What a month! So many fun and festive things to do and see, and we did and saw a good many of them! Here is our round up of the things that didn't make it into their own posts.
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| 12.2.22 (Grandma Blanchard invited Callie and Sam to pick out some stocking stuffers for a family they know who could use a little pick-me-up this Christmas) |
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| 12.2.22 (after they went shopping, they went back to Grandma's house to decorate a gingerbread house) |
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| 12.2.22 (and they also made cute little reindeer decorations for our Christmas Eve dinner) |
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| 12.4.22 (minecraft time is a favorite time of day for these two) |
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| 12.5.22 (Still working through some thankful books I checked out at thanksgiving (but it’s good to be thankful anytime!) and this was particularly enjoyable.) |
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| 12.7.22 (I liked this one. Good for talking about feelings.) |
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| 12.10.22 (Callie made this apron for cousin Magnolia in two sessions) |
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| 12.10.22 (she's pretty good at the sewing machine!) |
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| 12.10.22 (I saw this in the local paper and marked my calendar - luckily we had nothing happening that afternoon, so we went to the library to see the nativities and listen to our friends, the Booths, sing with another couple from our ward. The music was beautiful!) |
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| 12.10.22 (and so were the nativities! I thought this one was really cool - made from banana leaves!) |
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| 12.10.22 (I imagined the set up would be in the community room or auditorium on the other end of the library building, but they had tables set up right down the middle of the library part with a little spot by those windows at the end for the musical performers. It was quite packed for the library, but it was nice to see so many people coming to listen and look.) |
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| 12.10.22 (this was my favorite of all the nativities on display - it's made from newspaper!) |
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| 12.11.22 (we had our Blanchard family gift exchange on zoom a little early in the month just to accommodate everyone's schedules. It was a great party, with presents for everyone, and Laurel and Cohen even came up with some fun interactive games that we all could play from our various homes around the country. Such a fun time!) |
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| 12.11.22 (Cohen and Melia had Sam and Callie and they both got money banks - electronic ones - that pull in the paper money (kind of like a shredder, but minus the shredding) and have codes that can be changed (and forgotten) so no one can get in and steal their cash.) |
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| 12.16.22 (yes, that is a negative 2 degree outdoor temperature this morning! Brrrr!!) |
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| 12.16.22 (This story technically happens around Valentine’s Day, but I think the message of giving with love is perfect right about now (and really, anytime of the year). The art is stunning in this one!) |
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| 12.16.22 (we went up to Logan to listen to my mom's Presbyterian Bell Choir concert. They played so many songs and did such a great job!) |
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| 12.16.22 (afterward, we got to go up and try ringing a bell or two) |
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| 12.16.22 (a few of the crew who came to listen) |
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| 12.17.22 (one of my first ever CDs. I don't listen to it every year, but I put it on this year while Cal finished up her apron for Maggie, and it just took me back to my teenage years in my room in the basement. haha) |
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| 12.17.22 (all done!) |
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| 12.17.22 (it's reversible!) |
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| 12.17.22 (Callie loves to participate in the library’s book club for kids in 3rd-6th grades. Her latest book was this one, and since she always tells me I should read the books after she’s finished, and since I already had this one on my tbr list, I decided to read it aloud to her every night at bedtime. That was a delight! We both loved it. I haven’t read a mystery for a while and Callie rarely picks them up, so it was a nice change of pace. And since it takes place right around Christmas, it felt like just the right timing.) |
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| 12.18.22 (look who won our family's World Cup bracket challenge!) |
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| 12.20.22 (I’ve been waiting to read this for months, since I heard about it in the WSIRN summer reading guide. My library didn’t get it until November and I was the first one to check it out! Fitting that the opening story takes place around Christmastime, and then it circles back to Christmas at the end. So that was cool. But it’s not really about Christmas. It’s a memoir about her family dealing with her son’s recent diagnosis of epilepsy. (I had no idea that was the subject when I put it on hold... I had just read her first book and liked it and wanted to see what else she had to offer.) She’s funny and honest (and sometimes swears more than I’m normally comfortable with) and I enjoyed this installation in her memoirs.) |
