Random Thoughts from Quarantine, New Year's Edition

I've been sitting on the couch in the basement for five full days now.  You get a lot of random thoughts when you're stuck in one spot for a while.  For lack of a better post, why not share them here for a little random, point-in-time wrap up to the year?

- I haven't really appreciated this basement enough.  It's cozy and works well for this kind of quarantine--a place to sleep, a place to sit, and my own bathroom.  If it had a shower and kitchenette, it'd be pretty much perfect as a little apartment.  I have gotten into a pretty good routine down here, actually.  When we bought this house almost 16 years ago, we wanted an extra space that wasn't so detached from the rest of the house like our old basement was.  I already knew it was pretty perfect for displaying all of our memorabilia, but I don't think I really realized just how great it was for having that extra space until now. 

- There are worse things during Christmas break than some forced solo downtime, although I may have reached some sort of limit today.  I worked my way through a couple comfort movies (Mary Poppins and 10 Things I Hate About You), two seasons each of two series I had gotten behind on, a four-episode documentary, and probably another thing here or there.  I downloaded my first book (although it turned out to be an audio book) and listened to some of that.  But I found myself at a loss for other things I wanted to watch for much of the afternoon.  There's always a long list when I don't have the time, and then I forget most of it once I do.  Some of it's not streaming (at least not for free--what are we already paying all these stupid apps for then?), but it always feels like a lost opportunity when I can't think of anything!  Tonight I did manage to get through Wicked and the movie If (about imaginary friends).  I felt a bit more productive after that.  And for the record, there are some TV shows I still have on my list, but I can do those in small chunks, much easier than full movies, so I try to prioritize movies when I'm stuck.  Now I'm waiting for midnight so I can't get too into anything long, so I'm watching Reading Rainbow on PBS Retro.  The episodes (except for one at 1am) are all more recent than my prime, but it's like a weird comfort thing.  And now that I see it again, I can see how the new host, Mychal Threets, truly was the perfect person to reboot it. 

- I'm actually not very good at watching TV anymore.  During the pandemic, our entire household schedule and setup changed.  The boys sort of took over the TV more, and Jacob started staying up later (that was probably age more than anything), so we lost our dedicated TV adult TV time.  We stopped watching our DVR shows, and I got out of the habit of watching TV.  I also got a phone somewhere in there, which probably made it less important.  I also didn't have a lot of brainspace with everyone always in the house, and I think it just got hard to do dedicated time for myself with a TV.  I've gotten a little better, but it's still hard for me to sit and watch a movie without getting distracted by my phone. When I scroll through all the streaming services, it's a reminder of how many shows I'm still not watching.  I just don't have the mental space, especially for overly dramatic stuff.  So, I will continue to be out of the pop culture loop for most shows.  I have done pretty well overall this week for someone who doesn't watch TV anymore, but it does make me wonder how I managed to watch so much TV as a kid.

- Note to self: Next time you're quarantined, grab the Wii on the way down!

- One channel I keep checking when I need something new is Buzzr, a retro game show network.  I actually discovered a game show this morning that I swear I've never seen, which I didn't think was possible.  It only ran one year, so maybe that's why.  It was hosted by Monty Hall of Let's Make a Deal fame, and it was called Split Second.  The format was weird--these vague three-part trivia questions that the three contestants had to split.  I found it a bit clumsy, and the contestants didn't do very well.  Their cash totals were pretty low and the bonus round was a total luck crapshoot rather than skill, so I guess I can see why it didn't last long.  It did have another life before 1986, and I guess it got rebooted on the Game Show Network more recently.  But I was such a game show nut back in the 80s and early 90s that I can't believe I hadn't seen anything about it before now. 

- I'm a little bummed that I'm missing all the bonus Christmas decor time upstairs.  I always sort of wanted a tree down here, but it would need to be a small one and we didn't spend enough time down here to put the effort into it.  Until now, of course.  I really want to get back upstairs, because I figure it all needs to come down in a week and a half, and this was supposed to be my time to just soak it in.  The boys aren't even putting on the tree lights, darn it.  I keep looking at my Advent calendars all done, and can't quite believe we're there and past.  It always goes so fast.  It honestly feels like I just put it all up, and with how much work it is, I try to maximize it as long as I can without the task hanging over my head.  I have tried to make my winter decor really enjoyable so the downshift isn't as sad, but January is rough enough as the lights start to disappear.

