The last few weeks we have been asked to stay home as much as possible. To be honest, this isn't all that hard for me this time of year. I like being home when the weather is colder. As Christmas approaches I love just being at home with little to nothing to do so that I can get all my shopping, decorating, and baking done. Its been nice not having to drive 4 kids to school or dance, or even out with friends at all. Its been quiet and peaceful and I am enjoying it. Its a bit harder for the kids. They miss their friends and social events but I'm so glad they have each other.
This past year I've really tried to make gratitude the focus of each and every day. No matter what is going on in my life I can always find something to be grateful for and it shifts my energy and outlook almost instantly. I knew this would be something really useful for my kids too, especially with these covid times, and decided to buy everyone in the family a new journal that we would use as gratitude journals. We are doing 30 days of gratitude where we meet each evening for the next 30 days to write something we're grateful for. I found a gratitude calendar online and then just switched some things out and added my own. Things like what body part are you most grateful for? What talent are you most grateful for? What family member are you most grateful for? Things like that. It has been so nice to gather together and share the things we are grateful for. I hope it is a practice that my kids will take with them the rest of their lives. We don't always remember to do it every night but we are doing our best and it has made a difference in our home this holiday season.
We also did a week of service. McKenna was the one who brought up drawing names and buying gifts but then I suggested we draw names and then do something nice for that person that day. We did this for a full week and it was so fun to watch everyone come up with nice things to do for each other. I think it is something we'll do randomly from now on. Its nice for us to step back from our own lives and think of others, especially our family. I think because we spend so much time together we just get into these patterns and habits and we just co-exist. I want us to always be aware of each other. Go out of our way to connect and be there for each other. Not take each other for granted. Its been fun to add these two things into our family routine and has brought us closer together as a family. The one thing that has been nice about this pandemic is that its stripped us down to what's really important in life. As we learn to rely on each other more, enjoy our home and being together we realize we have everything we need. Right here. Getting rid of some of the noise and just being here has been really really nice, and hopefully we'll continue with this feeling as things start moving forward with life again. We'll always remember the time when it was just us and how good it felt. And that we can still have a piece of that always if we make time for it.
We are getting so excited for Christmas. We are pretty much ready to go and are just not so patiently waiting. Today we decorated the last of our sugar cookies, decorated gingerbread houses, and are just getting ready to settle down for the night with a Christmas movie. Life is good.
Happy Christmas everyone!! Hope you have a magical holiday filled with so much joy and love.
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