It’s been since before Halloween that I’ve posted anything. I keep hoping that life will slow down a little and that I’ll blog more; but we have yet to see that. Probably what needs to happen (if I truly want this as a consistent family history) is that I’ll need to just blog more even though nothing is slowing down. š
Anyway, I think I’ll do the kind of post where my text mostly doesn’t have much to do with the pictures, and the pictures will just have all their commentary in the description.
After 3 costume changes for Portia, this is how the kids went trick-or-treating this year. It was SO COLD! Also, I forgot to photograph them all together until after they had all come home, removed their costumes and eaten half their candy. When I remembered a picture, I forced them all back into their costumes for it. š They were good sports for the most part.
My theme word for 2019 was Laugh. I chose that word for a few reasons: I have heard that people in general laugh significantly less nowadays than they did in like 1950 or something like that, and felt like that was about as much of an invitation as I needed to resolve to laugh more. Another big reason I chose laugh was that I felt like I needed a little break from huge life-altering stuff. Engage in 2018 was a huge success, and I grew so much–not just because of the theme; but because of life. But I was feeling kind of tired by the end of the year. I felt like laughing more would be a great way to enjoy my life more in the moment without having to think too hard.
I decided to give in to the cultural phenomenon and do matching family jammies for Christmas. It turned out to be really fun! 
Our family fancy clothes. I love playing dress up with everybody, and they are so good to let me do it! 
Basically the only things I decorated were the bedroom (see above), the tree, and the mantel this year. (also the banister, not pictured) 
Simple. But I feel like it gets the point across. 
The kids on Christmas morning! One of the happiest things ever! 
How Grandma and Grandpa did Christmas morning this year!
I feel like it worked! With my theme words, I definitely don’t think about them every single day. And I probably went weeks at a time not thinking about laugh. But a big change I saw was that I noticed much more when I was laughing, and I embraced it a little more than I otherwise would have. So, this past year, I can recall multiple occasions where I just laughed and laughed for probably up to a minute about something, just because I started and it felt really good, so I didn’t do anything to suppress it.
Something we did this year, that has been a dream of mine for a while, was decorate a tree for the Festival of Trees! We themed it after a really cute book called The Wish Tree. I was pleased with how it turned out, and it even sold!
I really like that sort of notion: that if something is feeling good–even if it’s not the norm in the world, or even your norm–you can just embrace it and just sort of see how long it will last. Obviously, you want to make sure it is truly and thoroughly good; and I see no harm in genuine, happy, lighthearted laughter. Maybe that’s a little bit of what I’m doing with these yearly themes. So far I’ve had a lot of fun and feelings of satisfaction and success with them, so I’ll just keep going until I don’t have as much fun and success with them.
Fay has been in a singing/dancing class this autumn. She loves it and did fabulously at her performances! We’re so proud of our girl! 
This is just too cute not to post! 
The kids’ gingerbread house that Aunt Mary helped them make! 
Portia decided she needed to organize all the stuff in the bathroom and then made this face when asked to pose. I LOVE that girl! 
The kids wanted their own Super Saturday craft, so they made this adorable snowman!
I’ve been thinking of a new word for next year, and I’m trying to be ambitious and yet realistic about it. We’re having another baby next spring and I know that just that fact will limit a lot of what I can physically accomplish. But I feel like it is also an opportunity for me to try to become something more, even if I can’t do that much. (I have a whole spiel about that; but perhaps another day.)
And now that Christmas has passed, it’s another of my favorite times! Around the turn of the new year, Josh and I get all inspired to make changes and get our lives in better order. This year we chose to reorganize our kitchen! We’re still working on it; but a big project was making these two fake drawers into real ones so we have more storage. They turned out PERFECTLY, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the kitchen project!
Your kids always make me smile, so Iām glad you were able to laugh a lot this year!