- My family has been eating out all week because Craig can't cook.  I feel like we've run the gamut, which probably made tonight's "special" New Year's Eve dinner pretty routine.  Hopefully I'm allowed to start cooking and get out of here tomorrow.  I never quite thought I'd want to cook dinner again, but here we are.

- I've learned while living down here that even when the laundry is 15 feet away and visible, I can still manage to forget to change it over or take something out.  Perhaps that ADHD gene started with me?  (Coincidentally, I may find that out in a couple weeks...)

- We're finishing off the year with yet another snowstorm.  I've missed a lot of snow this week, not that I'm too sad about not driving in it.  Craig has the snowblower now, so I also don't have to feel bad about not being out shoveling.  Buffalo and Syracuse are getting even more hammered.  Syracuse actually has more snow this year than Buffalo and Rochester combined.  What a crazy, cold, snowy December.  I'm really hoping for some warmth and clear pavement in January, although I'd be willing to trade that for better weather come March, if I have to choose.

- PSA: Next time you or someone in your house is sick, keep an empty tissue box when you get one, and use it as a receptacle for the used tissues.  It keeps them all contained so you're not picking up a million gross, germy tissues that miss the wastebasket.  Game-changer.

So...with 24 minutes left in the year as I type this, I figure I should probably try to reflect on 2025.  It was definitely an interesting year with lots of ups and downs.  Jacob's recovery, another school change, Carter's diagnosis, me trying to get my health managed in lots of different ways, another job evolution for Craig, another Disney trip, and the World Series were probably the biggest stories of the year.  I'm thankful Jacob's leg is finally better and Carter's health seems to be under control.  I love watching both boys play their sports, even more now that they're both doing so much better.  I'm a little sad Carter's and my adventures seem to be dwindling a bit, but I'm grateful for the few we had, including all the Disney exploring.  Going through most of a year without massive anxiety has been simultaneously eye-opening and also just how it should be.  I took dozens of walks through all seasons.  I wish I had some other big accomplishment, but honestly, with all that's happening in the world these days, most of us seem to be just hanging on in a lot of ways.  So I guess walking into the new year a little battered but still moving is a reasonable accomplishment on its own.

I try not to make resolutions or have expectations for a new year, because just when you think you've got a plan, life has a way at throwing you curveballs that throw everything off track.  So I just try to live life one day at a time.  But God-willing, we've got lots of basketball ahead, as well as more baseball than ever for Carter.  I pray for good health and happiness for all of us, restoration of health for lots of friends and family, and fun new adventures for all of us.  We have memories to be made and joy to find.  Time to tip-toe into 2026 and see what we can make of it!  (Now to peek upstairs and see if I can share a distanced "Happy New Year!" with whoever is still up!)

Christmas Epilogue

We opted to stay over Christmas night in NT so we could go to the outlets the next morning.  Carter desperately needed new sneakers and Jacob always likes to look.  The boys were lucky enough to get Grandma's pancakes for breakfast, and we made it to the outlets early, around 9:30.  We actually did well.  Carter found sneakers (in the men's section!), I found sneakers (my go-to pair is getting worn around the toes), Craig got sneakers, and Jacob got workout shoes and some pants.  

We headed home immediately after that, and thank goodness because we had to drive through some crazy snow.  The roads were mostly okay, but trucks would kick up snow, almost to a white-out, when they'd drive by in the left lane.  It wasn't that slippery (aside from one lane change), but traffic was pretty slow.  We got home to snow on the roads but not really on the grass, but within hours we had a solid coating, and by the evening we had 3-4 inches.  Buffalo and areas south of us apparently got some ice after their snow.  I'm glad we didn't!  Yesterday we had a bunch of rain, and all day today was super windy.  Our gusts were up above 60, but Buffalo had one at hurricane force!  We had a tree go down in our woods, behind the neighbor's house, which took down another tree and a pole.  A bunch of neighbors haven't had power in probably 12 hours now.  There were snow squalls made worse by wind, and more snow is coming.  Everything that melted yesterday and overnight was replaced pretty well today.  Other areas are under blizzard warnings, so it's a bit of crazy weather to end the year.  

