Around Here Week 52: 12/26-12/31

A glimpse into the longest, most cozy and wonderful week of the year. 

photo cred: B

picture cred: Abba

selfie cred: Heather

photo cred: Becky C

Intentional Outdoor hours (FINAL COUNT): 616+ hours (of 1000)
Up a few more hours this week with farm chores and in with a final count of a little over 600 hours outside on purpose this year. Not the best I've ever done, but not the worst either. I track my time because out of everyone in this house, I get the least amount of hours outside. So if I'm at 600+ hours, I know everyone else is still doing okay on fresh air, wide open spaces, and the great big world around them. Even though I've never hit 1000 hours in the past decade that I've been doing this challenge (it seriously might be a decade at this point) - I still find it valuable to try and keep track of the time. I know being outside is so good for me; mind, body, and spirit. (check out the podcast and/or website for 1000 Hours Outside if you want to be inspired!) 

Reading all the books. I read and finished A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez. I do really enjoy the learning and curiosity to know more about a specific event or time period that comes with reading historical fictions but then also getting tangled up with the fictional storyline. I think it is maybe my favorite genre because many of the books that I still randomly think about are historical fiction. After that one, I read and finished (in 6 hrs) The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore which was adorable and everything Christmasy romance a girl could hope for. Very cute and also the pick for one of my book clubs which meets in January. Nothing your girl enjoys more than binge-reading a romcom. I continued my read aloud of the The Wild Robot by Peter Brown to the kids which we finished around 4p on New Years Eve, so then they immediately watched the movie too. Then I read Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro and finished it in two days because I put a self-imposed deadline, hah. I really enjoyed it and I will be thinking about it for a long time - 5 stars because of the thinking and reflecting it has me doing! 

Listening to The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey which I am enjoying a lot! This time period will get to my heart every time, I swear; even when based in snowy Alaska! 

Books finished 2024 (FINAL COUNT): 32 books. A mixture of reading the book and listening to some books on my commute. Best books of the year for me included: I Must Betray You by Ruta Septys, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler, All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker, and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro 

Goat hoof trimming day! Always a spectacle but I'm glad we got it done. B trims the hooves while I keep the goats secured by their horns or their collars for those without horns. We did everyone outside of the fence until we made it to our last, and most skittish goat, Jojo. We went in the pasture and Osa thought it was playtime so I had Jojo's head between my legs (Hah!) and Osa by the collar while B got her hooves done. Then he clipped her a little too close and had to run for antiseptic spray so I had to keep both Jojo and Osa under control, but of course Osa lost her ever-loving mind and started teasing Jojo who picked me up on her back (LOL forever) and dragged me out through the shed so I ripped my leg up and it is totally black and blue.  

Test driving all the new gadgets and gizmos from Christmas. The kids slept on the new bean bags, Violet made slime and she and I put together her mini terrarium. Olive put together her new puzzle while Rusty and Reddy ran all over the house keeping us safe from spies and zombie and robots and any other potential threats with their arsenal of new toy weapons. Gemma barricaded herself in her room redecorating and organizing with all her new boho decor while Grey headed to the woods to climb trees with his new climber tree stand. 

Visits with family and friends. Abba and Chum took the four youngest to their house for a walk on the river and some outdoor running and playing (thank you!) Heather took five of the kids (!) to go see Moana 2 at the movie theater. Grey had a sleepover and a tree climbing extravagance with his outdoor loving bestie twins Bryce & Reed. B had breakfast with a former basketball player (now grown up kid ?!) Aiden. And mostly everyone left me alone to sit under a blanket with my books and hot tea (THANK YOU!)

2025 Planner set up and dreaming all the dreams of a new year. A fresh, crisp, clean planner full of potential and promises is one of my favorite things. I got a Bloom Planner this year and I am really liking the first few pages to help you organized your hopes and dreams. If I'm being honest though, right this second it feels a little overwhelming, but I hope to fill it out as I go along through the first few months. I only finished out the "I love myself because...." section and it felt like a hug to myself, so hooray! 

