What a month! A month of many highs and a few lows sprinkled here and there. One low..... we had planned to travel to WA to visit my family this month for a cold and family filled Christmas! But sadly, had to cancel due to Covid-- Blake couldn't possibly travel as a health care professional amidst the tremendous rise in cases. We postponed our tickets to December 30th (the day the stay at home order expired) and we decided we'd travel without Blake and do school up in WA for a week or so since school had been canceled for in-person anyhow and was now virtual. As the day approached, however, cases were still on the rise, shut down order was still in place and once again we knew we probably shouldn't be traveling; so we decided to push it off for a few more months until HOPEFULLY life becomes a little more normal! It was double the disappointment tho! And so I felt badly for the kids and for myself. Thinking we would get to spend time with cousins and family- and then having our hopes dashed two times was a bummer. That being said, we certainly managed to see the good and focus on our blessings. We loved every minute of our quiet, calm and very personal Christmas at home. And besides that, we were thankfully able to celebrate our Marston family Christmas early this year before cases were through the roof and we enjoyed all of our beloved traditions and family time with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Stacy and Uncle Troy. So grateful for that!
Let's discuss the fact that Christmas this year was enjoyed at a much simpler and slower pace. Though we baked up a storm, packaged neighbor gifts (cat puzzles... PERFECT for corona times), office gifts for the girls (weekender bags for once travel opens up???? please?), shopped, wrapped, went to outdoor Christmas light shows, threw a small outdoor get together here and there and opened up our lego advent calendars on the daily.... we truly did NOT have all of the commitments of a typical December. One commitment in particular that takes a huge chunk of my time-- all of the musical programs! Primary, school chorus, high school chorus, Stake Christmas programs, ward Christmas programs! I am typically practicing the piano every day for hours in December to prepare for these events and I love every minute. On top of the practice, our family is booked every night for some concert or another. And I missed these things terribly. But I couldn't help but notice, in its place were quite evenings at home watching Christmas movies, doing puzzles, holding a family staring competition, enjoying more family dinners, learning how to use our fire place and hanging up a mindfulness mistletoe (instead of kisses) we were supposed to take a deep breath and count our blessings when standing underneath). Dane and I learned new recipes for the air fryer, we cuddled the cats, we hiked more, biked more and enjoyed hot cocoa-- even stepping it up with the delicious new cocoa bomb craze. In a typical year we bake just a little for our own family, but this year we baked a ton and even made giant pizza cookies for neighbors and friends who might be lonelier then usual due to the pandemic.
Instead of in person musical concerts and Christmas events- I helped to put together a virtual Christmas program for our congregation. Evelyn sang a duet with our friend Rhett, a beautiful song called "Christmas in Zarahelma." I did virtual Christmas singing times for the primary children and our family enjoyed a beautiful church meeting at home to celebrate the birth of our Savior. The kids and I helped put together 400 bags of crafting supplies to hand out to all of the students at Tierra Bonita for our traditional crafts and cocoa event that would now take place at home. We loved serving our school! There were so many beautiful and quiet moments that made the month different and so special. Really, the entire year of 2020 has been reflective of this theme. Though we've faced disappointment in the cancelation of sporting events, school, our cruise, Disneyland days, visits home and much more.... we've also gained incredible family experiences and adventures that have changed us all for the better. Overall, we've come out on top!
All this being said, let's address the monthly highlights!
1. Marston Family Christmas: Such an amazing weekend full of delicious food, service, funny gift exchange games, Christmas "Friends" episodes, amazingly generous gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, and an awesome drive through light show at the Orange County fairgrounds! We loved every special moment of our family time together. Grandma and Grandpa make everything so memorable..... this year we were gifted a family trip to Midway, Utah to do some outdoor adventuring! The kids were thrilled. Of course they were also excited by the delicious prime rib, chocolate croissants, specialty donuts and Swiss pie! We enjoyed a service project of tying a few blankets for the elderly who might be feeling lonely in our local nursing homes. It was an incredible weekend and we felt so blessed to be able to spend it together.
2. A few small parties: Great friend, Teneil who has been recovering from breast cancer asked me if I'd throw her a little outdoor birthday/favorite things party before her reconstructive surgery. She is such a dear friend and has been through so much this year- that it was an honor to be able to do this! We enjoyed chicken bowtie Cesar salad and BBQ chicken salad with her favorite desserts- cheesecake and ooey-gooey chocolate cake. For party favors, I printed my favorite Ann Taintor memes; also used these same memes for the birthday decor. The favorite things everyone brought were so much fun and so creative! It was an incredibly fun event. We also enjoyed a wonderful evening of soups, desserts, bunco and white elephant gift exchange at the Jorgensons! It was exactly what our family needed!! The kids had never played Bunco and so they loved it. Blake won a giant Hershey bar for having the lowest score there! And we just felt so happy to have spent the evening outside together with good friends--we were all really feeling it since we couldn't host our annual Christmas Eve party. It was fun to do this instead and we loved every minute.
3. Hiking and biking and skiing: when all of the indoor activities have been shut down, you start to formulate plans for outdoor adventures, whether your kids are into the idea or not! And let me tell you, most often my dear children were NOT into the idea. But with a combination of guilt, bribery and threats.... we were able to get out of the house with most of the children, most of the time. We'll take it! We hiked Tooth Rock with the Farrs and Larsens, Potato Chip Rock with my girlfriends, night skiing for the boys at Mountain High, biking around Lake Miramar for Blake and I's 22nd anniversary with the boys, biking around Mission Bay and boardwalk on Christmas Eve, and exploring Coronado beach and the Hotel Del to see all of the Christmas festivities.