Anyway, Jacob had practice in the afternoon once we got home, and I found myself wanting to take a nap after unpacking.  I'd had a bit of a scratchy throat since Christmas Eve night, but figured it was probably a combination of lots of talking, my reflux, and a couple glasses of wine.  It didn't really bother me, though--it was just there--and I felt completely fine.  By the morning after Christmas, I noticed a little urge to cough, but again, I still felt fine.  But by that afternoon, I was tired and noticed a little more congestion, and when I was done with my little couch snooze, I was pretty sure I was coming down with something.  I was dispatched to the basement pretty quickly, and the congestion hit pretty hard that night.  The boys got me a combo test the next day, and sure enough, I'm one of the latest in a record number of flu cases right now.  Well, shoot, that's not exactly how I wanted to spend my post-Christmas glow.  

The first full day was pretty rough.  I was tired, progressively weak and achy, and congested with massive sinus pressure.  My fever was low, but I definitely had the chills/sweats fluctuations.  I was so out of it that when my TV viewing kept erroring or losing WiFi, I was taking tiny snoozes working up the energy to try to fix it.  Fortunately, when I woke up in the middle of my second night downstairs, I noticed I felt considerably better.  It was past the point of it being the medicine, so I felt like there was a good chance I was past the worst of it.  I was, as of now anyway, though it hasn't been a completely straight line.  I still had my cough and had to blow my nose a lot that second day, and my fever briefly came back at night.  By today my congestion was still there, still annoying, but I could breathe more regularly and the cough was much better.  But I haven't had to take Tylenol since yesterday morning, and I haven't medicated at all since this morning when I was trying to be more normal when I went for my biometric screening through work.  It's a $125 incentive for both Craig and me to do them, and I had to cram them in at the last minute, not knowing I'd end up sick for it.  But it's fast, I masked up, and it was fine aside from my BP being a bit high, which is probably the illness (or maybe the mask--I get so hot).  Still, I was able to work a full day as planned and just feel like I have a pesky cold now.    

I'm still stuck in the basement for a bit, considering there's an asthmatic, a germaphobe, and an immunocompromised kid upstairs.  I have been spending my time catching up on TV and movies (new and comfort movies), and finally felt good enough yesterday to blog.  I have been jumping between devices, from my phone to my computer to my new tablet.  I've been trying to get that set up with some apps, and I did download my first Libby book on there.  Might as well read while I have the time.  I keep masking up to grab other activities to keep me occupied, like my bills to pay or my new calendar that needs things written in it.  I had a lot that I wanted to accomplish over this break, but I can't do some of it while trapped down here...and what I can still do will only accomplish so much until I'm released.  We'll see.  I'm a little worried about the long list of things that I'll need to do in the house when I'm finally free.  As it was I had to sneak up while Jacob was gone tonight to wash some dishes since the sink was full and Craig could only wrangle so much.  It all happened pretty quick upon returning home, so I'm not sure what is left undone or is getting messy without my oversight.  There could be a lot to do.

