December

I left off having shared the events of October and November, or at least the high points.  Every day seems to have its own busyness.

One really special thing in December was having a week at the coast in our timeshare.  We love our timeshare but so do a LOT of other people, especially at the Depoe Bay location.

 

It is hard to get a reservation there unless you book months out.  So we did.  And I had months of anticipating that wonderful week at the beach when I could just shut out all the clamor and regular responsibilities and the phone wouldn’t ring…

The first weekend our daughter and son-in-law and baby Margaret and son and daughter-in-law and baby Tillie came to stay with us.

   What fun to see the two kids playing (sort of) together.

 

 

And it was great to have some recreational time and talking time with our grown-up children.

 

See why we love it?  Look at that view!

 

It was a wild and stormy weekend with winds up to 60 mph, fantastic for wave-watching but not so good for beach walking.

 

Inside we stayed warm and cozy.

 

Some intrepid souls went hot-tubbing in the outdoor pool but this photographer didn’t brave the storm.

After they left, my dad came for a few days.  Then another daughter came with a fresh supply of DVDs and stayed for a few days.  I was busy trying to get Christmas presents sewn, so I  tried to stick to business

  

but I realized on Thursday night that my goals were unrealistic and I was making myself crazy.  So I decided to chill and take a more leisurely approach to finishing the projects at home.  Which hasn’t happened yet.  Not surprisingly.  The reason I do things compulsively is that it’s the only way they get done.  ‘Systematically’ and ‘leisurely’ are not in my nature.  How many pieces of fabric do I have in my closet waiting for their fulfillment?  How many sketches of “good ideas”? 

By midweek at the coast we learned that my husband’s brother had been hospitalized in Portland so on the way home from the beach we picked up my mother-in–law in Sweet Home and brought her up to stay with us to be near her sick son and with us for Christmas.

Christmas: 

 Our kids had chosen to have a Pajama Breakfast for our get-together.

 

Supposedly it was going to simplify their coming to our house on Christmas morning, but as it turns out  the kids had to be  diaper-changed anyway with fresh sleepers and I had to get out to buy suitable PJs for Tech Guy

and no one really wanted to come in what they actually slept in, so simplifying was a misnomer! But it was fun.  After wavering between hand-made gifts and a white elephant exchange, they decided on the latter (which is why I was able to give myself permission to slow down on my sewing storm.)  The white elephant exchange was fun with some good laughs and strategy-making on how to end up with the best thing.  Hearing my kids laugh together is the sweetest sound!  Joy!  Of course we had the 3 new baby girls this year

as well as our 2 year old grandson

so it was a happy time.  It was the first time in over 3 years that we had had all 5 of our children together as well as their spouses and kids.  And my dad and mother-in-law.

 

And so December ends on a happy note, wishing you all a

 happy new year.

AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT !