represent so many moments and memories!

A - Anxious Anticipation, Autumn's Arrival, Adjusting, Alki Beach, Awe

B - Babies Born, Bottle washing Begins, Baths, Burps, Books, Basement Bedroom, Birthdays (5 in Oct), Bungalow Beauties, Blessed

C - Colorado, Cascade Mountains, Construction Toys, Calvin Creighton, Chunky Crayon Coloring, Cocoa, Coffee, Caffine, Chaos, Crying, Clutter, Cozy Craftsmen Cottages, Christmas lights, Cuddles, Cuteness

D - Long DRIVE here, Dozens of Dirty Diapers Daily, Dazzling Dahlias, Daylight Savings Time, Dreary Drizzly Days,

E - Ellen, Ebony (the dog), Election, Exploring, Estate Sales (yes, I fit in a couple), Exhausting, Endearing

F - Forest Fires, Fiery Fall Foliage, Fixing Food, Freebies, Family

G - Groceries--lots of Groceries, Garbage Truck Sightings (Exciting to a 2 year old), Gardens, Gables, Gurgles, Grunts, Grateful

H - Hiking to Hiawatha park, Halloween, Hot Tea, Hugs, Heartstrings stretching when I Head Home to Houston

I - Idaho, Imagination Play, Instagram scrolling

J - Jack-o-lanterns, Japanese Maples, Joy

K - Kicking soccer balls & walnuts

L - Leaves, Loads of Laundry, Library books, Laughter, Love

M - Masks, Miles between us, Mt Ranier, Mirma (my grandma name) Milestones, Messes, Many Memories

N - Norman, Naptime, Nursery rhymes, November

O - October, Owls, Oregon, Olympic Mts

P - Parks, Playroom, Puzzles, Puddles, Puget Sound, Picking Pumpkins, Poop, Poppa's Pumpkin Pies, Pandemic Persists

Q - Quaint neighborhoods, not a lot of Quiet time

R - Rediscovering Reading aloud, Raking leaves, Rain boots, Rain coats, Rain (this is Seattle after all)

S - Sleepy in Seattle, Seattle Skyline, Singing Silly Songs, Swaddling, Spit up, Spills, Sweetness, Special Season

T - TWINS! Tiny Toes, Two-year-old, Tired, no TV, Tree fort, Tantrums, Thanksgiving, Thankful

U - Utah, Unique time

V - Viewing Various Vehicle Videos, Vintage Vibes, Votes Cast (by mail)

W - Walks to Water Tower, Walnut tree, Wheelbarrow, Whale Tail park, Wyoming, Whipped coffee, Watching Wee ones With Wonder

X - Excitement of a 2-year-old in the small things, Excruciating to Exit

Y - All these Yesterdays will quickly turn to Years and this has been a Year like no other

Z - Zillion $$--What I wouldn't trade all this for

Loving our "Mirma and Poppa,"

- SJW