Holiday Whirlwind

Here I am playing catch-up again. My blog may be doomed thanks to Facebook posts that keep my family somewhat updated and my increasing habit of personal journal writing (not a bad thing). Still, I think there is value to the sort of family journal that this blog has become. So I will keep trying...

November highlights:

• Voted! I was excited to cast my vote for a woman. I was not excited when the devil himself won the election. How long will it take for him to get impeached?
• Got flu shots. Oliver cried, Bruce had a panic attack, I squealed, and Phoebe didn't even notice when she was stuck by the needle. She basked in her toughness for a few weeks.
• Went to a zillion school events. Having three kids at three schools makes for lots of weeknight events. The middle school had a "health and wellness night" where we did a scavenger hunt and some other activities and won Boston Celtics tickets in a raffle; Bruce and I went to the game and had fun, but it was late for a weeknight and we were surrounded by stupid drunk people. Oliver's class had a potluck and sang a few songs as part of a presentation. 
• Attended the Harvard-Yale football game. It's a big rivalry here and tickets are hard and expensive to come by, but one of Scott's coworkers gave him tickets so we felt obligated to use them. Harvard and Yale aren't actually that good at football, so it was like watching high school football in a bigger stadium and with freezing naked college kids across the bleachers.
• Thanksgiving! We started the day off with a win and course record at the Wild Turkey Trot, then came home and cooked all day. We had the missionaries over along with an elderly man from church and a neighbor of ours who moved here from India a few months ago and had never experienced Thanksgiving.  
• Black Friday at the Zoo! We spent the day avoiding traditional retail and instead went to the Franklin Park Zoo during the day and Zoo Lights at Stone Zoo at night. 

First big snow at the neighborhood park!

Learning gun safety before going shooting with Uncle Chris.

Sledding and tubing in Ohio with family!

December highlights:

•  Selling fudge with the Boy Scouts. Bruce's scout troop made, packaged, and sold fudge as a fundraiser for scout camp. We sold fudge in the train stations and to friends and family and it occupied way too much time.
• Bruce's piano recital. He has been Skyping with his piano teacher for a few months and we had a recital with the other 10 or so Skype students. It isn't quite the same sitting in your living room watching the tiny screen for a recital, but it is sure convenient. Getting a teacher to our house has been a pain in the past: parking is hard to find and traffic is always awful, so if a teacher agrees to come it's going to cost an arm and a leg. Bruce also had a recital with his jazz band and they were very impressive!
• My church calling took over my life. As humanitarian service coordinator, there was lots to do this Christmas. I organized a toy drive through the Salvation Army, put together a wish list and fundraiser for a family in the community whose house burned down, and organized another blood drive (which I also donated at). 
• Had a birthday. With the business of everything else going on, I barely noticed turning 35. Scott did get me a cake and I got a few gifts. I'm pretty sure I got a few gray hairs from this month too.
• Phoebe graduated from her taekwondo class. She got her double black stripe belt and moved up to the youth class. It's much more intense and they add sparring too. So far, she is loving it.
• OHIO! We looked forward to this all month and were so excited to finally get in the car and go. It's a long drive, but the kids were good on the way there. We attended the family Christmas Eve bash, visited with friends, saw all nine of my siblings and their families, went shooting, did some shopping, sneaked a date in with Scott, did lots of trail running, had a bonfire, went sledding, did lots of eating, and had a wonderful Christmas morning too. The kids each other really meaningful gifts this year; I was so impressed by them. For instance, Phoebe bought Oliver a Star Wars 5-minute stories book and she got Bruce some comic books. We made it back to Boston for the new year, but the kids are already asking when we will be going to Ohio again.