Two holidays with Ella home. My heart is happy! November/December are becoming my favorites because it means the whole family under one roof twice in two months!
Ella has been having an awesome, but extremely tiring, first semester. She intentionally packed it with some of her hardest classes to get them done with so the future, when she is doing things like preparing for the MCAT or applying to med school, will be a little lighter. She comes home for rest and respite and we are happy to feed her allllll the homecooked meals and put nothing on the agenda except cuddling by the fire and reading for fun all day.
Our cozy Thanksgiving at home had church plus all our favorite foods plus several rounds of Ransom Notes, a new favorite game, plus Wicked plus a night of her Mount Hermon summer staff friends coming over for dinner and games.
(One of the things Delia learned in her Home Ec class this semester was how to properly set a formal table, so she was assigned that task.)
Our November temporary tattoos reminded us that indeed "the Lord is good, his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues to all generations."
Over Thanksgiving break we set up the Christmas decorations.
(Find FOMO Llama, peeping the stable action from just outside of it-- the Nativity tradition that continues when the teenagers set up this piece of décor!)
Sinterklaas visits a little early too.
Just a few weeks later, after we've endured exams, and sickness, and teaching wild preschoolers during Christmas, and the Advent preaching schedule, Ella returns! This year, we kicked off her 3 week stay at home with a nostalgic outing to the Christmas-y Bass Pro Shop.
On Christmas Eve, I cook the evening's dinner and bake the treats for Christmas Day church all day and then we open our presents. Homemade gifts were especially appreciated this year! Ella made a painting of the bridge where Dave proposed. Delia made me a hilarious video. Delia also made Ella this apron in her Home Ec class (along with the trademark funny Delia card to go along with it) and I wrote out 60 favorite family recipes for Ella so that she can have a taste of home in her apartment next year... and wherever her future kitchen may be. After seeing an original Audubon Birds of America plate at The Huntington, Dave gave me the whole book of every bird plate Audubon made and Ella painted my favorite birds to use as bookmarks in the book.
Grandma and Grandpa sent something cuddly for Delia's dorm bed next year (she won't have Ivy ;).
The girls each got Polaroid cameras too, as well as tons of dorm necessities and luxuries (like towels, an alarm clock, and storage shelves as well as fancy tea holders, a blender, rollerblades and cute iced coffee drinkware.) Thank you to our generous gift-sending family! Karen even had a box of Portos (our favorite restaurant by campus) sent for us to make at home! So our Christmas Eve dinner included our favorite potato balls. Yum!
After a season of discernment, prayer, and conversations with our financial advisor, we were ready to give Delia our blessing to commit to her dream school. We did this at Christmas with the gift of a school sweatshirt I had ordered from the bookshop. Everyone was crying over this weighty and happy news.
Christmas Day included church, our annual staff serving of treats after the service, some yummy homemade butternut squash soup and focaccia bread for lunch, and a nighttime trip the court with all the lights.
We girls have had coffee shop dates, watched a movie every night, read several books, and taken a group nap every day. Time to rest: check! Our family has shared countless laughs while playing games, and Ella has also gone climbing, gotten together with her Robotics team, and had a Christmas party with her high school friends. Delia's been busy planning the annual Murder/Mystery party she'll host this break: Murder at the Roller Rink (80s themed!). Time to have fun and connect with dear ones: check!
And we still have a week (two for Ella) of Christmas Break left!
1 comment:
I am so thankful that you have this blog, Jen. Even though we miss all of you on holidays, we get to see everything that you are doing to celebrate. It looks like you had a relaxing time of fun and being together. We are so happy for Delia (her video online did make me cry - happy tears). It will be awesome to have both girls at the same school.
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