Of course, most important is that hopefully I didn't pass it along to anyone else--definitely not my immediate family, but also the many people that I interacted with throughout the holiday.  I really had no idea until it truly hit, so I don't know that I could have really prevented it without being overly, weirdly, peak-COVID careful.  I have no idea where I caught it, as it had to be before Christmas Eve unless the throat thing was unrelated.  I didn't really have a lot of direct contact with people after Wednesday the prior week.  I didn't work outside the house, and Jacob didn't have basketball.  I don't know if I could have just caught it from a surface while running errands, or maybe from coughing people behind me in church?  I didn't do much else, so I'm really not sure.  My cousin called me when she saw me post about it, because she was worried she might be Patient Zero (although she didn't test for anything).  She was congested on Christmas but assumed it was allergies because she otherwise felt fine until Saturday.  But presumably I was infected far before I saw her Christmas night.  Interestingly, my mom had some shortness of breath and higher heart rate right before Christmas, but the cardiac doctor didn't find any issues.  I noticed when I was feeling terrible that my resting heart rate was high, around 110, which made me wonder if she had maybe been exposed (prior to me, clearly) and felt okay but still had those minor impacts.  She did say she had a very minor cough, too, so who knows?  I had that happen with COVID, where I was definitely exposed, never tested positive, but had some random symptoms and ended up showing antibodies consistent with an infection.  Viruses get in and do weird things, so maybe?  But the further we get away from when everyone was exposed, the more comfortable I'll feel.  And truly, with this record flu surge, there were numerous possibilities for people who had no idea to expose others, so anyone really could have caught anything from anyone.  It still sucks, but I'm doing what I can to limit the impacts now.

The biggest bummer is that I was supposed to spend the day tomorrow with Heather, Peter, and Mason at Strong Museum.  We've postponed to Friday for now, hoping that we can sneak it in before the dollhouse exhibit closes.  Heather's dad built them, so they hold a special place in her heart.  It would still be fun to go later if we have to because Mason's going to LOVE it, but the dollhouses would be a bonus.  Hopefully we can make it work.  

So, not the week after Christmas I was expecting, but some forced relaxation isn't the worst thing as long as this flu actually exits the way it should.  It was a nice holiday, though I'd like to get back upstairs to enjoy my decorations before I'm compelled to take them down.  Wish me luck!

Different, But Good

Well, Christmas is over and it was quite the ride this year.  I felt like I was ahead of the curve for most of the month, but as time ticked down, I realized there definitely weren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.  I worked Monday but decided I needed to take off Tuesday.  I had finished everything I needed to, and my mind wouldn't be into work anyway.  Originally we thought Jacob had an afternoon game that day, but then it was confirmed to be a night game.  Either way it meant we couldn't do our usual Christmas Eve Eve with church and dinner, which was a bummer.  We woke up to some snow on Tuesday, and word came early that Jacob's game was canceled.  There wasn't that much snow and it was supposed to turn to rain later, so initially we were a little confused, but it turned out that the team they were playing still had school that day and they had enough snow there (about 45 minutes away) to have a snow day.  It had been a week and a half since Jacob's last game, so we were bummed it was canceled, but I definitely needed that time back!  Initially we thought we could do our Christmas Eve Eve as planned, but then Jacob's coach set up a scrimmage from 4-6, which effectively took over any possibility for church.  I spent most of the day doing food prep, packing, and some final running around and wrapping, and then took a break so Carter and I could go to church.  Christmas Eve is one of my favorites, particularly because our church does a beautiful candlelit "Silent Night" at the end.  It's so beautiful and is always one of those moments where I transition from Christmas prep to actually celebrating Christmas.  Then it was back home to prep our lobster dinner (salmon for Craig) and more food, including our breakfast cinnamon rolls.  By that point I was so tired, so over all the work.  Usually my breaking point is that last stop at Wegmans when everything feels overwhelming and I just sort of want to cry right then and there.  I didn't have that this year, but it definitely hit me in the middle of the food prep and the endless rounds of dishes with so much final stuff needing to be done.

It ended up being a pretty late night with all of that, plus trying to shoo the kids off to bed so the gifts could come out.  Carter is officially past the Santa thing, but I refused to bring gifts up until they were upstairs.  Of course Jacob had to come down for something in the middle of it, but whatever.  His loss of the surprise, I guess.  After everything was out, I did a longer than usual moment sitting in the dark with the trees and lights.  I had been listening to our church worship director's Spotify playlist during all of my cookie baking and food prep, and one of the songs on it was also part of the Christmas Eve service.  It was such a beautiful song that I just sat there for a bit listening to that.  

