Our Week - The One with Sleepovers, New Year’s Eve, a Park Day, and Getting Organized for the New Year

This Christmas break was extra sweet and none of us wanted it to end, but sadly, it ended yesterday with a rude 6 AM wakeup call.  Haha.  We are officially back in the swing of things – school, dance, e-sports, music lessons, and aaaallll the driving – so I’m grateful that our workweek is short this week.  ;o)

Today I’m recapping our second week of Christmas break, and it was the perfect mix of relaxation, fun, and productivity.  I couldn’t have loved this week more, and it was truly the epitome of what Christmas break should be… like not ever knowing what day it was.  Haha.

Let’s get to the recap!

 

Monday, December 29

Monday morning, we all slept in until almost nine.  It’s amazing how quickly our sleep schedule changes with just a couple of weeks off.  We don’t set alarms on our days off and my natural body clock always wants to go to bed around midnight and then wake up between 8:30 and 9.  I have always been a night owl and never a morning person.

We all had breakfast after we got up, and then we opened our stockings from my parents.  We’d forgotten to open them on Christmas Eve, so my mom had sent them home with us Sunday evening after dinner at their house.

After that was done, I headed to my office to work on my end of the year blog post for about 45 minutes, and then I started on my to-do list for the day.  While I kept the to do lists to a minimum during Christmas break, there were some days that called for one as there were several things I wanted to have done before January 1.  There’s nothing I love more than our house decorated for Christmas, but I have to say, I also love the fresh start that we have after putting all the Christmas decorations away.  Our house stays decorated for holidays from September 1 – December 31 (fall, Halloween, and Christmas), so that’s a long time to go without our everyday decorations.  The house looks so much less cluttered and so much brighter and tidier once the holiday stuff is put away. 

The list I tackled on Monday was:

 

-       Tidying the whole house

-       Dusting the whole house

-       Washing our sheets

-       Washing all the bathmats

-       Taking down and putting away the Christmas décor outside (Brian did this)

-       Filing a few keepsakes in the kids’ boxes

-       Cleaning the toilets

-       Vacuuming the rest of the house (Brian did this since my back was still hurting)

-       Mopping all the hard floors in the house (Brian did this, too)

-       Taking the Christmas decor down from the bannisters

-       Washing two loads of laundry

 

It was a very productive day, although, I did have to lay down and rest a couple of times since my back was still healing from that pulled muscle.  (Thankfully, as I type this on January 5, it’s been fully healed for several days now.)

After cleaning the kitchen floors, I finally decided to put Maui’s food and water bowls away once and for all.  They’ve rested underneath our kitchen island for the last 16 years, and she’s been gone for the last 10 months so it was time.  It does make me a little sad walking by there and not seeing them anymore.

Olivia worked in her new art app on her iPad all Christmas break, and Monday she created this creepy creation.  I thought it was so dang creative, while also being a little disturbing.  Hahahaha.  I told her she looks like Ursula in The Little Mermaid. 

We all had lunch and then I got showered and ready for the day, and then a little after three, both kids had friends dropped off for sleepovers.  Jacob’s friend, WJ, came over to hang out and spend the night, and Olivia’s friend, Maren, did the same. 

Once all the kids were settled in, I got the towels in the washing machine and then I sat down at my desk to work on my year-end blog post some more.  I also watched Serendipity one last time while I worked.

I put away some laundry and watered the indoor plants after that, and then it was time to relax with my book for a bit. 

The kids all wanted Jack’s for dinner, so Brian headed out to pick that up, and while he was gone, I started taking down some of the Christmas decorations in the living room. 

Brian and all four kids and I had dinner together when Brian got home, and then the kids all headed upstairs to hang out.  I spent the next hour finishing putting away all the Christmas decor from the living room and kitchen and then I scrubbed the coffee table.  I put all the everyday decorations back up, threw all the couch blankets in the wash, and then I settled on the couch with Brian to read my book while he watched Stranger Things.

The mantle and main Christmas tree were still up, so I soaked up one last evening with that beautiful glow.  And I just love the newest addition to our coffee table… that vase of flowers is one of Jacob’s Lego creations that he got for Christmas! 

I popped some popcorn for all the kids a little bit later, and Olivia and Maren settled in for a movie while the boys hung out in Jacob’s room and did their own thing.  Once they were all good to go, Brian and I made Manhattans and we started Pluribus.  It’s so intriguing and so good!

The kids all came downstairs for late night snacks after we turned off the TV and then Brian and I got them settled in with extra pillows and blankets, and he and I headed to bed.

 

Tuesday, December 30

Tuesday morning, I woke up at 7:45 to a weird alarm sound that seemed to be coming from downstairs, but it stopped before I could get up and get to it.  I lay there for 30 minutes just being lazy, and then I finally rolled out of bed at 8:15.  The girls were already up, and the boys were still sleeping. 

Brian left to get donuts for everyone, and I unloaded the dishwasher and got the table prepped for breakfast.  Brian and I ate with the girls and then Maren’s mom picked Olivia and Maren up for a brief appointment that Maren had.  She took the girls to Starbucks while they were out, and they were the happiest campers when they got back home with their peppermint hot chocolate (Olivia) and caramel frappuccino (Maren).  ;o)

While the girls were gone, Brian and I took down the main Christmas tree and the mantle and got everything put away.  Brian then put all the Christmas boxes away and we put all the everyday decorations back in place on the mantle and in the corner where the tree was.

I spent a few minutes working on my year end blog post after that, and then I got showered and ready for the day. 

I made lunch for all the kids, and then we all loaded up to get the kids where they needed to be.  First, we dropped Maren off at home, and then we dropped Jacob and WJ off at WJ’s grandparents’ house since they all had plans together later in the evening. 

Olivia and I then ran to Hobby Lobby and Walmart to grab groceries for our New Year’s Eve party that we always host.

When we got home, I put the groceries away and Olivia showered, washed her bedding, and vacuumed the playroom since there were popcorn kernels everywhere after their movie night.  Lol.

I finished my year end blog post and cleaned off my computer desktop, and then we got Jacob’s bedding washed plus two more loads of bedding that the kids had used for their sleepovers.

After a very productive day, the rest of the evening was spent relaxing.  Jacob was at Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens with WJ and his family all night, so Olivia had Brian and me all to herself.

We made breakfast for dinner, and then we settled in to (FINALLY!!!!) watch the rest of the Eras Tour documentary.  Brian and I’d watched the first episode together because Olivia had already seen it at her Eras Tour party that she attended earlier in the month, but we still had five episodes remaining.  Jacob has no interest in watching that, so we figured this would be the perfect evening to knock a bunch of it out since he wasn’t home. 

We ended up watching episodes 2-5 and I cried so much which was completely unexpected.  I thought the whole thing was just so well done, and it’s a must-see if you’re a TS fan.  She just really seems like the most genuine and kind human and she’s so dang generous that it makes me love her even more than I already do.  Halfway through, I snapped this picture of Olivia because I was cracking up that she’d pulled her autographed CD off the wall and she was cradling it in her arms while snuggled up in her new weighted blanket.  Hahahaha.  I just love that girl.  We still have to watch the final episode, and I’m hoping we can watch it this weekend.

Tuesday evening, my Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg also dropped off a bunch of fireworks for our New Year’s Eve party as my uncle has a hookup at one of the firework outlets.  We got a whole bunch of stuff for a fraction of the price we normally pay!

Jacob got home around 9:30 and he was exhausted from staying up so late and then going to Fantasy in Lights, so he got showered quickly and both kids got into bed a little after ten.

Brian and I watched some more of Pluribus and then I started a new book before bed – Those Empty Eyes by Charlie Donlea.  As I type this, I’m now about three quarters into it and it is riveting.

 

Wednesday, December 31

Wednesday morning, I was up around 8:45 and I had some scrambled eggs and a leftover donut for breakfast.  I had another to do list prepared for the day because I wanted to make sure everything was done before our New Year’s Eve party and I was feeling extraaaa motivated after so much time off!

Items from the list that I tackled Wednesday morning were…

 

-       Catching up on blog comments

-       Catching up on blog reading

-       Deep cleaning the downstairs countertops

-       Cleaning off the front and back porches (Brian did this)

-       Tidying the whole house

-       Washing one more load of laundry

-       Scrubbing a couple of other surfaces

-       Folding and putting away all the towels and bedding

 

Now that our regular decorations are back in place, we get to enjoy beautiful lights all around the room from the mirrorball that sits by our mantle.  I love when the sun hits it just right!

I also took some time to change my phone’s wallpaper for the new season since Christmas was over.  I thought this family picture of us during our snow day last January was super festive… and I love that it has my tiny girl in it.  I will miss her forever and ever.

