We Need a Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute

 

Hello Family and Friends!

Today I open with a quote from A Muppet Family Christmas. "We Need a Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute." It has been a long and difficult year for most all of us, but as the end of the year nears and the holidays approach, that feeling of hope, peace, and love for family comes sweeping in. 

I have not felt as at peace or as happy as I have in the last few days for quite some time. What a relief it is to feel that as the holidays approach. 

Even tho Amber and I won't be traveling to see any of you this year, I know we will still "be together"--in spirit, in heart, and (of course) in video chats! Lol! Amber and I are actually looking forward to our first Christmas in our own home with our own family (the cats and each other). While we had already purchased the home and adopted the cats last year, we traveled for Christmas and were not at home or with our little fur babies. This year kind of feels like our first "Family Christmas" of our own. 

And, I know we will find ways to spend time with all of you in different ways this year. Technology allows that. One idea I had was all of "attending" the virtual Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas Concert together. (Thanks, Kelsey, for sharing it online). 

Amber and I have also looked at attending the virtual Nutcracker Ballet from the local Omaha Performing Art Center (which will be FREE on Youtube, I believe). They will be airing a virtual version of their yearly Nutcracker. We went last year and I was excited about it becoming a yearly family tradition for our own little family. Now, with the state of things, we all have to modify.  

I'm looking for all the ways we can still enjoy the season, even with social distancing in place. I know, for Thanksgiving, Amber and I will probably set up a tree--another tradition in the making most likely. I've also already lined out my "Christmas" schedule for all my games. Feeling the spirit, I even began writing a new Christmas mystery book--which feels good. I haven't written a fiction book for some time. 

Yard Work

It is the time of year for pre-winter maintenance, so I spent the weekend mostly doing chores. I replaced the filter on our heater system. I raked two times. I've never seen such huge piles of leaves. It feels like you could fall into them and disappear from existence. I also cleaned out the gutters--trying out a new ladder we got for it. Thankfully, not a ton of backup. I did have to detach a couple of the downspouts to dump them out. No biggie. 

Star Wars

Over the weekend, starting on Friday night, Amber and I watched through the new trilogy of Star Wars movies. I'd seen the first two but not the final one. Amber had only seen the first one. I thought it was an excellent trilogy. I really loved it and thought the final film especially was a great end cap to the series. Ultimate darkness vs ultimate light. I really loved seeing Harrison Ford, Mark Hamil, and Carrie Fisher in their roles, but felt like the new actors really took the mantel on themselves well. I'd love to see Rey in more movies or TV shows. 

Of course, Amber and I have been in a Star Wars mood thanks to the new season of The Mandalorian which is airing each Friday right now. But, I guess I'm the real star wars nerd in the house. Taylor pointed out last Tuesday that he always saw me as the "Star Wars guy" in the family. Lol. 

I guess I just love and connect with the ideas of hope, strength, resistance, meditation, and even an afterlife as presented in the series.

I've also been reading Star Wars comics from the local library (hooray for them reopening!) and Star Wars novels. Now is only there was a Christmas themed Star Wars novel! Lol. There will be a Lego Christmas Star Wars special coming out this month which I'm looking forward to!  

And of course, now my Christmas wishlist is bloated with cool looking Star Wars stuff. 

Decorating

I ended up going out to Walmart twice recently for groceries and other household items we needed. I stopped both times to look at Christmas decorations which makes me so happy! (I really loved the Star Wars Christmas ornaments! The BB-8 one especially looked really cute! I didn't buy it, tho.) 

I called mom during one of the Christmas decorations shopping trips, as I remembered shopping for a new smaller and more manageable tree for Cara's house last year. I also shopped for a few gifts for people in the family. I love gift shopping so much! I guess it really is my love language. 

While Amber and I are waiting to put up the official tree and decorate the rest of the house, I did pick up a few things to decorate my office space. I like the idea of "baby steps" toward Christmas. A little decoration now. Maybe a touch more in a couple weeks, and then the big tree at or after Thanksgiving. (If we find a big tree we like that doesn't cost a fortune. 

I also peeked at out at home decorations for things to put up in the office. I forgot about our little wooden manger scene we have that is so simple but beautiful. Most of that will wait to go up later, but I did pick a few things to go up in the office. Amber thinks I should also set up the mini 3 foot tree in the office, but I'm going to space it out and wait a couple weeks to put it up. It all won't be special if its up for too long. Amber wants it to be super special, so she likes it up only in December. 

So, for the office, I did some silver garland and frosted light around my Mennonite Christmas paintings (I got those in New York a few years back) and a few "rustic" ornaments with barns in snow I got last year and love. There is also a Christmas cow skull. 

Then, I also have a "village" of sorts on my desk. I have a tiny pink light-up tree at the "center of town" and then there is a French Fry stand and a Hot Dog stand. I just loved those little food carts so much I had to get them. They were perfect. There were a couple other food cart themed ones at Walmart, but I had to put myself on a small budget. I also got an adorable Christmas plate for $2 with a rabbit near a snowy tree. Amber told me it needs those Christmas butter cookies on it. Lol. The final touch was using some of my Christmas books as decorations! I love the cover art on these so why not? 

Some of the lights we have (as well as the mini Christmas tree and snowflake lights) need a battery pack, so I ended up having to run to Family Dollar across the road to get some double A's. I found this awsome Christmas travel mug there with the red truck on it that has been popular in recent years. I think they call it "a midwest Christmas." I love it, either way. I like finding cool "dollar store" stuff for cheap that makes me really happy like that. I really enjoyed sipping holiday coffee from it and listening to Christmas music while decorating today. 

I think that is all for this week, fam! I love all of you so much! 

Noah