December 2024 goals

In the last few days, I have gently sidearmed several wonderful social opportunities from my December calendar. One was a monthly get-together with two dear girlfriends, another a lengthy phone call with a faraway friend. While I treasure and look forward to getting these on my calendar soon, as I survey what’s already on my calendar, it’s clear that adding something else in December would make it less likely I’d be able to enjoy the tasks I know I have ahead of me: wrapping gifts, addressing cards, reading picture books, sharing year-end posts right here on EFM. And I really do love those things, when I have the time to do them!

So yes, there’s a tinge of regret when I suggest postponing til January, but also the comforting feeling of caring for myself well. As a one of the friends said when she got my text, “this is big Enneagram 5 energy,” ha. Feel free to borrow a little of that energy today, if you need. Saying “let’s plan for January!” might just be the best gift you could give yourself now, no wrapping needed :)

On my calendar:
— Handel’s Messiah at Duke Chapel (above). I’ve wanted to attend for years, and a few Articles Club gals and I finally made it happen! It was beautiful.
— Dinner out with John for our 2024 review and celebration. Locals, we’re trying Figulina and this pasta lover is excited.
— A post-Christmas mountain trip with my family. We’ll spend a few days in Blowing Rock and are planning to take the kids snow tubing for the first time! Fingers crossed for some real snow, too.

What I’m loving right now:
— Crafting with my girl! One day last week while the two littles were on a playdate, we pulled a set of paper mache houses out of the closet and had a very fun two hours painting them, dusting them with “snow,” and adding a tea light inside. Ours were from this set I bought a few years ago, but this one looks similar or these ones (here, here, here) are cute, too!
— I’m on a Defined Dish kick and these BBQ chicken tacos with jalapeno slaw were a winner! They come together so easily in the slow cooker and the taste is more multi-dimensional than jarred BBQ sauce, which I don’t always love.
— All the Christmas picture books. Here’s a round-up of our favorites!

As a reminder, you can find allll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!

What you’re loving right now:

This is where I highlight a few items here that have been popular in the last month with fellow readers, based on my analytics. Here’s hoping this will help you find something you’ll love!

— The humble 8-compartment family snack container. Tucking ours away for swim team season!
— The best kids’ baking book – a gift that keeps on giving! :)
— Shep’s DIY paddleboat kit ($12!)
— The half price dupe of one of my very favorite dresses.
— Shep’s beloved light-up soccer ball. I just bought the football for our nephew!

Last month on The Connected Family:
— The tiny gadget that’s changed the tech culture in our home | It’s stupid simple, and it’s brilliant.
— A day in the life of The Connected Family | The fall, Sunday edition with an 8-, 6-, and 3-year-old
— Ask these questions this Thanksgiving | + a fun printable for your table
— The TCF Tech-Free Gift Guide | Or is it really a gift guide at all…?

What I read in November:
— God of the Woods | After making it to the top of a 600+-person waitlist at the library, I’m happy to say I enjoyed this book! My brother-in-law is Liz Moore’s literary agent, and it’s been fun to celebrate the incredible hype surrounding it. That being said, I think the hype might have pushed my expectations a bit too high, because while I did thoroughly enjoy this thriller mystery set in the woods of New England, it wasn’t life-changing. (In fact, I may prefer her earlier thriller Long Bright River.) But definitely worth reading!
— Tress of the Emerald Sea | This Brandon Sanderson novel made it onto my 2024 reading list because I was intrigued by its backstory: it was created as part of the largest Kickstarter campaign of all time. I made it about halfway through but ultimately decided to DNF :/ While it was described as appealing to those who love The Princess Bride (most certainly me), the characters, plot, and writing style all left me a bit underwhelmed.
— When Breath Becomes Air | Stunning. As a reader of Cup of Jo, I knew about this book while Paul was still alive, but it’s taken me a decade to feel ready to read it. (The circumstances of his death and leaving his young wife and daughter behind hit me hard; I had also been knocked for a loop by The Year of Magical Thinking right before this came out.) Even if it took me ten years, I’m so glad I circled back around — it absolutely lives up to its reputation and is a moving, exquisitely-observed memoir. (And Paul himself – wow! Hard to imagine a more impressive person.)
— The Christmas Pig | The kids and I listened to this while driving to and from Virginia over Thanksgiving (John was driving and had his Airpods in, ha). While billed as a heartwarming Christmas adventure, I would have liked to know in advance that there are significant hard and sad themes here: parents fighting, divorce, remarriage, bullying, anger, trash-eating monsters, etc. That being said, the kids seemed to LOVE it and clamored for it to be listened to whenever our car was moving. It certainly made the drive fly by. So take that for what you will!
— The Kids are Alright | I feel like I have a LOT to say about this book but I shall try to sum it up in brief. I have read the blog Design Mom almost from the beginning, and have long admired the family culture Gabby and her husband seem to have created with their six kids. In more recent years, I’ve been disappointed to see her blog wither as she spends more time on social media and discouraged to see how hostile she’s become to anyone who doesn’t think exactly like her on any number of topics. I miss the days when she shared thoughtful insights into her family’s habits and adventures. All that to say — I approached this book with a bit of trepidation, but on the other side, I’m relieved to say I really enjoyed it. It seems we still have a lot in common when it comes to raising independent, connected kids who contribute to the world and love to spend time with each other, and this book felt like a throwback to (what I consider) her best blogging days, offering insights into how she and Ben have achieved that with their family.

My reading list for 2024! I’m 16 / 24 so far. Just one month to go and I think I’ll get to 1-2 more from my list!

Revisiting my November goals:
Edit Sheptember, Volume 6 (Oh how I wish this were done! I have been laid low with a cold for 10+ days now and fatigue and earlier bedtimes have really curtailed me wrapping up some of these goals.)
Design and order our Christmas card and newsletter (Done! For the first time this year, I was able to print our newsletter on the back of our Minted card due to a new “create your own” option. Fingers crossed it looks cute when it arrives but yay for one less piece of paper!)
Finalize china salad plate choice (No progress here but I did just pull out our collection of Christmas salad plates so not going to worry about it for a bit :))
Sell the gray table to make room in our loft (Done! Feels so good!)
Read chapters 13 and 14 of Outlive
Paint the kids’ book ornaments (In progress! June’s is 95% done, Annie’s is 75% done, and Shep’s is 25%! Watch me paint here.)

December goals:
— Frame a few pieces of kid art via Framebridge. We have a bit of money left over in our 2024 home budget category and you know what they say… use it or lose it! ;)
— Finish the kids’ book ornaments
— Submit the paperwork for my own passport renewal
— Stuff, stamp, and address our Christmas cards
— Execute our end-of-year generosity plans
— Savor the Christmas season by focusing on loving the ones I love most, and loving those who need it the most. Even to me this sounds somewhat trite, but also the best way I know to celebrate the arrival of a tiny baby king who did the same.

As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2024 PowerSheets goals!

I’d love to hear: What have you read and loved recently? I’m working on my 2025 reading list and would love to hear your suggestions for what should make it on!!

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