Jacob slept until 10:15 which is incredibly late for him as he’s usually up before me.  He had a late breakfast and then Brian dropped both kids at my parents’ house to hang out with my brother and shoot rockets in the field behind my parents’ house.  They ended up staying over there until mid-afternoon and then my parents took them for a late lunch at Chick-Fil-A and dropped them back off at home.  

Brian and I had lunch together and then the afternoon was spent tackling more tasks on the to do list:

 

-       Decorating for New Year’s Eve

-       Scrubbing down the bar cart

-       Putting fresh string lights on the tree in our living room that stays up year-round

-       Folding the last of the bedding and putting it away

-       Painting my nails

-       Scrubbing down the outsides of the microwave and the oven

 

Once all that was done, I got outside for a walk because my back was finally better.  Thank goodness! 

When I got home from my walk, Momma and Daddy got home with the kids and they told us all about their day.  They’d had such a good time with my brother and their cousins! 

I got showered and ready for the day after that, I did my quiet time in my office, and then it was time to get ready for our party.  Momma and I made a bunch of appetizers as we always do, and we had a huge spread – meatballs, pigs in a blanket, taco dip, guac, chips, spinach pinwheels, sausage and red pepper jam puff pastries (soooo good), ham and cheese sliders, and a fruit platter.  I also made a dessert board because we had soooo many treats laying around that needed eating. 

Everyone arrived a little after 7 and Brian and I made a round of Manhattans before we all sat down to eat.  My parents, my brother and sister-in-law and the kids, and my littlest brother all came over.  We usually have Mama Cass and my father-in-law with us on New Year’s Eve, but Mama Cass was a little under the weather and my father-in-law decided to stay home this New Year’s Eve, so it was just my fam this time. 

We all lingered at the table for a long time because we were stuffed, and then we cleaned up the kitchen.  Once that was done, we made our way out into the freezing cold to shoot all the fireworks that my aunt and uncle had dropped off, and the kids loved every second of it. 

We all went inside to warm up and graze on the dessert board after that, and then we settled in the living room to chat and watch Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest like we always do.  We were all lazy until about 11:45 and then I got up to prepare the champagne (and sparkling grape juice for the kids) toast at midnight. 

We toasted at midnight and then took a bunch of family pictures as we always do, and then everyone left around 12:30 AM.  We said goodbye to my brother and sister-in-law and the kids because they were leaving to go home the next morning, and we probably won’t see them for a few months.

Once everyone was gone, we got the kids in bed, and then B and I turned out the lights a little after 1 AM.  Thankfully, all our neighbors ended their fireworks shortly after midnight, so we all fell right to sleep! 

 

Thursday, January 1

I’d been looking forward to Thursday soooo much because January 1 is always one of our laziest days of the whole year.  After the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, all the family time, all the taking down Christmas decor and cleaning the house, and staying up super late on New Year’s Eve, it’s always such a relief to have an entire day devoted to just… rotting on the couch.  Hahahaha.  And, New Year’s Day is always a huge college football day so that makes things even betterrrr.

Friends, when I tell you we were lazy on New Year’s Day, I mean we were lazyyyy and it felt so. good.  We slept in until 9:15, Brian and I ate breakfast, I unloaded the dishwasher, and then I grabbed a cup of hot cinnamon tea and got under my electric blanket on the couch and watched ESPN College GameDay for three straight hours. 

I woke Jacob up a little after 10 AM (per his request… he didn’t want to sleep later than that) and Olivia didn’t roll out of bed until 11:15 AM… and I woke her, too, even though she didn’t ask me to because I was worried she wouldn’t be able to go to sleep Thursday night.  Haha.

The Oregon vs. Texas Tech playoff game came on at noon and I stayed right there on the couch, and even dozed off for a bit, and it was just blissful. 

I finally felt like getting up and moving around a bit at 1-ish, so I handwashed all the champagne glasses from the night before, and I cleaned out the kitchen sink.

Brian and I ate lunch together after that, but the kids decided to eat later since they’d both gotten up so late and eaten a late breakfast.  Instead, I sent them outside to clean up all the trash from the fireworks. 

I headed to my office after lunch to do a quick check of a few things on the computer, and then I organized a couple of things before printing blank monthly calendars for 2026 to use for my editorial calendar for the blog.

I did my quiet time after that and then I got out for a walk.  While I do enjoy couch rotting all day, I do also really enjoy my daily walks! 

