Some random stuff today….
1. I got my covid booster yesterday! I finally rescheduled it after cancelling a couple weeks ago due to a headache that day. I’ve heard of so many people feeling like total garbage after getting the booster that I had a hard time finding a good day to schedule it…(for example, didn’t want to get it right before Asher’s birthday…or his party weekend… etc. just in case). I’m coming up on 24 hours at ~8:50 this morning, and so far, so good. I think I have a little headache, but that’s about it. Fingers crossed. (My co-worker also got it yesterday morning, and I just got a message that she is out sick today though, with fevers, chills, body aches.. yuck.)
2. St. Nick came yesterday. I have no idea if/where this tradition is practiced in other places, but it’s alive and well around here. (At least for some people, and according to my Facebook feed full of people posting stocking pics. 😆)
The excitement level was NOTHING like it used to be when they were little….but they mentioned it a bunch of times last week, so I know they were still looking forward to it. My sister sent a video of her kids literally squealing and bouncing off the walls in excitement over their stockings (6,4, and 2 years old) and it made me a little nostalgic. 🙂
The boys got chocolate advent calendars, popcorn bins/ snowball cotton candy, and then just an assortment of little treats- a Pez dispenser, Sour Patch kids, Andes candies, some Peeps, a envelope of hot chocolate, etc. For little “gifts” they each got some nice mechanical pencils and a pack of plain chapstick.
I was very surprised to find that St. Nick visited my office, too!!
A little Christmas hot beverage cup and a cute Christmas tree kitchen tongs were sitting on my desk. I was honestly so surprised!!! My money is on my MOM leaving them for the boys to put out for me last time she was here. 🙂 Or…..is St. Nick actually real??! 🤔
3. Ethan worked hard the past few days to record a piece on the piano for the school‘s virtual Christmas concert (prelude music). I was super proud of his perseverance. The piece he was learning (Angels from the Realms of Glory) probably needed another week or so before he really had it mastered, but the deadline was upon us. So, he had to have it “recording” ready.
After about 15 takes on Sunday night, he couldn’t seem to get it without at least a couple of minor mistakes. At first he got frustrated and said, “Ugh, just submit it like that! I can’t get it any better.” But then after school yesterday, he decided to try it one more time (deadline was last night). He put his Christmas sweater back on, sat down at the piano and nailed it! I think he just needed to STEP AWAY, sleep on it and then come back with a fresh perspective.
4. Asher got his 2nd covid vaccine on Sunday, too. He did fine overall, but did say he had a bad headache after school yesterday. He ended up skipping swim practice (his arm was pretty sore, too) and we played a round of Yahtzee by the Christmas tree after my volunteer meeting. It was our first time playing a game in quite a while! It was nice.
5. I liked this message from yesterday:
Interesting perspective! I think I sometimes tend to feel like “venting” or “talking out” stressors or complaints helps to get them off my chest or work through them. But maybe it just perpetuates them! Maybe going around and around, talking about the problem repeatedly, doesn’t actually find a solution…maybe it just makes it worse. Food for thought.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for my little microwaveable heat up pack. I got the WORST kink in my upper back the other night which has been killing me! So I’ve been using this hot pack on it. It’s finally starting to get better.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Wow – I have never heard of stockings pre-Christmas? Do they get filled again for Christmas, or is it just the main presents on Christmas morning. I’m intrigued.
Do you wrap stocking gifts? I was SHOCKED the Christmas we visited in-laws that the stocking stuffers were not wrapped? The stockings were bursting with little presents…but they were all put in sans wrapping. I grew up with all stocking stuffers being wrapped (and I have some friends now that do a mix – candies are put in as-is, but bigger stocking items get wrapped). It’s so interesting how we all have such a range of traditions!
Some of my Dutch friends just celebrated Sinterklass over the weekend, so maybe it stems from that tradition? Does Saint Nick always visit on a specific day of the week, date on the calendar?
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So we actually do not use the stockings ON Christmas Day at our house! Only for St. Nicholas Day on Dec 6th. On the 25th the presents just go under the tree. Here is a little history of St. Nick’s Day I found online! https://www.ftd.com/blog/share/st-nicholas-day-what-is-it-how-is-it-celebrated
I believe it is basically the same as Sinterklass! I read all about these traditions in my Christmas history book last year, but of course now I can’t remember all the specific details…haha. St. Nick always visits the night of December 5th, so the gifts are received the morning of the 6th. It has to do with commemorating the life of St. Nicholas, the actual man/ saint, who was the inspiration for modern day Santa Claus. Per legend, he was very generous and would go around leaving money or other treats in the stockings of poor kids who left their shoes or socks out to dry (somewhere in Europe? I’m not sure where exactly it originated).
