Between now and December 21st, I have ten performances. *deep breath*
As long as I breathe, take one thing at a time, focus on what I'm doing at the moment, keep my planner handy, and get sleep at night, then I continue to absolutely ENJOY what I do. I am a musician: I feel honored and privileged and blessed to say that! On top of my musical endeavors, I am a mother and wife and daughter and sister, so caring for and spending time with my family needs to be at the top of the priority list too.
This is a beautiful season. I love the holidays! It's not all fun and games, of course... we've all passed around a nasty cold that brought my cough from November back full force, Harmony has been working on her last molar coming in which led to a few restless nights this week, one of our cars got a flat tire that needed to be replaced, my sink is NEVER empty of dirty dishes, and I currently have four loads of clean laundry waiting to be folded and put away. But in spite of all the craziness, it's still been great capturing the best times with my phone camera, so that we can remember what we loved. If you don't follow me on Instagram, here is what's been going on with our family lately.
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| Every morning, Harmony and I eat breakfast together, light the Advent candles, and read a story. |
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| It was so much fun setting up and decorating our first real, full-sized Christmas tree! |
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| Creative retreat! More on that at the end of this post ; ) |
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| There have been plenty of silly, happy moments together. |
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| Harmony had her first hair trim, at almost two and a half years old. |
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| My mom did a great job! Harmony thought it was funny to look at herself in the mirror. |
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| We set out our shoes for St. Nicholas' Day on December 6th. |
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| The chocolate coins were a bust, but the Hello Kitty candy and stickers got a rousing cheer. |
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My family banded together to watch Harmony for an entire day while my best friend Heather and I went on a creative retreat! This is our third year getting together in December to review the entire year and set intentions for the next year. We have gone through Susannah Conway's amazing FREE workbook called Unravelling the Year Ahead, which you can download (did I mention for free?!) on her website here! Highly, highly recommended.
This year Heather and I met at a local coffee shop in the morning, talked and went through our goals, thoughts, and writing from 2014, and had hot drinks. Then around noon we went to a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant that we've both wanted to try and ordered delicious food. Afterwards, we went back to her house to figure out what we hoped our lives would hold in 2015.
It's so great to have a good friend to discuss these things with. I might share a few of my plans for 2015 in a later post. I'm still in the process of choosing my One Word for next year, and finishing filling in my Unravelling workbook.
The older I get, the more I realize how vital it is to have intentions for what you want to accomplish, so that I can have direction to my life and know that I am still doing what I want to be doing rather than aimlessly wasting time! Yet that doesn't mean every minute of my life needs to be scheduled. I value rest, peace, and mornings in my pajamas eating donuts with my family just like everyone else : ) It's the long-term goals that I like having plans for, and writing down what I hope my year to look like is a great start to accomplishing what I hope for.
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5 comments:
The Christmas season is so busy and I'm sure it's even more busy for you with performing! I think having intentional goals is so helpful and it sounds like you're finishing this year and going into next year strong!
gah, that pic of your mom and Harmony is so gosh darn cute. and TEN performances!? i 'only' have eight but i hear you. it's easy to get busy and a little stressed this time of year, but cherishing the little things like first hair trims and cute and fun little moments in front of big windows in a darling house is really what life is all about, right? :)
(insert homeschooler/musician highfive)
Yes, @normaleverydaylife, intentional goals were absolutely key to my getting anything accomplished this year!
Abigail, thank you : ) Keep breathing yourself!!!! It'll be a great holiday season.
I'm so glad you're enjoying your smartphone! :)
I, like you, always have loads of laundry to fold, bathrooms that need cleaning, errands that need to be ran...the job never ends, but I am so grateful to be doing it. As I'm sure you are too! Do you plan on homeschooling your daughter when she becomes school age? I ran the idea by my eldest and she absolutely hated the idea. Haha. I should have groomed her for the possibility of homeschooling way earlier, but I know if for some gosh-forsaken reason we get suck in Hawaii, I will probably decide on doing it.
Anyway, your day with your friend sounds amazing. Setting goals together and encouraging one another...it is important to have friends like that in one's life. I really miss my girlfriends from back home, but reading this made me smile cause it sounds like something we'd do :).
Hope you have a wonderful time at your performances and that you get all the rest in between that you need!
Yes, we plan on home-schooling our daughter and any other children we might have as long as possible, @V. Nino, but we also want to keep the option of school open if they ever ask to try something else. Once kids get older, it's important to take their wishes into consideration too, I think! I asked to go to public school when I was eight, so my mother cheerfully obliged; when I begged to come back to being home-schooled a semester later, she let me do that too : ) Different children want and need different education methods, so it's important to figure out what works for everyone!
I hope you're able to find some great friends where you live now, and that you're able to have some goal-setting and creative time as this year wraps up and the new one approaches! I've loved seeing your art on IG!
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