After my walk, I got showered for the day and straight back into pajamas.  #Winning

The Alabama vs. Indiana playoff game started at 4, so I settled in at the kitchen table with my new planner, my new calendars I’d printed for my editorial calendar, and a cup of hot tea, and I got organized.  While I know that wasn’t couch rotting either, it’s one of my favorite things to do, getting organized for a new year!  And it’s extra cozy when I get to do it sitting at the kitchen table and watching football.

I spent the next couple of hours getting organized for the month ahead, setting up and filling out my editorial calendar for the year (leaving some blank spaces for unplanned content as it pops up), and thinking about my goals for 2026.  While I already had a good idea of what I wanted 2026 to look like, there were some things that still needed organizing in my head, so I finally got them down on paper.

Brian left to pick up Five Guys for dinner, and then we all settled in to eat when he got home.  We usually go to my parents’ house for the traditional southern New Year’s Day dinner – pork chops, rice, black eyed peas, and collard greens – but this year, we’d all been together so many nights that I told my parents we just wanted to stay home and that it would be good for my Momma to take a break from cooking since she’d cooked so many times in the last week.  And then we’ll do our traditional dinner this Sunday at instead.  ;o)

The Georgia vs. Ole Miss game started at 8 PM, so we all settled in to watch that after dinner, and I did a whole lot more couch rotting.  I cleaned out part of my camera roll while we watched, and it was a lazy night.  That game was a nail biter, though, so I did get up towards the end to take down the New Year’s Eve décor because I needed to get up and do something since that’s what I do when I’m nervous.

We ended up losing in the last second of the game, and it was a heartbreaker, but overall, I didn’t feel too bad about the loss since we played so hard and it was such a close one.  Our QB does play his best under pressure and our team really did play hard.  And the ending was actually pretty comical – the stage had already been wheeled out for the trophy presentation after the game when the officials told everyone that they needed to put one second back on the clock to allow Georgia to get the ball back.  They had to wheel the stage back off the field and let Georgia run their play, and then they started to wheel the stage back out again when the officials said that there was still one second on the clock.  The people wheeling the stage back and forth looked so confused.  I’ve never seen anything like that in all my years of watching football.

The game didn’t end until sometime after midnight, so it was another late night, and Brian and I headed to bed as soon as it was over.

 

Friday, January 2

Friday morning, Brian had to work for the first time in a while, but luckily for him, he worked from home since it was Friday.  He rolled out of bed around 7:30 and headed straight to his computer, and I rolled out of bed around 9.  We all had breakfast, and the kids played Minecraft for a bit while I worked in my office. 

After taking lots of time away it was time to get some stuff done for the blog.  I fixed a few typos Brian had found, I responded to my backlog of blog comments, I did some blog housekeeping to wrap up 2025, and I started editing photos for an upcoming post. 

I got out for another walk after I got tired of editing photos and then I got showered and ready for the day.  The kids went outside for a bit because the weather was mild, and then we all ate lunch.

Both kids had Christmas gift cards burning holes in their pockets, so they asked to go to Target, and they also asked if we could go to Hobby Lobby.  Brian was working, so the three of us headed to Hobby Lobby first followed by Target.  Jacob ended up getting a big NASA Lego set and Olivia got a Woobles crochet set, so when we got home, both kids started working on their sets. 

While they worked, I checked my emails and edited all my pictures for Monday’s blog post and I prepped my end-of-the-year blog post for 2026 because I work on it all year since it’s such a beast.  I also started making a list of things to clean around the house because this year I’m hoping to do some serious deep cleaning.

All of us were craving Olive Garden for dinner, so Brian went out to pick it up, and I mixed up some cocktails for the two of us while he was gone.  I don’t care what anyone says about chain restaurants or Olive Garden not being authentic Italian food… it sure does slap every single time!  Haha.

After dinner, we were all stuffed (aaaallll the carbs) so we settled in to watch a couple of episodes of Man vs. Baby with Rowan Atkinson.  We’d all watched Man vs. Bee during the summer, and it was cute, so we thought we’d give this one a go, and we all loved it.  I actually liked this one even better because it was Christmas themed.  It was laugh-out-loud funny and family friendly.

The kids also wanted to watch a little bit of the Percy Jackson show that they’d started on Disney+, so I read my book while they all watched, and I ended up falling asleep on the couch.  I’m not a fan of mythical stuff like that, so I always read when they watch those shows.

After the kids went to bed, Brian started the final show of Stranger Things, and I read some more.  The last episode was long like a movie, so he stopped halfway through so we could go to bed.

 

Saturday, January 3

Saturday, we slept in until 8:45, I made waffles for breakfast, and then I finished my weekly recap for Monday.