Working on 100 Small Things list for 2025 after a break since 2021. I really do miss the direction it gave years in the past - just having a written list of dreams and tasks and goals for the year felt like it gave the year some reachable finish lines. While I was writing some of my list, I was dazzled to reflect on things that we did accomplish even though there was no list of 100 things those years (we got millings on the driveway, we installed the basketball hoop and blacktop for the kids out back, we finished the basement den, we took our first family vacation to the beach (!!), we bought a new car, I started doing events at Studerbabies Farm & Free Play, we got a guardian dog for the farm, Brandon took a head football coach position, we both changed jobs. It has still been fruitful years even without the list!) I do just prefer a list to make sure the little things don't fall through the cracks of raising a family and that I'm still pointed in the direction of our big dreams. 

Garage cleanout (Brandon). A much needed but daunting task and he tinkered around all week getting it cleared out and cleaned up and organized. He and Pappy moved all the extra wood to outside of the garage and it is covered and safe from the winter elements. We can fit both cars in the garage now (!!) Bless this man. 

Christmas at Mimi's with our Studer cousins. We had spaghetti and salad and lots of cookies. The kids all played the viral paper streamer game to win some little prizes (surprisingly harder and funnier than you would expect). Mimi did matching jammies for all the kids (and they were so cozy!) I am so grateful that we have our Mimi (86 years young!) and great way to end all of our Christmas celebrations. 

Basement clean out (Gemma). In preparation for her sleepover, Gemma had a burst of ambition and tackled the disaster and disorganization that was the basement. She got everything cleared out and organized, bagged up ripped and old snow clothes to remove from the inventory, and swept and wiped down. I had honest to goodness tears in my eyes when she had the big reveal. There was just no way I was going to be able to tackle that project (mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or physically - hah!) I told her multiple times how grateful I was that she took that on and got it completed.

Hosting a charcuterie sleepover for Gemma and her friends. All the girls brought over charcuteries boards like the appetizer board from Colbie and the ice cream sundae board from Peyton. There was a sliders board from Molly, a traditional meat and cheese board from Leah, and both Gemma and Grace had taco boards! Everything was delicious and Gemma, her friends, and her sneaky siblings had a great time sampling all the foods. The girls hung out in the new basement den and watched movies (bless them for accepting Violet, Red, and Olive for most of the night) and slept over on the upstairs couch and ottoman. 

While everyone else was cranking out big projects and going all the places...I read, and napped, and reflected, and soul searched because its this time of year. I mean I also did laundry, dishes, fed these kids three times a day, vacuumed, and organized the logistics of each day...but that barely counts for anything (hah, motherhood). Thankfully B understands that I am in a full on sprint while juggling all the things from August to the week of Christmas and this last week of the year is when I fall into the abyss of rest and self reflection and he just needs to let me sloth it out (bless him). I don't want to get dressed properly and I want to be in bed by 9:30p every night and wake up at 6am while the house sleeps. I just want to drink warm drinks all day long, I want blankies and notebooks, and to stare out windows in contemplation. 

Officially accepting Christmas trees at the farm! We got our first one from Colbie's family (thank you!) and the goats were so happy to get some green added to their diet. Winter makes for a lot of hay and grain for them, so getting some freshness for snack makes them so happy. They made quick work of that tree - it was bare by the next morning! 

Ringing in the new year like an old lady barely staying awake in my reindeer onesie jammies with the kids jumping all over the couch. HAH. I counted down from 10, gave everyone a kiss, texted Grey who was at the Valentines (thanks for having him!) and then went to bed! I prefer January 1 over late night Dec 31 because elderly vibes are my truest vibes.

Sporting with three swim practices for Rusty and the introduction to the New Years eve swim tradition of lunch at McDonalds with the swim team after morning practice. I was so grateful to the veteran swim moms at lunch who helped me set up my swim app and get Rust's upcoming meets declared (thank you!) Gemma had three basketball practices and Grey had a JV basketball game, and four basketball practices. 

Making Korean beef with rice and green beans, leftover potato soup from Christmas eve (yum), "crack" chicken sammies, homemade strombolis, tacos, post holidays leftovers for lunches most days (everyone was very tired of it). Also, so many Christmas cookies (too many!). For Mimi's Christmas I made garlic cheese knots and chocolate covered pretzels. For Gemma's sleepover I made a batch of monster cookies and assembled her taco bar charcuterie.

Around Here: Christmas 12/22-25

 A glimpse into what it is like during the most magical time of the year

photo cred: Jackie F

12 year difference

6:15am Christmas Eve Walmart run for stocking stuffers

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 613+ hours (of 1000)

Reading A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

Listening to The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (thanks Shelly for the idea!) 