4. Christmas! Loved every moment of our Christmas Day together. The kids were thrilled by their Christmas loot-- new clothes, fishing poles, coats, shoes, games, blankets, books, and so forth. Dane asked for an electric bike and he was in heaven ! Grant wanted a quarter pipe for his scooter, Evelyn received a new phone and Anna an electric scooter. The whole family received the X-box which was a little nerve racking for me as we've never had a gaming system- but ..... 2020! And a volleyball net! Fun times. Blake spent the day building bikes, electric scooters, putting up LED lights in Evelyn's room, hanging hooks, having tea parties and so on and so forth! I spent the day preparing fancy waffle and egg breakfasts and steak dinners! We went in the hot tub and watched movies. It was so nice to be together and enjoy the wonderful calm and quiet of the day after preparing all week.
5. New Year's Ev was not the norm! We are usually in Tucson with the Rustands for New Year's Eve and enjoying their big family party is one of our favorite traditions! If we aren't in Tucson, then we are throwing our own New Year's Eve party here with friends. But this year.... nope! We found a way to make it special anyhow by packing up party hats and blowers, along with sparkling cider and lugging it up to the top of Table Rock at sunset with the Jorgensons. We loved watching the sunset and toasting to 2021 with our dear friends-- it was so fun! Racing down the mountain in the dark was a thrill too-- haha! Almost lost one or two kids along the way- but it ended well thank heavens. Evelyn was the only one of us with "real" New Year's Eve plans and enjoyed her evening with Cooper's family at a party ringing in the new year. After our hike, we ate Mexican food and watched Uncle Buck. Then Blake and I went to bed and the kids stayed up till midnight ringing in the new year! Haha!
I'll conclude with a few short personal stories of the season:
Mid December, Christmas shopping chaos! I happened to find an amazing set of skate ramps on Offer-up that I knew Grant had been wanting! They were all the way in Carlsbad but it was worth it to me to drive out due to the greatness of the deal. I was thrilled when they fit in my car! Feeling good, I started off for home and on the way, saw a Walmart off the freeway. Back Story: I had been trying to find a full length floor mirror for Evelyn's room for Christmas but didn't want to spend the $200 price tag I had found it for on Amazon and Wayfair. I knew Walmart carried it for much cheaper, but our own Walmart was out of stock. So, on a whim, I decided to buzz in and see if I could find it! This was a new and HUGE Walmart that I had never visited. I parked and flew inside. FOUND IT! After speaking with numerous employees- we found a cart to carry it to the car and I was ecstatic. A young man, quite competent, said he would help me to my car. And here's where I started to sweat bullets. As we walked out the front door- the lot was crazy. So busy and so big. I realized that I had absolutely NO IDEA where I had parked! NONE. And it was SUCH A BIG lot. I told him... "hey, I think I can manage this. Why don't you leave this up front and I'll bring my car around and grab it so we don't have to lug this thing around in such a busy lot?" He wouldn't hear of it, claiming it would be stolen. Oh man. It was so embarrassing walking down the aisles of this lot trying to find my car. I eventually told him I was lost and he seemed only slightly annoyed... hehe. But little did he know there was much more to come!!!! We finally found the car- but then once we had done so.... I opened my trunk to realize that the SKATE RAMPS were filling the entire car! Like FILLING the entire car and there was no way this stupid mirror was going to fit. Did I give up? No. That poor employee and I worked our buns off, pulling and cramming and re-organzing the contents of the van to fit this mirror in and it was something else. I was SO incredibly stressed and sweaty at the end of this Christmas shopping venture that I decided to do the rest of my shopping fully and completely on line! Ha!!!!
Another funny story: One night in December it just so happened that each of my children were invited to their friend's homes. And Blake had decided he would work late. Let me repeat myself. EACH MEMBER OF MY FAMILY WOULD BE OUT OF THE HOUSE. Please remember.... I have not been alone since March 13th 2020, when the world shut down. My lovely people are always always with me. I love them.... but the joy that swelled inside of me at the thought of being home alone was quite intense. I gathered up books to read and started the fire. Christmas lights, hot cocoa by my side. I was so happy! Dreams were coming true. Now 30 min into this heavenly experience... I heard the garage door go up and in walked Blake!!! He had decided to come home and be with me since all the kids were gone. So sweet. Really meant a lot to me and in a normal year, the typical me would have been ecstatic! But it's 2020--- enough said. "What show should we watch?" "Anything for dinner?" Bless his heart. You may not know this about me- but you probably do. I love memes so much that I oft communicate through them to loved ones. I sent this one to him after about an hour of together-ness, in an effort to let him know that I adore him, but also adore the idea of not speaking to another human for the evening. Haha.... he was so funny about it and thankfully did not take offense. Plus he had about a million things to do anyhow. I'm not proud of this moment.... but it had to be told so that one day when my children read this (if they ever do) they'll understand just how desperate I was to be alone at the end of the year 2020.
One last note to mention: I need glasses now! I really am getting old!
And my new year's goals for 2021 are all focused on an effort to become more mindful, present and grateful:). Happy New Year!