I love the Scandinavian-inspired star that I got last year.

I was very happy with how all my decor turned out this year.

We were planning on getting up pretty early because we ideally needed to get on the road by 11 or so, but let's just say we all needed sleep!  Still, we were up at a reasonable time.  Craig (and Carter's hippo) crashed the stair picture!

And here's the real stair picture...

They're really looking giant these days, no?

After I typed that caption above, I actually took a few minutes to gather up a folder of all the stair photos so I could look at them in sequence.  The first one was in 2012 with just Jacob, and then he was solo again the following year when Carter was still a baby.  From there on it's been both of them, and the transition from the first one together to this year is pretty shocking.

I mean...seriously?  Time is a THIEF.

Gifts this year were a bit all over the place.  We didn't really have any big gifts for either kid, though we did have a couple fun ones.  We'd make good on it, trust me.  But first, stockings!

So, back when Carter was in his really bad UC flare at the end of the summer, I bought him a stuffed hippo he really liked at Aldi.  I subsequently got my capybara from the same line.  The hippo definitely brightened his life at a tough time, and quickly become a full-fledged member of the family with his own voice and personality.  Carter has even animated him with AI apps, which is pretty funny.  He'd been saying the hippo needs a friend, and Craig took it upon himself to order two!  I spent most of the season obsessed with finding Christmas hippo pajama pants at Five Below, which I did on my epic shopping night out when I picked up the stocking stuffers and a few other things (which, incidentally, two-weeks-later me was SUPER grateful I did--that kind of last minute shopping might have done me in!).  Separately, Craig had ordered a hippo shirt, and in the end it made the perfect Christmas PJs!

The hippo had his own gift under the tree--a small hippo--and Carter got this big snuggly one.  

Jacob got a sleepy Simba like Carter's Figment that he got at Disney this summer.  I ordered it from Target, and the package got stuck for over a week past its delivery date.  After the incident a few years ago where that happened and we ended up with a box of cat food (and the actual gifts out of stock), I checked in with Target and they sent a replacement in two days...only to have the other one finally show up a couple days later.  So we now have two Simbas, one of which will probably get donated at some point.

Jacob also got a few pairs of pajama pants, a real Apple charging cord and some new headphone adapters, a TENS unit for stim at home, some shorts, and this year's ornament, a Mickey Mouse nutcracker.  I also got him (and the family) a WiFi extender since he always complains about the Xbox WiFi not being good because it's at the far end of the house.  We might actually need a new router, but we'll give that a shot first.  Carter got a new water bottle for school, a bunch of soda flavored lip balms that he wanted at the Coca-Cola store at Disney, a Blue Jays shirt, a couple other shirts (he really needed long-sleeved shirts that fit!), some new Christmas socks, and baseball cards.  He had a couple too-expensive Lego sets on his list, which he didn't get, but at the last minute Craig ordered him something a bit more reasonable, which was waiting for us when we got home.  We also allowed the boys to get an Xbox game earlier in the month when it was cheaper.  Carter also got a $12 boost in a game he's been playing, and Jacob was also allowed to order a pair of sneakers he wanted.  Craig got a new snowbrush and The Office Polly Pocket set (I know, sounds funny, but he got the Peanuts one for his birthday and said he liked the Office one, too, and I found it SUPER cheap).  The boys gave me a cool baseball sweatshirt.

After gifts, I prepped our cinnamon rolls and bacon, and then it was a longer-than-ideal process of getting packed up to leave.  As I said, we should have been on the road by 11am, but that didn't quite work out.  There was just too much.  We finally hopped in the car (my car, which barely fit what we needed, but mine is more trustworthy) around noon.  We got to Aunt Marie's around 1:30.  It was nice to see a few of Craig's cousins and their kids.  It's not quite the chaotic, full-extended-family stop it used to be, but it's always nice.