Marco the Elf antics: holding the microphone, sitting in Santa's arms, with a birthday candle in a Debbie Cake Tree for baby Jesus on Christmas eve. We said goodbye to Marco before we went to bed on Christmas eve too since Santa was taking him back to the North Pole for another year. We will miss him - our sweet, cuddly elf. 

Christmas movies watched: The Red One, Babes in Toyland (1986), Christmas with the Kranks, Edward Scissorhands

Christmas cookie baking: peppermint chocolate chip cookies (Reddy and Olive helped), sugar cookies with boiled icing (my grandma Helen's recipes for both) (Gemma helped), potato candy (instagram story updated!), pretzel/hershey kiss/m&m bites (Reddy and Loopy helped)

Traditions. I believe a lot in the importance of family traditions so I have always tried hard to maintain them and build them and make them feel special. Our kids care about our traditions too and talked about them a lot this year (or at least I noticed this year maybe because the stretch of ages of our kids feels so vast right now, it felt really important when our biggest kids were telling our littlest kids about our family traditions). Our Christmas traditions include: our elf Marco, St. Nicholas day with candy in their shoes (12/06), matching Christmas jammies, delivering cookies to our neighbors, sibling gift exchange, hanging up Christmas cards that we receive, our Christmas eve party, sitting on the steps on Christmas morning until the coffee is made and then each kid youngest to oldest gets to go down to the living room. 

Early Sunday morning (6:30a) food shopping. I dragged myself out of bed, made coffee, and headed off before anyone else woke up with my grocery list in hand. It was snowing a little and despite being freezing cold and in no mood for shopping (I never am), I was glad to be on a mission for only food. On my list I Had food for the week (non-Christmas related), Christmas eve party food for our house, and post-Christmas food for hungry kids (but also knowing there would be leftovers). There was almost no one there so it was actually pretty easy and uneventful. I did run into one fellow momma (hi Mel!) in the check out line and we were both laughing at how ridiculous it is to be there that early but for real for real trying to pull off Christmas magic requires backflips sometimes. 

St. David's Youth Christmas Pageant. Gemma helped as an usher, Violet did a reading, and both of them, Rusty, Reddy, and Olive all sang during the children's mass. 

Sibling Gift Exchange! We all loaded up and headed to 5Below and each kid got another siblings' name and a $20 budget. The kids all did really well actually choosing for their person and not getting upset that they couldn't buy things for themselves. It stayed mostly a secret, but after some side conversations with each other, they figure it out pretty quick who has who. I love that they are all so proud and excited to buy things for whichever sibling they got. And I love seeing their ideas of each other in the gifts that they choose. We open sibling gift exchange gifts last on Christmas morning and they are all shouting thank you to each other and smiling about what they each picked.

Christmas at Abba & Chum's house. We spent Sunday evening at my parents' house to celebrate Christmas. We had yummy food, fun games (the cellophane and oven mitts game, arm wrestling, and lemon juice drinking!), and lots of laughter and memories. It was the first holiday celebration in their new house too which felt momentous - congrats to mom and dad after a year of total dedication to flipping the whole house from down to the studs, including an 8ft ditch to fix plumbing, and choosing all the fixtures and appliances, and countless trips to the storage unit, to drywalling and painting and cold winter days with no heat, and hot summer days with no air conditioning - you did it! You made it to Christmas at your new house. Proud of you both and thankful you might REST a little bit now (hahha, xoxxo!)

Rusty's oral surgery on Monday morning. B, Rusty, and I headed out at 5:30a towards Monroeville for his 7:15a appointment. Rust was a champ about it and said he just wanted to get it over with. We really did have an awesome doctor who was so kind and made Rusty feel at ease. I was able to be in the room until it was time to start and then anxiously waited in the waiting room with B. The entire surgery (removal of one baby tooth and the extra tooth) took only about 15 minutes and the doc said that Rusty did awesome. He was a little loopy from the laughing gas but seemed mostly tired more than anything. Just children's tylenol for the pain, no stitches, just rinse and brush so it can heal up! What a trooper right before Christmas - but he really did bounce back to the point of running and jumping later that evening and we had to convince him to take at least one day of rest?! 

Preschool Christmas party for Reddy & Olive. The babies went to preschool (half day) on Monday to participate in their Christmas party. They had snacks and did their classmate gift exchange. They loved it! We gifted the teachers Lindor chocolates and tissue boxes and Clorox wipes (hah). God bless those preschool teachers - we are so thankful for you! 

