Weekly Wrap Up - Out With Old (Year) In With the New (Year)

Last Wednesday evening, we did our traditional trip to Chick-fil-a for peppermint/chocolate chip milkshakes and then drove around town to look at Christmas decorations.  We went through some neighborhoods and then ended our trip with a ride through the city park.  They do a whole "Festival of Lights" thing from Thanksgiving weekend through New Year's weekend.  Companies, families and individuals put up various light displays ranging from traditional manger scenes, to a field of deer and aliens, Minions and everything in between.   As we were driving by the main entrance we saw what initially looked like sparkle lights in this one HUGE tree, then it looked like the lights kind of dripped onto the ground....then the tree burst into flames (electrical fire in the decorations).  The park was super crowded and people instantly started dialing 911 and the fire trucks arrived within minutes.  #2020strikesagain.   Mercy.

Christmas Eve we traveled to my in-laws (40 minutes away). We had really heavy rain that caused flooding and heavy fog, and an unnerving ride home around 10pm.    Despite the treacherous travel, we had a great day with the family.  The menu this year was homemade pizzas.  After opening gifts, there were various card games, conversation and lots of laughter.  It was a good day, even if one of the elves was feeling a bit peckish.

Christmas Day we were all up by about 8am to open gifts.  We had our traditional breakfast of eggnog french toast, with warm cherry pie filling on top, and bacon on the side.  SO good.  This is what happens when a history lover gets books for Christmas.

Santa and his pup, and another family member swung by for dinner.  We played cards and had dessert after opening gifts.

The weekend was frigid!   When Olivia went to work Saturday morning it was 14 degrees, and only in the 20's when she went back for the afternoon and evening shifts.  Sunday was a bit better with temperatures reaching the 30's by the end of the day.

Monday morning we were back at the farm at 5:30am, and there was a heat wave, as early morning temperatures hit almost 30!  Lindsey was off to a babysitting gig at 7:15am.  Luckily, Tom was home to give her a ride since we were running a bit behind getting home.  We dropped the van off to get the state inspection and oil change, then I went grocery shopping.  The stores were very empty of people.  I guess everyone is back to work, or all shopped out.  I worked on laundry and house work most of the afternoon.  For supper, I decided to do something very low key.  I picked up a loaf of sourdough bread at Aldi's and made Monte Cristo sandwiches for the evening meal.

Tuesday morning wasn't quite as cold.  There was a full moon and it was stunning.  It looked much larger and closer than usual and was a vibrant orange.   After the farm, I took Lindsey to an orthodontist appointment and then came home to clean house.  In the afternoon,Olivia went to touch base with the folks she'll be dog & house sitting for over the next several days.   In the evening the girls had jiu-jitsu.

Wednesday was our last early morning at the farm (until the weekend).  The moon was vibrant again, and it's really lovely to sit in the still morning quiet and watch the moon/stars and listen to the animals. We had our Christmas celebration with my BFF and her husband for a late lunch here at the house.  The evening was low key, and I knocked out lesson plans for the first 4 weeks of January.  I wasn't able to do our geometry planning, since we're in limbo with Teaching Textbooks as they rush to get all their classes redone since Adobe Flash Player is no longer supported after 12/31/2020.

Thursday morning we took all of the Christmas decorations down and got the house back to normal.  Early afternoon I took Olivia to her a house/dog sitting job she has for the next 5 days.  This will be her first time house sitting over night.  Tom, Lindsey and I had a low key dinner, then played cards and noshed on snacks to ring in the New Year.  We found a really great pineapple/peach salsa for our snacking.  Just a bit of heat, and then the sweet of the peach, twang of the pineapple and the clash with the tomatoes...VERY GOOD!!  We had sparkling apple cider at midnight and were in bed by 12:02.

Friday will be pretty low key as well. We're thinking of getting Chinese food for dinner, but that could change.   Have a great weekend.