After that is where things got a little different.  Craig's parents were staying at a hotel in between houses.  They sold theirs but had a little delay getting into their new house, so it was a hotel for the holidays this year.  And since his parents and brother aren't really on good terms right now, that meant we had two stops that night.  We went to the hotel and hung out with his parents for probably an hour and a half in the lobby, to give them their gifts and spend some time with them.  All things considered, it was a nice time.  It'll be better to be with them in their new house next year, though!  Because of their transitional phase, their gifts all came to our house ahead of time.  I got a tablet so I can read digital books, Craig got a snowblower (which came in handy immediately after Christmas), Jacob got some shorts, and Carter got a Jays shirt.   

After that we headed to Craig's brother's house.  We had a delicious dinner, exchanged gifts, and watched Elf.  We were missing our niece who was still in Pittsburgh with her boyfriend, but overall it was a nice night.  It's always still weird because we're used to being with the whole family and we don't like being in the middle of their issues.  It's hard to hear them talk negatively about one another and know the truth is usually somewhere in between, and not really know how or if to take sides.  We love them both, but having to manage all those feelings and relationships is challenging.  We hope that in time they will find a way to reconnect and make peace, but it's entirely possible this Christmas is the first of many like this.  After that, we headed to my parents' house for the night.

This Christmas Eve night was much better than last year when Jacob was up all night worrying about his leg.  It was nice to have a normal night and Christmas morning this year.  We went to church with my parents, grabbed breakfast for all the boys at Starbucks on our way home, opened a few gifts, had a lovely ham dinner, and then opened more gifts.  

We clean up pretty nice!

Jacob got some compression shirts and shorts, Carter got a Soda Stream, a shirt, and a viola ornament, Craig got a Braves shirt and some money, and I got my angel ornament, really nice hanging kitchen towels, dish drying mats, my Chihuly calendar, and super randomly--a sewing machine!  My mom had bought it to replace hers, but ended up getting hers fixed.  But since she'd already used it, she gave it to me.  I haven't used a sewing machine since I was 13 years old in Home Economics (when I made my very cute stuffed pig), and I have no idea what I will use it for, but I guess we'll see how it goes!

I gave my mom a Bills sweatshirt and some gloves that have the phone-friendly fingers, both of which were on her list.  We splurged a bit on my dad (my brother split it, as well) and got him a Bird Buddy birdhouse with a webcam.  Might be a bit of a stretch, but my dad loves appreciating God's creation, so I think he'll enjoy the birds!  

In the afternoon we played a game of SkyJo, the family favorite card game.  It truly is a lot of fun, and Jacob loves it more than anyone.  After a little bit I needed to make some food for our last stop, Uncle Jeff's.  We had a good time there catching up with everyone.  My cousins are great, their kids are nuts, and it's always a nice evolution of the Christmas night chaos we all grew up with.  It's hard watching the older generation age, and I wish more of the cousins were able to be there, but it's still special every year.  We took our stair pictures once again, too.
  

We're missing my cousin Nicki's two girls, my cousin Chris' daughter, plus Kate and Max

We're missing Nicki (the oldest), my brother, Chris, Kim (who was there but chose not to be in the picture), and Kevin.

We were truly blessed to grow up how we did, with so many cousins and loving grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  I wish I lived closer to be more connected to them as adults, but it's always nice to catch up.  And I'd say we all chose spouses well, too!  

We finished off the night with an abbreviated Trivial Pursuit game (like the old days, but shorter), and I happened to win the game for the ladies!  The winning question was about the name of the company started by Thomas Watson, and I suspected it was IBM because their supercomputer was named Watson.  I was right!  I won the girls a night out at everyone's favorite local bar.  Whether or not I'll be able to be there when it happens, I'm not sure, but it was fun to get bragging rights.

Overall, it was a good Christmas.  I think all of the elements were there, even if the structure felt a bit different than usual.  It was a bummer we couldn't do Christmas Eve church together as a family, and obviously Craig's family dynamics were quite a bit different.  But we got to see everyone and do (most of) the things, got nice gifts, and had a lot of fun.  What happened right after, however...will wait for the next post!

That was fast...

I blinked and suddenly we're less than a week away from Christmas.  Yikes.  I've been trying to write this post for probably two weeks, and apparently I've been busy.  So let's try to catch things up.

