I'm putting up less lights (partially because my lights came from my parents' house when I moved out and my brother in law's father and I'm finding I'm replacing more and more bulbs-I figure we've got maybe 1-2 more years out of them-tops), I'm hoping to talk hubby into replacing our giant tree from our US house that we can't even fully put up (it was bought to fill up the cathedral ceiling in our old living room-now we just put up the top two tiers) with a smaller version because it's looking a little worse for wear, takes up a lot of storage space and frankly, with the light situation I had to be a bit light handed with the lights on it last year.
I'm also simplifying Christmas cards. You'll notice I still made them all and they include photos, but I'm including the blog link in lieu of a letter and not signing them. This way you are welcome to use them if you need a last minute card to return to that college roommate you finally heard from after 20 years and you've already used up your cards! Think of it as a gift from me to you. I've computer labeled them as in years past and part of the not signing them is linked to that habit-I've had numbness in my hands since my youngest was born 13 years ago and this year I finally had testing done on it, etc. Turns out I'm aging! I do physical therapy exercises that help, but have to stay on top of it. So, I decided instead of cramping my hands to give myself a break this year.
Hubby and I are finding ourselves keeping busy this fall. We have added to our schedule of ice making at the curling club and expect that will increase over the next few years as we take over for the retiring ice maker. This year hubby helps him out M-W in the evenings and he and I have taken over Thursday and Friday evenings. The head ice maker still does mornings, works with hubby M-W and weekends. As we transition with kids graduating, etc. I'm very grateful we still have this year to figure out what that looks like for our family. Dinners have to be planned as ice making is typically done 4-6pm. Add to that I"m curling 4 x a week and hubby curls 1-3 times a week and we are not only planning better but starting to teach the kids to help with dinner prep as next year if we don't want to eat at 9pm we'll need help.
Eldest son C is doing a victory lap of high school until January-he has an auto shop class, a woodshop class and is taking a co-op (internship) at the local computer repair shop where so far he's learned he definitely doesn't want to end up working in retail. He does the co-op 3 days a week. He's starting to explore options of what's next at the end of January and is working on earning his drivers license. Fingers crossed he'll get it when he turns 19 this spring as it will be a great help to us next year.
Middle son H is still ice skating (for now-he's made grumblings about stopping lessons after this year). He has once weekly lessons and right after helps with younger kids taking lessons to fulfill community service requirements at high school. He very much enjoys helping the younger skaters and you can sense the pride in his voice and he describes kids who come into the program who fall constantly and by Christmas are starting to stay upright and actually move along the ice. As you've guessed from my earlier post he's still incredibly bright but we spend a lot of time trying to get organized and complete school assignments outside of school. The focus this winter is to get him some executive functioning skills through some workshops and hopefully ABA therapy. He does have the desire to do well as he'd like to do something in computer science but has had some trouble figuring out the schoolwork piece. He's been doing great working on keeping to a routine at home this fall.
Youngest daughter V is working on getting lifeguard certified over the next 3 years. She swims whenever she's able and is thriving in her gifted program at school where she gets bussed to another school about once a week. She is currently gearing up to join the boys at the high school next year-picking classes and touring the school and is pretty excited at all the new things available at a bigger school and hoping to find her kindred spirits. She's still wearing shorts every day and is getting ready to add winter boots to them as the temperatures drop. I do promise she owns a winter coat if you see her out and about.
So-if you've been thinking about simplifying your Christmas and enjoying it rather than stressing over it consider this your permission if you need it. We wish you and your family all the best and hope you are well. If you send a wordy newsletter be sure I will devour every word as I love hearing how friends and family are doing. If you send a photo postcard, I'll marvel at how big your kids (or cat) have gotten and if you send nothing I'll still be thinking of you as I address your Christmas card. If you didn't receive a Christmas card, drop me a comment, email, text, message on Facebook to let me know your address and how you are doing!