The treats in the stocking go in unwrapped. In the past I would sometimes wrap the little “gifts” (not candy), but this year I was just lazy and didn’t! Sometimes the kids have received little Christmas books, or when they were younger maybe a Christmas DVD…I would tend to wrap those. We always wrap EVERYTHING that goes under the tree on the 25th though. I have heard of people finding all the presents just under the tree, unwrapped on Christmas morning, and that seems so strange to me!! Not how we do it.
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Wow – gifts under the tree unwrapped!! I can’t imagine. I feel like lots of pictures from olden-days Christmases often have this; especially if it was something that had to be put together, like a train set? To me being involved with the setup sounds like half the fun?!
This sounds fun, and a great way to extend the cheer of the season. I feel like it’s a bit late for us to incorporate it into our Christmas tradition (as stockings are a HUGE part of our Christmas morning), but I absolutely love the idea.
Not wrapping stocking stuffers would save a lot of time…though I’ve gotten lazier and lazier over the years with my wrapping technique. Growing up my Mom always wrapped all our stocking gifts in plastic bags with masking tape to hold things together/as the label. So quick and easy. She wraps everything in scraps of wrapping paper now, but it makes me nostalgic to think of all those lumpy parcels wrapped in ordinary grocery store bags (wouldn’t really work now with reusable bags – though I use the same ones year after year to wrap gifts).
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Glad you feel ok so far after getting your booster! I had zero side effects for any of my 3 doses. Phil got his booster last month and felt pretty crappy, but not as bad as he felt after getting his initial J&J vaccine. He seems to be more sensitive to things than me. I know people who had high fevers and felt just awful after their first or 2nd covid vax. I guess I am lucky to not have any side effects but I also wonder how effective it is with my immune suppressant RA drugs! But I’m as protected as I can be and will get my booster in February (my august dose was technically a 3rd dose, not a booster – they have different verbiage protocols for immune suppressed people).
I enjoyed hearing you play Angels from the Realms of Glory on IG! Such a pretty song! Glad his final recording went well! I need to get more Christmas music. I have a couple of books but could use more!
We do not celebrate St. Nick’s Day which is kind of surprising as it seems common for those of German descent and Phil and I are both of German descent. We are doing an advent calendar, though. It was more fun last year when Paul was thrilled every day, regardless of whether he just got m&ms or m&ms and a little gift. This year there has been much whining so it doesn’t make me want to keep doing it! 😛 Hopefully this year is an outlier and he’ll be better next year?
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I know how hard is to get the recording right. Sofia and I did it for 2 weeks and every time there was a small mistake which is frustrating. our teacher recommended to try 4 times max per day as more might be detrimental. Good luck getting it right on time. I’ll google it to listen to the song 🙂
actually I think venting is needed for our soul. one thing that I miss during the pandemic is lack of spontaneous venting session with my teams. we share personal thoughts and struggles less now because kind of weird to schedule a venting zoom call. today I’ll meet with one of my most trusted team and we will have a venting session face to face! 😀
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Sinterklaas is a whole thing here where I live (Netherlands). They even have Sinterklaas news on TV every day during the period for the kids, and every year there is drama about the presents getting to kids on time. Once the kids stop believing in it (they get told when they are around 8), it turns into a gift exchange with family and friends.
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So does that replace Christmas gifts? Or in addition to? We just do the smaller stocking stuffers/treats on st Nick day, and then the real, bigger gifts on Christmas.
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Hi, I just came over here from Elisabeth’s blog 🙂 always love finding new people that still regularly blog… and when I saw the picture of your son at the piano… I have the same piano (a Yamaha, right?), which is sitting at my parents’ house 6000 miles away and I miss it so much. Just made me smile to see your son playing it 🙂
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Awww thanks for that message! Yes, it is a Yamaha U3. I loooooove it so much!!!! We bought it about 5 years ago now and it is just the best piano ever. I tried a whole bunch when I was shopping for one and when I sat down at this one- I just knew it was the one! 🙂 My parents have our old piano at their house which is decent, but this one is just a dream to play on (for an upright, at least! In my next life I’ll have a room in my house for a big baby grand 😉
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