Christmas Season Daybook (Back posting)

I think I was holding off to put on finishing touches on this post.  That's not going to happen, so I'm just going to throw this one up "as is". (From last week):

Remember the Advent calendar I showed back at the beginning of Advent?  Here it is all full!  Aragorn had so much fun with this set.  Do you see the Advent wreath hanging from the ceiling of Santa's workshop?!

Outside my window: dark still.  Rain is supposed to melt all of the snow that I've been loving in this post-Christmas time of the year.  Then, an "Arctic Blast" is headed our way.  I'm stocking up on hot chocolate and tea.

I am listening to:  boys playing "Stratego" (a perennial favorite around here), and onlookers commenting.  Because in our house, there are always onlookers. Commenting.

Around the house: Our Christmas tree is still up, but it is on its last week.  I have begun a New Year's/ Second Trimester cleaning effort around here.  It will feel really fresh and clean when I pack all of the Christmas trapesings and trapsings away, but I just can't quite let go yet.  And it's not quite time to: the Baptism of the Lord is Sunday.  That's when I say goodbye to the Christmas season.  Right now, I'm still trying to bask...to open my heart to the grace of the season even as I look ahead and begin to set some hopes for the New Year into motion.

Resolutions...: I mentioned that I was determined to detox my family after all of the sugar of the Christmas season.  Well, I've been faithful to my resolution.  We are a week into the New Year and I have made smoothies and served salads daily.  You know what?  It is HARD WORK!  It's the quantity that gets me in a family this size.  I fill my 72 oz. blender to the brim each morning.  Then I make myself a separate one (that is either less sweet than the kids' or with protein powder, which I also do not feed them).  Whatever extras are left go into the freezer and the kids eat them later as a snack.  When you put three bananas, an entire carton of yogurt or kefir, a full bag of frozen fruit (or two) into the blender each morning, well, it takes a lot to stock up.  Last night I fulfilled a special request for "Ranch" dressing--we ate two full bags of salad at dinner.

I need to join a farmer's co-op!

(Can we just go back to picking up burgers?! (no.))

Pregnancy news:  Can I just direct your eyes to that cute little tracker at the top of the blog?  Do we see how I am nearing the half way point?!!!  My next appointment is the 20 Week Ultrasound!  We'll probably find out if we're having a boy or a girl.  It doesn't really matter to me (as in, I don't get excited for ultrasounds anymore because I already know the answer).  I will assent to the fact that I could be wrong, and I could be shocked.  I'm totally happy (thrilled) to meet whomever the Lord has chosen to bless our family with--boy or girl!  That said, since my sixth pregnancy I have discerned precisely what a "girl" pregnancy and what a "boy" pregnancy feels like for my body--and there's a significant difference.  SO, it's been a "girl" now for 15 and a half weeks!  For the skeptics, I'll confirm via ultrasound technology sometime early next month.  Or of course, you could wait for the birth announcement.  (But, it's a girl;)).