Amy Scott's Thoughts

We made it to Christmas vacation! Celebrate and cheer! Okay, I think I’m the most excited member of my family, but we are all pretty jazzed! The boys opted to double up on their school work this week so they could finish early. We did extra work on Monday and Tuesday, so on Wednesday they each had only a tiny amount of school left. We were all thrilled to wrap up school for 2020. Bring on vacation mode!

In my last post, I shared how I’m rising to the occasion to make all the Christmas things happen around the house. Usually, I would rely on school parties and church events to add the festive fun to our days. In the absence of the parties and performances, I’ve leaned into Christmas crafting, Christmas outings, and Christmas movies. Not a bad way to spend the days.

On Monday, we focused the nativity with a sticker craft and book. The boys and I joined Jeremy to film the introduction to our Christmas Eve gatherings for church (the boys got to hold lit candles… a job they were thrilled about… and I was nervous about). I also had my last MOPS & MOMSnext meeting of the year that evening. The theme was holiday attire, so I dressed up from head to toe even though you could only see from my shoulders up thanks to a virtual meeting.

On Tuesday, we drove up north to deliver our Christmas gift to my grandma. There is a Christmas light drive nearby her house, so we did that on our way home. It was like our local park display, only much bigger. Graham exclaimed loudly over all the lights. The whole park knew his joy since since his window was rolled down. He wasn’t the only kid you could hear jazzed about the festive display.

On Wednesday, we finished school and worked on Christmas ornaments we purchased the night before. Thursday was our first official day of Christmas vacation. We decorated gingerbread houses that had been gifted to us. Instead of doing another candy house, we used peanut butter and bird seed to make a treat of our feathered friends. The boys got to kick off vacation with a sleepover in Jeremy and I’s room. We watched Christmas shows in bed as a special treat.

Friday, we collected Christmas presents from Nana & Papa. We added these to our own gifts to deliver down south to our extended family. Our family is starting our own holiday delivery business. The goal was to make sure all the relatives had their gifts in time for Christmas. Today was our big delivery day! It was good to see our family members even though it was just quick door deliveries. We look forward to the day when we can safely gather and celebrate being together again.

As I look at the week ahead, I know it will be a quieter Christmas than ever before. As someone who has spent my Christmas’ traveling, I am looking forward to my first Christmas day spent fully at home. I will miss seeing family, that is for certain, but 2020 has given us new opportunities. I’m viewing our opportunity to stay home as a gift. I can’t wait to munch on cinnamon rolls, drink cider, and watch the kiddos open their presents on Christmas morning. I’m looking forward to a day of endless play with no where to go. I’m sure it will be a pajamas and yummy treats kind of day. I’m very hopeful that it will be a very Merry Christmas this year.

I’m sure most of us had a different Thanksgiving this year. Even though I missed seeing the smiling faces of my extended family, I did enjoy the slower pace and quieter holiday. This seems to sum up 2020 for me fairly well. It’s been different, but I haven’t minded the slower, quieter lifestyle that it’s brought.

Our MOPS & MOMSnext group met online on Monday night. It was our Christmas craft meeting. It’s been an adventure adapting our usual format into an online experience. Our creative team assembled kits so the moms could create a rustic nativity set at home. We did porch pick-ups for the kits and I had a few ladies opt to pick-up from my home. I enjoyed putting on a mask and heading outside for a few minutes to say hello while the ladies loaded up their kits. I’m not a super crafty person, so this craft had me a little nervous. I was so pleased with the end result, though! All I had to do was paint, accessorize, and glue. It’s been fun to see how the other ladies decorated their kits. This experience was definitely a win for our group!

Even though we only did school three days this week, we were able to condense all five days of learning into three, so the boys didn’t miss a day even through they took Thursday off. I love this element of homeschooling. The amount of school is so manageable. It’s been easy to stay on track. I will admit that I am looking forward to Christmas break in a few weeks. We didn’t take a Spring Break in 2020. We worked on summer workbooks all summer expect for one week when we visited Yellowstone (which was like a week long field trip). Our homeschool pace hasn’t led to burn out, but I am still looking forward to having a pause. This mostly comes from my own perspective as the main educator of my children. Mama/Teacher is ready for a break! Just three weeks to vacation! Let the countdown begin!