After spending a good chunk of the post-Thanksgiving weekend decorating the house, I've really been enjoying all of the Christmas decor.  I love my little tree forest next to my desk and the theme tree behind me, and of course the big tree with hundreds of memories.  My parents came to watch Jacob's game a couple weekends ago, and it was fun to have my mom looking around my tree for things she recognized--lots of stuff she made, in particular.  I'm just getting a nice, cozy vibe this year, and I'm trying to soak it all up while I can.  I can't believe a week from tomorrow we'll already be starting our Christmas celebrations.  This month has absolutely flown.

Most of the trees came from the Target dollar spot--one for $5, two for $3, and the rest $1--and two came from Walgreens super cheap this year.  The two with branches are sparkly sculpted glass and came from my grandma's house.  I almost destroyed one a couple years ago when it fell on the fireplace hearth, but I salvaged it.  The tea lights were probably 50 cents each at IKEA forever ago.

The sports tree!  Note the green needlepoint cheerleader from my middle school years, my parents' Sabres glass ball, and an Amerks ornament that was a favor at a season ticketholder event, I think.

I've bought a good number of gifts, but really need to buckle down and figure out what's left.  We're pretty much past the point of any online ordering, so that stinks, but I'm closer than I've maybe ever been at this point, especially since I took one evening last week to do a three-hour marathon that included the stocking stuffers I usually leave to the end.  Big kid Christmas is definitely different, although we still venture into little kid Christmas at times--hence the stuffed hippos currently stashed in my closet.  I'll probably share more on that story after Christmas!  I have a few gifts in particular I'm excited about, in particular my dad, and a couple things for the kids, and one unexpected but fun find I got on a crazy sale for Craig.  Wrapping will commence this weekend.  Tonight is Christmas cards--finally!

Jacob's basketball season has been going for a couple weeks now.  It was a bit surreal seeing him step on the Bishop Kearney court again as a home player.  We had once envisioned him playing his high school career on this court, and then that didn't happen when he had to reclassify.  We never really envisioned him being back, but here we are.  Seeing him play with one of his best friends from his first stint at the school was pretty cool.  

The team is doing well, having won all of their games so far.  I wouldn't say they look fantastic, but they're getting it done.  They have one kid who's only a 7th grader that was a starter and was one of their leading scorers, but he was playing with a hurt wrist for a few games and might have finally gotten it looked at, because he wasn't at practice yesterday.

Jacob is doing okay, all things considered.  His body has been holding up pretty well, which has been a relief.  He's still getting back in the groove a bit after not having played regularly in nearly two years, but he's getting there.  He's so much bigger and stronger, so he's also sort of playing with a new body in a lot of ways.  He had around 7-8 points in each of the first three games, and then had a goose egg last game.  His coach just seemed to have an issue with him that game and didn't hesitate to take him out, which was a little odd.  But he's definitely putting the work in.  Overall, he hasn't played as much as he'd like--the first game was a blowout so he sat most of the second half, and he's had a few longer-than-ideal stints on the bench mid-game, presumably not for any reason other than just rotating other people in.  They ended up winning a mini-tournament in their third game, which was fun, though it was a hard-fought game. 

On the Carter front, he's been doing well.  He's right around 100 pounds now (!) and is barely an inch behind me.  He's been growing like a weed since we got his ulcerative colitis under control.  He's barely had a symptom since he went on a steroid and then started infusions.  Today was his fourth one, in fact.  He's had a couple recurrences of blood, but it would seem they were part of his body fighting off cold viruses, which can happen because any ramping up of the immune system can risk a small flare.  But no pain, no urgency, and nothing else concerning, so we'll call it good.  They did decide to up his dose because his levels dropped a bit more than they would have liked with the new eight-week interval, so we'll see how this round goes.  It's encouraging that even with lower levels he still stayed healthy on the GI front (the stubborn colds tend to linger), but the online support group I follow is a stark reminder of how complicated things can get.  Also, we're about to go into a new year and I'm a little terrified to see the bill for the next infusion once our deductible resets.  It'll hurt to start the year, but we'll likely hit our max out-of-pocket again and get some "free" time for the rest of the year.