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| 12.21.22 (cookie plates are ready to be delivered to neighbors and friends!) |
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| 12.22.22 (Cal had her friend Capri come over one afternoon and they made tons of clothespin (and other crafty tidbits) ornaments and listened to Christmas music on spotify) |
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| 12.23.22 (this was a super quick little book, but very festive and cute. I know my mom loves the Austin books by Madeleine L'Engle, but I haven't read them (yet), so when I saw this was so quick, I thought it would be a good intro to the family. it was delightful!) |
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| 12.23.22 (This is what I wrapped up for myself for Jolabokaflod. ;) It is not as light and cheery of a story as it looks from the cover, but I liked the depth and heart. It’s a bit of a mystery with a handwritten list of books that shows up in a young librarian’s life that she then starts reading and sharing with a lonely widower who shows up in her library. Lots of hard things happen to both of them through the story, but their love of the books and the library and each other gets them through.) |
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| 12.24.22 (I think this was Sam's house plan he drew on Grandma and Grandpa Blanchard's mini etch a sketch on Christmas Eve) |
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| 12.24.22 (ah, yes, and there is the etch a sketcher!) |
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| 12.25.22 (all the pieces are on the nativity advent - it must be Christmas!) |
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| 12.25.22 (ditto!) |
bonus videos!
12.27.22
(we worked hard all month (plus) long to prepare some Christmas songs
to perform for you - a little recital from the comforts of our own piano and a limited
live audience!)
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| 12.27.22 (This was certainly interesting. Recommended by Heather W., at first I thought, “yeah, that’s interesting, but I’m already organized and I don’t feel like reading a whole book about it.” I even took the quiz online and didn’t feel like any of the four styles were really me. But when I did end up reading it, I did so from the perspective of living with other personality/organization types (aka clutterbugs). Turns out I’m a cricket living with a bunch of butterflies. (I think? At least the kids are, for sure. Still need to figure out Gregg. He might be a ladybug.) It really was helpful for me to figure out where my frustrations are stemming from and how I can relax a bit to help everyone else find an organization system that works for them.) |
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| 12.27.22 (I’m curious: what clutterbug are you?! (www.clutterbug.com) One thing I really appreciated in this book was her kindness and generosity toward every kind of organizer. She repeats over and over the idea that you’re not naturally messy or lazy ... it’s just that everyone organizes differently, and when you try to use a system that doesn’t work for your personality type, then you run into problems. I love that. We’re all different. One solution isn’t going to work for everyone. Something I need to remember, instead of “naming” everyone else in my family as “messy”.) |
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| 12.28.22 (rain! (1.13" of rain and melted slush, to be exact!) in December! Ugh!) |
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| 12.28.22 (Ky sent me this - Zoe is a fan of the Bluey puzzles Sam gave her for Christmas. She can even put them together herself!) |
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| 12.31.22 (I was bummed when I saw there was a noon USU men's basketball game on New Year's Eve because we were planning to be in Red Canyon and wouldn't be able to make it to the game. Well, the weather made us postpone that trip, but it was fine for traveling to Logan for the afternoon, so we snagged some tickets and went. We met up with my parents, Ky's family, Megan, and Nate's family at the spectrum and enjoyed a great game.) |
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| 12.31.22 |
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| 12.31.22 (it's the best to sit by cousins at a basketball game!) |
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| 12.31.22 (Zoe wanted to give me a big hug as soon as we got there, and then later we had a moment of looking at pics and taking selfies. After the game we went to my parents' house for all kinds of dips and shrimps and sandwiches and games and football watching - a regular ol' party. We were watching the weather (and our tiredness) and left in time to make it home by our regular bedtime (no midnight partiers here!)) |
Well, that's a wrap. What a weird blogging year. I hope to be better in 2023 at keeping things up to date, but I am not promising anything (to myself or anyone else). But I'm happy to have what I have recorded, and I'll try to get all the holes filled in when I can. Happy New Year!
Every other round up here (whew!):
2020: Dec | Nov | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar Quar + Mar | Feb | Jan
2019: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2018: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2017: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2019: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2018: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2017: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
