It’s back! Just like last year, I’m thrilled that we are doing this. It is a great community builder, everyone really enjoyed reading the different submissions, and the feedback was fantastic.
And, just like last year, as I sit to write my entry my mind starts to go blank. That darn self-doubt starts to creep in ~ what can I share that people will find interesting, what can I write about that is long enough, why do I always make things harder than they need to be.
So I started to follow the advice that we give our students. I looked at what I wrote last year to get ideas. I chuckled because I had a similar experience when I began my piece last year as well. At the time, just putting words on the paper to get started was enough to get me going. Fingers crossed that it has the same impact this year. Here goes:
Taylor Swift Concert
Thanksgiving
Christmas
It worked. Christmas. Our Christmas traditions are in a period of change. Changes in family dynamics on both my side and Chris’ side of the family have us redefining how we spend our time with each other during the holidays. It is a smaller crowd than years past. We weren’t sure how it would all pan out ~ would we be bored, what would we do, how would we will all the time together?
As usual, all the fretting beforehand was for not. The low key pace for Christmas was wonderful ~ and just what I needed. We started Christmas morning with our usual gift opening. Emily goes first. Santa did not disappoint and continued the tradition of leaving his gifts to her in a scavenger hunt around the house. (This year clues were left using “19 year old” terms. The big guy got extra brownie points, as many of the phrases were right “on point” and needed to be explained to me, Chris, and my parents. Rumor has it that AI might have been used as a translator. Regardless, it was fun. But I digress.)
The rest of the family takes turns opening gifts in no particular order. This year I went next. We don’t really exchange many gifts as adults. I typically get my photo calendar that I keep at work and one other thing. This year there was a bonus box. I was a bit intrigued. What could it be? Why did I have an extra gift? What was going on? I left that one for last.
As I tore open the corner of the package, I immediately started laughing. Everyone was puzzled. Why was I giggling, especially since I hadn’t unwrapped the whole thing. What was so funny?
It turns out that Chris and I got each other the same gift! I knew it as soon as I saw the top of the box. This was the first time we’ve ever done that in over 24 years of marriage and another 10+ years of dating. As partial empty nesters, we are redefining our relationship. We are making a conscious effort to do more things together ~ small things like taking Teddy for walks, catching up with friends, and going on date nights. Sometimes it’s easy to come up with a plan of something to do and other times not so much. I think that’s how we both ended up getting each other the Reach International Outfitters Connecticut Adventure Bucket List. It has 50 things to do around the state with a variety of options: indoor/outdoor, active/relaxing, summer/winter, few hours/all day. You pick the town and the type of adventure you’re up for and scratch off the center square to see where you are headed.
Opening this gift made me laugh, as I knew that the same thing was coming Chris’ way in just a few minutes. What I treasure most about this small moment is that it was a wonderful reminder that after all these years we still like hanging out with other and continue to make our relationship a priority. Afterall it is the people in our lives that are the real gifts of life.
Now that I started, I could go on and on. However, I’m going to end here.
Ps. I highly recommend signing up for the Slice of Life. It wasn’t really nearly as scary once I started and it was a lovely memory to relive.
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