Carter had his winter concert for both orchestra and chorus last week.  He's sort of over chorus at this point, so this will be his last year of it, but viola will survive for another year.  I do wish he practiced more at home because he seems to do well and get positive reviews from his teachers without it, so it makes me wonder what he could do if he did practice more.  

Here are a couple samples from the concert:

As part of Carter's ulcerative colitis treatment, he recently had to go to get an eye exam.  One of the side effects of his medicine can be vision changes, so they wanted to get a baseline.  All was well, although he hated having his eyes dilated because it lasted hours (Jacob was the same way, maybe it's a kid thing?) and he couldn't use his phone.  If you know my love for glass art, you'll know that I loved that the office was filled with glass artwork like this:

After Jacob's last home game, I dragged Carter with me to a street near Jacob's school that always does Christmas up big.  We'd gone once before after Jacob's winter concert back in middle school, and I was eager to go again.  Most of the houses have some sort of decorations, and some go wild!

Note the Bills-led sleigh!

There was so much going on here!

It's been a while since I've caught a good sunrise/sunset, but the other morning was a doozy.  The pictures don't really capture how dark the purple clouds were above, but the color was fantastic.

After weeks of cold and snow, we actually had a couple warm days this week, as well as some rain last night.  I took a lunch walk in 50 degree weather yesterday, and it was absolutely heavenly.  I didn't realize how beaten down I already was from all the cold and snow until I breathed in not-freezing air and got to take my first walk in weeks.  All of the snow in those pictures is now gone (although it's trying to come back tonight along with 55mph wind gusts!), and while I normally would be upset to lose the White Christmas, we've had a really good run during the holiday season for the first time in years, and I really would like to walk more, which I can't do well when there's snow on the ground.  As it was yesterday, the remnant ice patches were a bit treacherous!  

This week, despite my relatively decent Christmas spirit (thank you, Zoloft?), has been a bit heavy.  There was a school shooting at Brown University that killed two people (within a day of the 13th anniversary of Sandy Hook), a mass shooting at a Hanukkah event in Australia killed a lot of people, famous director Rob Reiner and his wife were stabbed to death by their son, and the political realm has been even more twisted than usual.  Health care costs are about to skyrocket, and you can just tell people are feeling the weight of a world gone wrong right now.  Personally, my uncle is really struggling with cancer, my cousin is in the thick of treatment, and I'm also still praying for two friends with esophageal cancer, my friend's daughter who had the liver transplant, and my other friend's daughter who beat leukemia but still deals with a lot of fallout from that.  Plus, of course, my own kids.  But we did hit Jacob's one-year anniversary of his surgery, and the 10-year anniversary of his bone cyst discovery this week, and things seem relatively calm compared to all that.  But the prayer list is long.  I'm thankful that the anxiety hasn't overtaken me, but it's hard knowing people are dealing with so much.

So, now we're on to the big countdown.  I truly can't believe how fast this month has gone.  Getting to the last section of drawers on my Advent tree this morning was sobering.  It feels like we just started!  This weekend will hopefully include a lot of wrapping up (and actual wrapping), the Knighthawks' home opener, and making some decisions on food for our various Christmas stops.  Our Buffalo stint will look a little different this year since Craig's parents are doing some hotel living until their new house is ready, and I realized the other day that our usual Christmas Eve Eve traditions of church and a fancy dinner won't be able to happen because Jacob has a game that night!  And it's a far one, about a 45 minute drive away, so it will be a busy, late night.  I wanted to do church then on Christmas Eve at noon, but it sounds like that's when we'd be going to Craig's Aunt Marie's, so we might have to shift our Christmas Eve morning festivities (gift opening and breakfast) a bit earlier so we can do 10am church and an 11:30ish departure.  That is daunting, but that might be what needs to happen to fit it all in!  So many things to figure out between now and then!  But here we go!