This post will also include our Christmas decor for the year. I had so much fun with those two years I decorated the whole house and made it all official, and one day perhaps I will do it again. But not this year.
I am so pleased with how the front room turned out this year!
At the outset of this year I decided that I just wanted to put forth a little more effort in my life towards becoming my dream-self. I chose the word practice because that seemed like the best way to get to being that version of me. If you want to read the whole spiel, you can see the earlier post.
This year has been such a blessing on so many levels! There are SO many things I wanted to be practicing, and so many things I didn’t realize I needed to be practicing; and, of course, the Lord made it happen for me! I am nowhere near a “finished product” of that dream self. But I did practice a lot (and also skipped a lot of opportunities to practice, which is fine) and I am feeling really grateful.
I had this vision for the mantel this year and I LOVE how it turned out! I made the sign all by myself with a little tutelage from Bob Ross. Those are, indeed, happy trees!
One thing I had specifically wanted to practice was the piano. Mother and Daddy gave me a wonderful, full-sized keyboard for Christmas several years ago, and I have wanted to get better at playing. I started out the year trying to sit down to the piano at least a little bit more than I had been doing. As my pregnancy with Bianca drew to a close and when she was brand new (so, basically the middle half of the year) I didn’t do as much. But I did get myself a new song, about which I was very excited, and have learned about half of it. And then, last week, I felt like Heavenly Father gave me one last little nudge toward my piano goals. I was asked to play in church. I found a piece that I felt was reasonable for me to learn, while still being at least somewhat interesting to listen to, and I have been practicing all week! I also decided that this was the Christmas that I would finally just sit down and practice my favorite Christmas hymn: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. And I can play it downright decently! Perhaps by Christmas proper, I’ll be able to accompany my family singing it! I am still very far from my piano goals; but I am closer today than I was on January first! So practice paid off!
Magical Christmas Bedroom!
Another thing I wanted to practice, especially after the physical blah-ness of being pregnant, was regular exercise–specifically strength training. I checked a book out from the library in January that talked about all the amazing benefits to lifelong health of strength training (the most impressive one to me was that it helps prevent osteoporosis!) as well as showing different exercises and how to put them together to get a full-body workout. It was really fun for a few weeks; but then the book was due at the library, and I was very pregnant, and I stopped practicing. Fortunately, the Lord again had my back and sent me a gift through my sister, Kathryn. She texted the girls in the family and said “Do you want to participate in this free 5 day pilates challenge?” I didn’t know basically anything about pilates; but I decided to give it a go. I had a really hard time doing some of the exercises, because I was 8 months pregnant; but after each workout, I still just felt good! I considered joining the group right then; but decided not to, because I knew I would be recovering from birth and life would be crazy. But then Kathryn texted us again in September asking if we wanted to do another challenge: which meant that the group was open for enrollment again. I did the challenge and again loved how I felt. So I totally joined! And since joining, I have been more consistent in my exercise, than I have been since Carter was born! And pilates is all about strength training! I’m definitely not perfect at doing it; but practice is again paying off!
The cultural phenomenon I decided to embrace this year was the hot chocolate bar. It was fun! But those salted caramel spoons don’t really work.
Another thing I was wanting to practice at the beginning of the year was spending more time enjoying my children. I was so frequently just trying to survive each day that I missed out on the joy of having these precious little humans the Lord has given me. And, I didn’t even have to do anything! We were blessed with this pandemic which keeps us all home all the time! There have been a few times that I remember consciously practicing focusing on my kids rather than a task to be done; but mostly I feel like this is something the Savior really just handed to me. I absolutely feel closer to each one of my five children and to Josh than I did at the beginning of the year!
Day one of Josh’s 12 days of Christmas for the kids.
The final experience I want to mention is this: I began the year hoping to develop my relationship with the Savior. I began reading Jesus the Christ and praying for greater faith in and familiarity with Jesus Christ. I specifically wanted to come to know Him without having to deal with a huge trial. ha ha! Well, the pandemic came, we had a new baby, there was an ugly election, we wondered and wondered what our future would hold. And every time I asked what I should do with everything that was going on the answer was the same: turn to the Savior. And He saved me every time. He sent miracles and healing and so much hope!
I kind of feel like I have this same sort of conclusion at the end of every year. And I hope I always do. It is clear that I will never be done practicing developing a relationship with Jesus Christ. And even though it frequently requires that trial I don’t want, I always look back and think how I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I didn’t plan to be able to match Bianca with the Christmas decor. But it sure is cute!
I have already decided on my theme-verb for 2021 and I am SO excited! It is something I have begun practicing this year that I want to take to the next level! So stay tuned!