Goodbye, 2023

In 2023:

My car was stolen
I bought a new car
I became a great-aunt
I visited Oklahoma for the first time
I went to Guatemala for the first time
I took 2 trips to Mexico

I learned how to make chiles en nogada

I went ice skating for the first time

I visited the Ice Castles in my area

I wrote a letter of recommendation for the first time (weird)

It was the year of the Xbox saga (which is resolved)

I was released from my calling as Relief Society secretary

I was called to work in the nursery

Which seems like kind of not a lot for a whole year. But it has been a year. 

favorite Christmas traditions

Going to Albuquerque (although I'm always sad to not see everyone else)

Making calendars

Decorations

Christmas breakfast

Chair soccer and volleyball, which means bruised knees

Playing lots of board games

Viewing luminarias and lights

Tracking Santa with my nephews

Taking "Christmas light art" pictures while we look at the lights

Caroling and general singing

The Christmas program in Church

Prepping for Santa

Treats

Christmas reading

Taking pictures of the gift opening

a tradition I'd like to add: tacos for Christmas dinner

My favorite things (on the Christmas tree)

I really like decorating for Christmas. And every year, I have that moment of joy in which I pull out the Christmas ornaments and see all of my favorites. I mean, I like them all or I wouldn't put them on my tree, but then there are the faves. Here are just a few:

The penguins: 

I love a Christmas penguin. There are actually 3 of these, but I'm not sure where the 3rd on is hiding.

The Snowmen:

These two are very small, and I don't remember where I got them. I'm pretty sure they were a gift. But they are adorable!

The sloth:

This one is a gift from my niece and really, no explanation about why I like it is needed. 

And where there are sloths, why not llamas? This is a gift from a friend, from our Peru trip last year. 

My puzzle ornament, a gift from my grandparents decades ago.

More traditional, this ornament is from a set. There are 2 of these, 2 smaller balls, and a bell. If I remember right, my sister gave them to me.

Olaf, a souvenir from Disney World the year that Frozen 2 came out. Actually, we watched Frozen 2 in Disney World. There was a huge store full of ornaments, and these were the obvious ones. Once I saw them, I knew. 

Because an archivist

I have archivist hands!!!!!

No, I am not wearing white gloves (most of the time, that's not actually the best for handling records). I mean, I have paper/folder/box cuts all over my hands.* Which makes me so happy! 

I know, that sounds weird. But my first archivist job, I was working hands on with big complex collections. I loved the complexity, and I loved handling the records and creating order out of chaos. With my current job, usually there's not enough in the donation to have chaos that needs ordered, which makes me sad. I miss that part of things. Describing is fine, but processing a collection is the BEST, and this week I was in our center in Mexico and I got to dive in and do some of that** and I have paper cuts and archivist hands and it's awesome!!!!

Happy sigh. Merry Christmas to me. 

*And by all over, I mean 4 or 5.

**reprocessing, really, which is not as fun, but close.