Two Months in a Nutshell (Nailed it)

I have this problem every year. The end of the year rolls around, and the stress from multiple Christmases, the inevitable sickness, the new year, our anniversary, then the thank you notes and feeling guilty about not making resolutions -- it's too much for me. I get a little overwhelmed and drop the ball a few places, and this was one of them. No posts in two months might be a new record!

I've tried to write a million times and didn't have time to finish, so let's play catch-up in a very disjointed manner, shall we?

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Last you heard from me, I was preparing all the Christmas magic, and I got a little overwhelmed trying to figure out the best way to do so. In the end, instead of scheduling them ahead of time and making an advent calendar, I decided to just make a list, hang it on the wall, and try to accomplish as many fun Christmas activities as we could before the 25th. Dang it if we didn't do an amazing job!

Boo-yah! We had Christmas magic out the friggin' wazoo. And Josephine had the crafty Christmas of her dreams. She would wake up in the morning and shout "A Christmas project!! I want to do a Christmas project!!!!" and as soon as one was done, she would hold her hand out for the supplies for the next. It was exhausting. 

 A small smattering of Josephine's favorite projects

 Should have spent the money and put it on canvas :)

Josephine made FIFTEEN new ornaments this year. NOT including the ones she gave to all her aunts and uncles and grandparents and great-grandparents. Oy.

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Then we had seven Christmases. BOOM. 

Super cute, right?

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Then as soon as the last celebration faded away, I got super sick. Then got tonsillitis and strep. Then everyone else got sick. Then I cried that we would never be well again. But we're fine now.

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The only upside to Jeremy being deathly ill for two days is that he called off for the two days he was supposed to go back to work, then the polar vortex hit (when I was still sick and hadn't been grocery shopping since before Christmas), and he had two snow days! So he had the longest vacation he has ever had. It was so awesome having him home.

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Oh, but right, I was sick as a friggin' dog on our five-year wedding anniversary/New Year's Eve. Perfect. Maybe we will make up for it on Valentine's Day? 

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New Year's Eve. Sigh. I love it, but then there's New Year's Day and I feel all guilty that I don't bother making resolutions anymore, and I have a few panic attacks in the beginning of January because of it, but I did a little better this year. I wrote about it over here.

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But now that we're all officially well and I FINALLY got life back in order (the laundry back-up was terrifying and bleaching ALL THE THINGS took two solid days) and Christmas packed away and the house restocked with groceries, I was way behind on other things that send me into panic mode, such as thank you notes. I'm having Josie write hers this year, and it takes about two hours per note. No joke. And I have to sit with her. So ... we're almost done, but it is taking forever. I still have lots of other things I am way behind on that make my stomach eat itself at night, like updating my "Things the Girls Said and Did" journals that I am MONTHS behind on, but I have confidence I will pull myself from this slump like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

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I don't know. That might be it. I'm calling this update successful and hopefully will be able to blog again without feeling anxiety. We'll see. 

I missed you all! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

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Okay, maybe just a few more pictures. You know I can't help myself.