Jacob finished his Lego set and Olivia finished her Woobles set, and both things turned out awesome.  Can you believe she crocheted this whole thing all by herself?  Those kits are truly awesome.

I took some time to put away the New Year’s Eve decorations, the kids did their laundry, and Brian finished Stranger Things, then we all had lunch.

After lunch, I worked on a few lists for the new year and I printed a couple to keep them close, and then I got out for another walk.

After my walk, I had a few more minutes to do my quiet time and then it was time to get showered and ready for Mass. 

Now that football is over, we’ll resume going to Mass on Saturday evenings like we usually do, but it’s nice to know that we always have that Sunday evening option going forward.

Our usual crew was at Mass and dinner – the four of us, Momma and Daddy, Mama Cass, and my Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg + my littlest brother joined us for dinner.

Afterward, we swung by Dairy Queen for Blizzards, and we all tried the newest Blizzard of the Month – the Oreo Snowdrift Blizzard.  I stopped eating ice cream a few years ago, but this new Blizzard had me intrigued, so I got one for the first time in a long time and it was delicious. 

When we got home, we finished Man vs. Baby, and then after the kids went to bed Brian and I watched another episode of Pluribus.

 

Sunday, January 4

Sunday morning, we slept in and I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. 

I started tapering off my vertigo medicine again on January 1 after having a rough go of it in late October / early November.  If you’re new here or you missed that post, I was put on a medication for my vertigo that I took for 2.5 years.  It’s a very potent drug so you can’t stop taking it cold turkey, and instead, you must taper off of it.  I followed my doctor’s instructions when tapering the first time, but when I came off the last dose completely, my whole body went into withdrawals, and it was absolutely horrible.  I was pretty much bedridden for a full week until my doctor’s office finally told me to go back on the tiniest dose to alleviate the withdrawals as they can be dangerous and even deadly in some cases.  Ever since then, I’ve been taking that tiny dose every day.

They told me to start tapering again once my body was stable, so I set the date for January 1 because I wanted to get past Christmas and not have my holidays ruined.  I was only taking 1/2 pill before, so on January 1 I had to start cutting the pills into quarters (which is literally the size of a crumb because they’re so tiny to begin with).  I prayed that I wouldn’t have any issues, but sure enough, I woke up on January 4 feeling “off”… which is right on schedule as it takes some time for the body to respond since the medicine has such a long half-life.

I had predicted that it would happen, so I’d kept our schedule free on Sunday in case I ended up bedridden again, but thankfully, it never got that bad.  I got really unsteady around lunchtime, but I felt much better after eating, and I had a very quick vertigo spin later in the day while sitting at my desk (SIGH).  Thankfully, the eye strain that was so bad the first time has been mild this time, and although I’m still experiencing some of the effects of tapering today as I type this (Tuesday), it hasn’t been as bad as the last time… yet anyway.

I plan to take this little quarter of a pill AKA crumb for around a month before tapering again to a quarter of a pill every other day.  I’m pretty worried the side effects will be bad once I drop an entire dose every other day, but there’s no way possible to cut the pill any smaller than it already is.  I guess we’ll see how it goes!  If anyone has any sage advice on tapering off of potent meds, please let me know!

Anywayyyy, I did my typical Sunday morning things – planner for the week ahead, sermon, transferring photos from my phone to my computer and getting them organized, and then I got up and did a couple of loads of laundry, and I folded and put away the towels.

After lunch, I was feeling decent enough to get out (although not great), so Brian and I decided to take the kids to the park because it was such a beautiful day.  I’m hoping that our whole family can get more outside time this year, and Sunday was a perfect day for it.

On the way to the park, we had to drop something off at my mother-in-law's and step-father-in-law’s house, and then we walked the loop around the park and then let the kids play on the exercise equipment. 

On the way home, we stopped by Home Depot to look for some rug tape (with no luck) and then Brian ran into Aldi to grab a few things we needed urgently.

When we got home, the kids played Minecraft for a bit, and I worked on Tuesday’s blog post some more while watching The Wedding Planner.  The Christmas movie watching is officially over for the season. 

Brian made mini pizzas for dinner, and I made our meal plan and grocery list for the week, and then we had one last night of laziness since the kids were off for one last day on Monday.

Brian and the kids watched two more episodes of Percy Jackson while I read, and then Brian and I watched one more episode of Pluribus before bedtime.

And that was our wonderful, long, Christmas break!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!