We aren’t traveling this year for the holidays (yay!) and we’ll be spending a cozy and much needed relaxing time in Portland. Before kids this would have depressed me and I’d be loooonging to travel (literally anywhere) over the holidays. PTO that wasn’t used to travel felt like a total waste of time to me. Ohhh how the times have changed! There is truly nothing I’d rather do more right now than hang out and do fun things with our kids at home…where there is no time change, they have their own beds, and their routine isn’t completely uprooted.
Plans For Next Week
Tuesday: We are kicking off the week with a MUCH NEEDED date night. Our babysitter moved back to Oregon and we snagged her for the night.
Wednesday: We are doing a virtual Christmas this weekend with C’s family, and A is getting a gift from Kiwi. We’ll likely spend the morning putting that kit together on this day. As well as bake some Christmas cookies. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about these since I saw them the other day. I’m also hoping to sneak off to Barre3 for the 6am class.
Thursday: Since I’ve been working at the studio on Saturday mornings, our outdoor and/or hiking adventures have been put on hold. To be honest, this likely would be the case anyway since our kids are small and driving out to Hood/The Coast/ The Gorge etc. is a ton of work. However, we are planning on doing a trip out to Mt Hood to play in the snow and get some sledding in. We also love to bring our Jetboil to make some hot chocolate.
Friday: I picked up a gingerbread house from Trader Joe’s that is sitting under our tree that A keeps asking about. I’m saving it to do next week riiight before Christmas. And I’m sure A will eat half of it before we can put it together, lol.
Saturday: I get to spend the morning at the studio, which I’m really excited about! Then we’ve got Christmas Eve service and I’m thinking we’ll order some pizza and drink champagne when we get home. And of course we have the big moment where The Wisemen finally arrive to the nativity scene!
Sunday: After spending a few days inside eating sugar and opening gifts, I’m thinking a day spent outside will be much needed. I’m penciling in a day at the coast to get the wiggles out!
A Note On Small Holiday Gatherings
Often times when I tell people it will be just the four of us for the holidays they feel bad. Or have a sympathetic reaction. But we truly have such a great time and have a wonderful + beautiful life! We see our family a lot, and technically we were supposed to fly to Austin for the holidays. But we called it off because during this season of life, we want to be home to create the holiday magic (that’s much slower paced, and still includes our kids’ routines) at our home. It’s special and, honestly, how I spent a lot of my Christmases growing up. I have such special memories from those years.