I’ve been making a list of Christmas activities we might wish to participate in this year. Given current guidelines, most of my ideas center around driving to look at Christmas lights. Our local park puts on a Christmas light drive-thru. We might travel north or south to see a bigger display in one of the larger cities as well. I’m a bit sad that my kiddos won’t be in any Christmas performances this year. Those are always fun memories and sweet photo opportunities. Instead of focusing on community activities, it’s time to focus on Advent (starting this weekend), making Christmas cookies, watching Christmas movies, and doing Christmas crafts. (I went into Hobby Lobby in October thinking I didn’t need anything and came out with Christmas crafts for school – totally justifiable.)

We were able to make one indoor Christmas activity happen today. We visited Santa! It was too tempting to pass up an 2020 photo opportunity of what the holidays really looked like. Santa was not only wearing a mask, but he was also behind a plexiglass shield. We all had our temperatures checked before waiting in a socially distanced line. The boys had to keep their masks on for the photo, so as they “elf” said, they had to “smile with their eyes!” Graham took that advice to heart as you can see in the picture below. The kids asked Santa for a drone and a spy kit. The store sent us off with ornament crafts, packets of hot chocolate, and tiny candy canes.

I don’t know how the next month will pan out. I’m processing that Christmas probably look “different” – just like Thanksgiving. Our family is brainstorming ways to be creative and celebrate safely. 2020 certainly isn’t going to wrap up the way I expected, but I believe it will be filled with goodness, light, love, and plenty of holiday cheer!

I have an internal sensor that goes off when it’s time to blog. I’ve been sensing I’m due for a blog post, but I’ve been putting it off because I don’t really have anything glorious or impressive to share (not that often do). Last weekend was fairly full with a family dinner, an outdoor/distanced hang out with some MOPS friends, errands, and an adventure to the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Jeremy also completed the set-up of our outdoor Christmas décor.

After the full weekend, I felt rumblings about lastest COVID-19 news. I no longer keep a watchful eye on virus news. Occasionally, I get curious about what the news is saying and take a look. I got one of those notions that I should check on things. I discovered that we are seeing record number of cases in our state. I was a bit alarmed. After what I read, I felt compelled to do a better job of sticking close to home. We are mindful while we are out and about. Our family dutifully wears our masks and uses copious amounts of hand sanitizer frequently. The only things we haven’t been too concerned about is intentionally staying home.

We wrapped up our errands during the week and went into this weekend knowing we wanted it to be a stay-at-home weekend. Turns out the theme of our weekend will now be the theme of our next few weeks. Our Washington State governor made new restrictions today as an attempt to slow the spread of the virus during the holiday season.

I tend to be a rule follower. It’s my personality. While I don’t love new restrictions, I have respect for the intention behind them. I certainly don’t mind wearing my mask to protect myself and others. I also realize that the virus is likely to spread in our homes where our guard is down. Did I love sharing a meal in a restaurant with my friend? Yes. Do I understand the reasons for take-out only? Yes. I get it. I want to do my part to solve the problem and get life back to normal.

I know opinions vary greatly on this topic. I read last week in my Bible reading plan Romans 13:1 which says “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.” Unless my governing authorities ask me to sin, I will do my best to comply.

I acknowledge the struggle. I feel it. I see in our communities. I also realize that I have little eyes watching me right now. My kids are home. How I respond will be a part of their childhood memories and will mostly likely shape the men they grow up to be. I want to show courage to do hard things. I want to show compassion to others. I want to show that we don’t have to be isolated just because we stay home. I agree that these things take effort, but I believe it is worth it.

So now we hunker down… for at least the next four weeks… Jeremy and I will be creative to make these holidays meaningful and memorable. It won’t be easy, but it’s important. Staying home is an intentional decision for the greater good. Home for the holidays certainly has new meaning this year!