Early Christmas eve morning (6a) stocking shopping (!!!) We made it to Walmart by 6a and were on the hunt for the final little trinkets we needed for stockings for the kids: toothbrushes and their favorite candy, etc. There was next to no one else there (us and the employees it seemed- hah!) and we were able to get everything done in a little over an hour. Back before the kiddies even opened their eyes! I got everything wrapped that morning too and was able to make it back downstairs just as kids were asking for something to eat. 

Breakfast brunch, cookies, cleaning, and craziness. Oh Christmas eve morning and afternoon is such a whirlwind. We made a huge breakfast and had Pappy over too - so everyone got plenty to eat. Then it was having each kid sit and roll out a portion of sugar cookie dough. Bless Gemma who helped me ice them all after each kid lost interest after about one. Grey pulled open the fridge door and all the pretzel/kiss/m&m bites fell to the floor! B got the ham prepped and in the crockpot and then he peeled an obscene amount of potatoes (I only used half of them and put the rest in the filled to the brim fridge). Grey chopped up the broccoli and cucumbers for the veggie platter. Then it was getting everyone dressed up for mass at 4:30p: hair to braid, shirts to iron, shoes to find. We made it though with only a few moments of panic mixed in there.

Christmas eve mass at St. David's and we got to sing and share pews with Pappy, Mimi, Abba, Chum, Kitty, Bryan, and the kids' honorary grandma Shelly. It was beautiful and all of our favorite moment is holding candles with all the lights off as we sing Silent Night. Red and Olive were so excited to participate this year and I only needed to remind Olive once to not hairflip near the open flame! 

Christmas eve at our house and thankful that everyone just goes with the flow and spends the evening chatting and snacking and chilling while the kids run amok around the house tracking Santa on every tv in the jammies. We make sure to get one nice family picture in our Christmas eve mass clothes - but the kids are always anxious to open on Christmas jammies. We got reindeer onesies this year (LOL) and the kids put them on right away (I did too because they are for real comfy). Kitty played UNO with the kids and Abba did her annual tradition of reading The Night Before Christmas (but specific to our family so all the grandkids names are in it!) Everyone brings something to share (thank you!) and the hours of kid excitement are manageable and pass easily. Our house is full and bright and warm and loud. it is perfect. As Santa makes his way up South America (thank you Norad tracker on Youtube), the little believers start encouraging guests to leave (LOL) and the kids pick out their cookies and dump the reindeer dust in the yard as they throw carrots all around too. 

Christmas morning! please Tabitha, don't ever forget what it is like to sit in the living room on Christmas morning with all six kids ripping and gasping and laughing and shouting 'thank you!' and 'it's just what I wanted!' with the Christmas music playing and the tree glowing and you make eye contact with B over tops of blonde heads with wrapping paper strewn everywhere and a warm cup of coffee in your hand. When they say the good 'ole days - they mean this exact moment. please hold on to it in the deepest part of your memory. 

Christmas day at Pappy's house. We spent the rest of the day at Pappy's house in our reindeer jammies with Mimi who came down to celebrate with us! Pap made his famous and delicious meatloaf with potatoes and carrots. He had a cake to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus (one of Gigi's favorite traditions), and gifts wrapped for all the kids and me and B. We watched the Steelers v Chiefs game and I got in a 2+hr nap (!! my favorite tradition and best gift every year at Pappy & Gigi's house on Christmas day). We missed you Gigi, but knew you were there with us. love you. xxo. (sending hugs to anyone who was carrying a broken heart with them this Christmas). 

Home on Christmas night and not a care in the world about the mess and the clutter and the leftovers and the laundry baskets. I made it. I made it through the holiday season and all the magic. I made it through fall sports and back to school. It was time for rest; the weary world rejoices.

Sporting because why not (hah): Violet had a double header basketball day (semifinal and championship game) and her team came in 2nd place! Gemma had one basketball practice and Grey had a shoot around, the consolation game for the Central Cambria tournament, and a Christmas Eve basketball practice.

Making baked ravioli for Monday night. Christmas eve breakfast was a big one to try to hold us over until the evening: we had pancakes, eggs, cinnamon rolls, bacon, and sausage. For our Christmas eve party we made a Tavern ham in the crockpot, potato soup, maple and bacon brussels sprouts, cheesy garlic pull-apart bread, and a veggie platter. We also ate A LOT of cookies.