It was a nice end to the year. We had our annual Festivus celebration at church, then food shopping, then Robin cleaned out our game closet, which was an insane mess, had fried ravioli, meatball subs, and then had a nice celebration at midnight with our traditional deviled eggs (I think Robin had 8 or 9 of them), homemade hummus, and almond M&Ms with sparkling cider and champagne. This year I even splurged on some hats and noisemakers, which the dogs did not appreciate at all. Considering how much they annoy us all year, I think we can call it even.
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December 30
Today was a day of downs and ups and downs and very little in between. I wanted to get something sparkly to wear for New Year’s and I found five dresses at Goodwill in what I thought was my size, only to find that all but one were too small. I came home in tears, feeling ugly and fat and everything but sparkly. But then Robin and I made cupcakes for dinner at Rosina and Dion’s tonight, and that was fun. And dinner was fun. We played Apples to Apples and Robin won. Lots of laughing and fun. But then about ten miles from home, I got a flat tire. I managed to coast into a gas station and fill the tire with just enough air to get home, but that tire will be absolutely flat by morning at the rate it was losing air. Luckily I have a spare, and we made it home, so it could definitely have been worse.
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December 29
Didn’t do as much today as yesterday, and I decided that’s ok. I did prune my roses and catch this hibiscus in the sun. Christina and I also took apart the Lego pirate ship we built earlier this year so we can build one of the other 3-in-1 models in the kit. We watched a lot of football. I think sometimes it’s ok to be lazy and unproductive.
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December 28
The girls are giving themselves facials, and loving it. Also today: wrapped up last week’s photo shoot, finished proofreading my website, created and ordered next year’s photo calendar (had 407 nice photos this year as opposed to 50 last year; photo a day project for the win!), organized my craft supplies, and cleaned up my office. Oh, and I built a Lego snowman. I have no idea what I am going to do with the rest of my life.
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December 27
Christina got a clay kit for Christmas and this is her first creation. We guessed it was a robin, but not surprised it isn’t. I particularly like the worm, which was a late addition.
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December 26
Today was being way too productive at work, finishing editing the photos from the family shoot I did last week, amazing homemade pizza for dinner, and beer with old friends until midnight. Girl’s still got it. (Ha.)
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December 25
Christmas was pretty great this year. The kids said a few times that Santa outdid himself this year. They literally loved everything they got. We made homemade pasta carbonara for dinner with family and it was just a nice day. We still have 275 cookies left to eat.
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December 24
Santa’s response: You poop like a hippopotamus but Merry Christmas anyway!
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December 23
We have baked something like 250 cookies in the last two days, with one more recipe to go. I just ran out of steam for that last one. I don’t know who is going to eat said cookies… Santa? But even he has limits. We also baked three loaves of banana bread a few days ago and have one loaf left. Four human beings simply can’t consume all this, but I can’t stop myself from doing it. I enjoy it too much.
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December 22
I’ve been watching the Holiday Light Fight show on TV and been impressed at some of the intricate displays people put in their yards for Christmas. Billy said he’s been driving past this one for a while and wanted to see it, so we went. It maybe wasn’t the same caliber as the ones on TV, but it was pretty damn impressive. The lights were synchronized to music and we could walk through it. I would love to do this in our yard, but do you know how much work (and money) goes into this stuff? It takes a lot just for us to put up our six strings of lights every year. But this was cool to see. I’ll just admire someone else’s work.
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December 21
The catalog of Christmas decoration photos continues, mostly because I don’t feel creative enough to do anything else. Actually, most of my creative energy is going into wrapping up this project and a photo shoot and I’ve been happy with both, so I guess it’s a fair tradeoff.
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December 20
Last day of dance and cheer for two weeks. Next week will feel weird!
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December 19
As of today, I believe everything is ready for Christmas. Six more days to go.
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December 18
Stood in line for 45 minutes at the Post Office this morning and ended up being an hour late for work. And yet so many people are out of the office that I still got two days’ worth of work done anyway. Then spent the usual two hours driving around Jacksonville, made some yummy shrimp fried rice, and now football and Sam Adams and bed.
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December 17
I intended to gift this scarf last Christmas, but it took me a year to tie in the loose ends and block it. Hopefully it is going to a good home.
Year in Photos 