these days ….

Every single day someone at our house says something about how none of us can believe that it is December.

The year that crawled by also flew by.

I can never explain it.

Amid ALL THE THINGS, I am finding it nearly impossible to write over here.

I’m also not making any more progress on my book. I was afraid of losing momentum when my class finished. And my fears were accurate.

It’s time to put it on a calendar and set aside time.

But I’m always so tired. And so busy. And so full of excuses.

I saw a sweet friend post the other day about being exhausted after trying to wrangle her three young children into bed. And I felt her pain because those days are still fresh in mind, even if they are not fresh in my life.

Bedtime is still long-winded. And also, NO ONE goes to bed. All of these adult-kids I live with want to stay up late.

I was making Monster Cookies at midnight this weekend.

That’s not even unusual.

London is already in full on rehearsal mode for what she hopes college life is like – late nights, late mornings, pretend the world owes you something and that time is made for you to waste.

It’s funny though, in the midst of all the teenage-ness that is my house currently, these big kids still want the old traditions.

The Christmas Chain is in high demand and the excitement about reading it every morning is still a big deal over here.

So far we’ve picked out our tree and decorated it. We’ve opened fresh new flannel sheets for this month of cozy sleeping. We have added the new 2020 ornaments to the tree (there’s a baby Yoda amongst the branches now). We’ve decorated our own wrapping paper and baked Needletips and Monster Cookies and I’m forcing them to listen to a classic old Christmas story at night. (Teens are less fun to read to, I’ll tell you that, but it’s the one thing I keep forcing down their throats and I just don’t care about their complaining – it’s what I plan to keep doing.)

We’ve got more Christmas shenanigans planned. Drives in pjs to see the lights (less cute on teens than it was on toddlers, but whatever). Gingerbread house contests. Dollar Tree sibling gift shopping. Christmas movies like Elf and any cheesy Hallmark movie anyone will watch with me. (Speaking of movies, some of us watched Last Christmas recently and I kind of loved it. I just adore accents. If the planets ever shift and I end up in a dating relationship, is it wrong to hope he has a fabulous accent?)

This Christmas I upped my mantle decoration game and I have a gorgeous magnolia wreath on my door and my new little pseudo fireplace makes me happy with its ethanol flame, so staying home isn’t too bad.

How are the holidays shaping up at your house?

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