December 2020
I continued in my quest to replace my stockings. As I look at the photo below though – I have a great nostalgic feeling for those past stockings. I found a girl through my friend Heidi that could take apart my awful looking new-from-last-year stockings and make them into better looking ones. I then chose a color for the names and decided to take on the painstaking-monotonous-possibly stupid?-sentimental-ridiculous-kitchy task of hand cross stitching everyone’s names onto them (just like I did in 1992 when I was pregnant with Master D and on bed rest). I actually finished everyone’s name but mine by Christmas! and then finished mine in January while in AZ. I think it honestly took me at least four hours per stocking. B thought it was dumb that I was spending so much time doing it – I really hope he’s wrong and I hope the kids appreciate it at some point. I mean besides writing this blog I need something to appease my existential need for making myself relevant. This is my attempt at “home-made gifts that I hope become sentimental”. I have seven extra stockings for future family members and if we ever pass that point I guess I’ll have to do something different. See original cross stitch below
Master D and I took a quick road trip to CA. I started the cross stitching on the drive there, while there and then back again. It felt like I didn’t get very far in all those hours. Foolishly I thought I could get them all finished in that time. The tree below was right outside our hotel. I thought it was an amazing-deserves-to-be-photographed tree. I remember looking through B’s grandpas photos and video and he loved nature as his subject and I thought it was so boring and now I’ve become that boringness. Maybe it signifies that I’m living more in the present appreciating the world God gifted us? I’d like to believe that anyway. I spent a few days walking up and down Santa Monica beach and couldn’t quite believe the disaster that CA has turned into during the pandemic. It’s heartbreaking. So much homelessness, so many businesses boarded up and closed down in a place where the weather, the beach, the flowers, the trees are so amazing. I really hope it gets back to normal soon!
This creepy stop on I-15 has become a standing Taylor joke and we must stop there – and hope we don’t get trapped in the very strange world of Eddie World.
Aub decorated her cute new house – that we still have not seen. Oregon is as closed down – if not more closed down than CA. Hopefully we can go visit soon.
Finn got a lot of attention with the twins coming home from school and B walking over there a lot to work.
See on the table the very last ever Taz calendar – designed by Lelu and B together.
Aub and Archie drove to UT for Christmas.
Lelu and Jake celebrated their 2nd anniversary at Ruth’s Chris.
We all walked to the park with all of the dogs the day after Christmas. These are the only photos of Christmas. We didn’t even get a photo of the pajamas this year. Shame on me! Mine were too tight. Another covid tragedy for me.
One of our favorite gifts – looking forward to summer
D took TT and Kenna to the salt flats to take some cool photos on New Year’s day.
Me, B, Jake, Lelu and Rel went down to AZ for New Year’s. The weather was perfect. We were in bed by midnight but hung out at the park and then playing games with Dave, Shel and kiddos
No Nutcracker this year. No shopping trip this year. We did make trains but I have no photos of it! We are starting a new year hopeful for the end of the pandemic and retirement. More on that in the next post.