And how comfy and cozy we were! We had a very sweet Christmas this year spending it with James family in Southern California.
It’s always a marathon to go anywhere with kids for any sort of overnight, but it being Christmastime and the buzz in the air made this a very special trip. We spent Christmas Eve with James family trading hugs, gifts, tamales and the kids terrorized many a cousin, as you do! I’ve never seen them collectively crash so hard after something.. glorious.
The next day we did brunch as a family with more fam, and maybe something else but mostly napped. And then the next day squeezed in some pool time, go karts at the local Boomers, snuggles, lots of chocolate chip pancakes and also making sure nobody went crazy coffee runs 🤗 we slowly crept back up the state home (along with thousands others who took 101 to avoid road and snow closures) so that was quite the haul (8 hours) but we were glad to be in our own beds.
We spent New Year’s Eve with the best of friends (and Jordan) and took a little time extra trip in San Jose, swimming, playing, passing the days and trying to keep it mellow. Breaks are a funny thing. It’s the BEST to have the mixup in the routine, and I’d hate to schedule our time off, so we try not to. But then I’m always ready for some sort of order. And the kids need something to keep them chugging along, so I suppose it’s give and take 🙂 lightly scheduled chaos.
This season has been one of the most contemplative Christmases I can remember. I purposefully wanted to keep things quieter and while some days certainly weren’t, I found so many simple, beautiful moments with God. I didn’t want to do a ton of events in the name of Christmas that weren’t really, truly for Christmas. I think we found ourselves much more at peace and thankful this year, in reverence for the celebration that is Emmanuel, Christ with us!
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