Christmas Things

We are having a lovely Christmas season so far. I'm enjoying the freedom from parties, school performances, and other big events. The introvert in me is very happy. I'm all for small gatherings, but big groups? Yuck. Count me out. I love a lot of people, but I prefer to not be with all of them at once. 

We've managed to find plenty of ways to enjoy the holidays. We've tackled a few puzzles, of course, and have a table set up in our family room so we can always have one in progress. 

I kind of want to do a nativity puzzle, and I've been scoping them out for several weeks. There's one at Deseret Book that I like and might go get. 

Last Friday we went to Zoolights. Normally you wouldn't catch me dead at Zoolights on a Friday night, but COVID crowd control is my friend, thus I went. 

Zoolights: where the photos never turn out, but you try anyway

Yesterday I gave all of my kids a sock advent calendar. The socks caught my eye because they were on sale, and there was a set perfectly suited for each of my children. I couldn't resist!

Golf socks for Nicky.

Animals for Daisy.

Minecraft for Zoe.

And JoJo for Eva.

They're technically not supposed to start opening the socks until tomorrow, but try telling that to a five-year-old who's already eaten her way through two chocolate calendars! 

We've been tuning in to a lot of online concerts and events. 

Katy Parry has lost it

We send Christmas cards most years, but every now and then, we take a year off. I was going to skip cards this year, but then I got a card from a friend and realized that, if ever there is a year to send Christmas cards, it's 2020! So I whipped up a Christmas letter and got them in the mail on Saturday. I realized through this process that almost half my addressees moved this year! 

Can ya'll stay put through 2021? Thank you.

We've had some Christmas-themed family home evening lessons, and we are doing our December Generous George tradition (I thought I'd posted about this in the past, but I wasn't able to find a good post about Generous George to link to, so I might write one tomorrow). 

The thing that I think is bringing us the most Christmas Spirit is participating in the daily Light the World prompts. 

I've never really "gotten into" Light the World in years past, but this year, I made a goal to do it everyday. It's been wonderful. We've had fun decorating doors, donating food, and doing other acts of service over the past two weeks. We're doing some of the prompts as a family, but there are also some I'm just doing by myself.

At first I had mixed feelings about posting such things on social media (as per the prompts), but then I realized that I love seeing other people's posts about how they are "lighting the world," and I've gotten some great ideas for service opportunities from other people's posts. For example, my neighbor shared how you can go to Smith's and pay $10 for a "bag of food," and Smith's will donate that food to a family in need and add a ham. So that gave me the idea to scan a bag every time I go grocery shopping this month. 

Can I just say... I love to serve when prompted by the spirit? I truly do!

So far, I am feeling a more tender Christmas Spirit in 2020 than I have ever felt before. That might change on the afternoon of the 17th when my kids come home from school for Winter Break, so I need to enjoy it while I can!