Our final forest school was a lesson on knots and knives. Graham opted to stay home with Grandma because it was so cold.

I’ve never held hard and fast rules for when it’s appropriate to start Christmas festivities. This year, the boys were super into Halloween (more than ever before). But a flip switched in their minds and now it’s on to Christmas. Owen especially keeps longing for it to be winter. I will admit that Christmas brings a cheer, joy, hope to the world. I can understand how more than ever we are craving the goodness of Christmas.

Yesterday, I sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” to Owen and he had completely forgotten that he sang it last year at his Veterans Day assembly at school. At this time last year, Jeremy and I grabbed red cups from Starbucks and showed up at Owen’s school so we could listen to 600+ kids sing patriotic songs. This memory and the fact that he had forgotten it made me sad. There are moments where what we have lost this year are acutely felt in my spirit. No songs being learned for performances, no assemblies to attend. And then there are moments like today when Owen tells me that he wants to be homeschooled forever. I realize that he isn’t hurting or lacking in his school experience. We are good. For every sad moment, I have so many things to be thankful for. Which is why Thanksgiving matters more than ever to me. It’s a time to reflect on our journey and how God has been good every step of the way. On our ride into town today, I pointed out the beautiful trees for that feels like the millionth time. I am going to vocalize my thankfulness as often as possible. I don’t want to take any moment for granted.

Which leads to the holiday cheer we experienced today. Anyone who has known me for more than a year knows that “Red Cup Day” is a holiday in my book. Starbucks has only made the day more special by offering free reusable cups. My whole family was jazzed to get our free cups today. We listened to Christmas music as we went around town. When we came home from running errands, the boys put on new Christmas pajamas and Jeremy went outside to put up our Christmas lights on the house. I hopped on to my computer and the boys filled our Operation Christmas Child boxes online. I changed the sheets to flannel in preparation for the return of colder nights this coming week.

I’m here for it. All the holiday cheer. Bring it on. I’m all in for celebrating the November holidays. All our crafts this month involve turkeys and thankfulness. We will focus on Veterans Day as part of school. We will give Thanksgiving it’s proper time and attention. But we will also anticipate the coming season with joy. We will talk about Christmas and prepare for it.

We have space in our life for both – Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have space in our life for both the sad moments and the joyful moments. Good and bad can co-exist and God is still there with each up and down. I’m learning to live at peace with the tension. It reminds me what we haven’t arrived yet. We are still looking ahead to a fully redeemed creation. Owen recently got a Bible and has focused in on the New Heaven and New Earth – the time when everything will be made right. I need that reminder. This isn’t it. We were made for more – and it is coming! Joy to the world!

On Tuesday, I have less words (which will probably be a benefit to you). I use them up on Monday and Tuesday is a recovery day. Mondays are marathons and Tuesdays are tranquil. I am thankful for Tuesdays. We all need Tuesdays. A day to reflect, to slow down, to recover, to give yourself grace, a buffer, margin.

Our schedule this October has been vastly different than years past. Even with a slower October, I’ve been surprised at how full our month has become. We’ve celebrated Graham and Owen’s birthdays. Each boy got to chose their own adventures on their birthday. We had two special birthday meals – one with each side of the family. That’s a total of four birthday celebrations (just for our kids alone). We’ve celebrated family birthdays and we’ve celebrated a few friends’ birthdays, too. The amount of dessert I’ve eaten this month is impressive!

The Fall Family Scavenger Hunt has filled in a large amount of our time as we race to complete missions and earn points. This hunt has included many of our favorite autumn traditions, but it’s also inspired us to visit places we probably wouldn’t have gone to this month (Rainbow Falls State Park & Mt. St. Helens to name a few).

These October days have been full of celebration, tradition, friends, and family. Everything has been on a smaller scale this year. I’ve appreciated the smaller gatherings. There is less pressure to make things big and impressive. The focus is on spending time with loved ones and doing things we enjoy. October is always my favorite month of the year and this October has been no exception. 2020 can’t take the autumn magic away!