It is now Sat., Jan. 2, 2010 and a chilly, sunny day outside in Florida. Our long Christmas break is coming to an end and my January calendar is looking typically hectic. I'm looking forward to getting back to our routine of homeschool, activities and piano lessons, but the break was refreshing. All signs of Christmas have been packed away into the attic.
I don't know how it happened, but this was the least stressful December I remember. I think we did all the usual activities, but somehow I was relaxed throughout. It must have something to do with Conrad's new retirement and having time to help me shop, cook and decorate. Last Christmas I hurt my back and could hardly move, and this year I hurt it again (probably moving the furniture), but thankfully it wasn't too bad and I quickly recovered.
In December we went to Cracker Christmas, which is an outdoor craft festival and frontier demonstrations including making sugar syrup from sugar cane (Jacob always gets some sugar cane to eat), broom making, blacksmiths, basket weaving, rope making, spinning, quilting, lace making and wood carving. Conrad and Jacob love getting the homemade ice cream, and I look forward to the kettle corn. Conrad bought plenty this year to bring home and share. I had a birthday party at my parents'. Jacob had his band concert. He played the trumpet. His band played in Washington, D.C. for Christmas, but we didn't go. The older boys went to western N. Carolina to camp, and everyone up north--band and boys--got snowed in. It was quite exciting even from here, and I wish I had gone with the band and gotten snowed in too. My mom had Thanksgiving at her house and did all the cooking, but her allergy/lung/cough situation was bad then, and even worse by Christmas. She finally said she couldn't have it at her house, even if we brought all the food. Brandon said he was going to "kidnap" Grandma and Papa, and he did, so we had Christmas at our house. I liked it. Conrad and I had fun planning a menu and cooking. It was a good Christmas.
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