December Little Things

Belén went to a trial gymnastics class to see if it would be a good fit for her. She started going weekly in January and loves it. 

 

Belén did a super sweet Belén Art Hub video to teach friends/family how to draw an adorable hot coco cup.

Darin will probably hate me for posting this, but had to document the pandemic zoom meeting outfit. 

Belén slept with a bowl for a while, saying her tummy hurt, but then we found her like this most nights and I'm pretty sure she just really wanted to sleep with a bowl on her head, haha. We asked how she ended up in the bowl each night and she said, "Well, I put my head in it before I fall asleep." Kids are the best.

We got our first big snow in December. Darin and I snuck outside after the kids were in bed and stood in the middle of the road surrounded in peaceful, beautiful white snow. There's something so magical about those first snow falls.

Had a blast sledding on the big slope at Cornell, Darin and I perhaps a bit more than the kids as the walk back up the big hill was pretty brutal on their little legs. 

We added "gifts of togetherness" to our December fun this year. I always feel like there are so many things that we want to do, but then December flies by leaving me feeling like there were still things on my check list that we didn't get around to. This year, along with our 25 Days of Christ, we did one activity together, as a family, each day. Most were simple things, like sing favorite Christmas carols, make paper snowflakes, read a favorite Christmas book, but there were a few "bigger" gifts of togetherness as well that we really enjoyed. I loved doing this and by Christmas felt very satisfied with all the lead-up-to-Christmas fun we had (honestly, I was pretty exhausted by the end and ready to stop looking forward to something to do each day, ha! So much daily excitement! I'm sure I'll be anxious and ready to do it again next year :)

A favorite activity was learning about an ancestor with Ibu and Amelia. Amelia put together an awesome power point about her great grandma and we all loved learning about her so much.

Another activity was going to the grocery store to pick out food to leave in one of the Ithaca Food Cupboards. We found a new one that was basically empty, so we filled it as much as we could. 

I think everyone's favorite (and our "biggest" activity) was the night we went up to Syracuse to do the drive through Lights on the Lake and get Chick-fil-a (peppermint shakes!)

The kids always really love the night we sleep by the Christmas tree and watch The Polar Express. 

Christmas Eve just feels like the longest day ever. We were all struggling from the waiting and excitement, so decided to load up and go for a drive. We ended up at the covered bridge in Newfield, which we had always wanted to see. It's one of the oldest covered bridges in operation in NY. 

I'll do a separate post with some Christmas pictures, but here's our tiny New Year's Eve celebration, complete with Muddy Buddies, Cheesy Pizza Bombs, a delicious homemade cheese ball, and Milkis (this fizzy Korean yogurt milk drink that our friend introduced us to and gifted us for Christmas. So. Good). We each chose a favorite game to play. The kids got to stay up until 9 p.m. and we did a little countdown dance with them.