Diving Into December

With Thanksgiving, this was a short week of school for the kids. They begrudgingly went to school on Monday and Tuesday, and then enjoyed Wednesday very much. I didn't have to go to campus at all, so I worked from home like normal on Monday, and then from the library on Tuesday.

Kira and Hannah went to the temple in Chicago Tuesday night, so I had the kids all to myself. Just as Kira and Hannah were picked up by their ride, I took all the boys to go get Avey from her choir practice at the school, bringing Apollo along. He seems to understand when the buses are due to bring the kids home, and he gets pretty antsy when Avey's bus drops off other kids, but she isn't there. He was very excited to see her at the school. We dropped Avey and Apollo off at home and then I took the boys to Wendy's for their dinner rather than deal with cooking and dishes by myself at home.

Wednesday brought a few more preparation things for the feast to come, some heavy relaxing for the kids. Hannah and I went to buy her a new laptop with her Christmas bonus (her laptop has been hanging by a thread for a while). She found a great deal, and then we went by the hardware store for some window insulation for me, and a sweater for Apollo.

Thursday was the big feast. We spent part of the morning getting food ready. Avey made our chocolate pie by herself, although Hakan helped crush the graham crackers for the crust. Hannah made a delicious creamy fruit pie with strawberry topping, and Kira worked on green beans with bacon and put in the ham. I mostly did dishes, and the rolls and stuffing. I also fed Merritt early because he was already hungry and was the least concerned about the meal.

It was quite the feast, though, once it was all ready. Carver really loved the gluten free chocolate cookie crust for his chocolate pie, though for some reason he didn't care for the pudding filling. We had a very pleasant meal, sharing what we're most thankful for, and then all worked together to get it cleaned up before getting the boys to bed and then enjoying a movie.

Friday was a frenzy of Christmas decorations. I got the tree set up and we all decked it out. I then moved on to the external Christmas lights, starting out with our crab apple tree. I ran out of time before I could do the house, but I got some gutter hanger clips at the hardware store and put them up the next day (those clips are worth every penny). While I was at the hardware store, Kira took the kids shopping at the dollar store, and Hannah picked up a ton of materials from work so that she could work from home, stuffing envelopes from the company to send to customers.

Saturday, I finished the lights on the house and then we all went downtown. Carver and I played some chess at the library while the rest of the gang took a ride in a horse-drawn carriage around the block. We then met up for ice cream.

After the fun downtown, Hannah and I made a quick run to Michigan City for a Christmas shopping trip and another run to the hardware store there (the window insulation solved the problem so I wanted to use the same kind in several other places). We then came home and I went back out to pick up a movie rental for the kids (Ugly Dolls).

We are all dreading tomorrow a bit as it means we have to get back to normal life. I can still work from home tomorrow, but I have a video conference in the afternoon. The kids, of course, have to get back to school. This is my last week of teaching, at least, so that will be pretty nice. Then it's just a ton of grading before finishing off the semester. The kids have another week after that, finishing up on the 19th.

We're planning on staying in Indiana for Christmas, but Hannah and I are toying around with some ideas about getting away. We'll see what we can work out.

It's hard to believe that 2019 is almost over, but we'll finish it with a bang, for sure!