We started December off right with a visit to the San Antonio Temple with Kevin, Lily and my sister Wendy. What a lovely way to start the day and the month. Plus, I always love any chance I have to spend time with Wendy.

On Wednesday, Lily and I tried a new place for my morning walk – the trails by Arthur’s middle school. There was this one sort of creepy tunnel we had to go through, but other than that, it was a fun new adventure – especially because we never knew what branch of the trail to follow. (And yes, if you look at the picture, we are bundled up, as we have been having some chilly mornings lately.)

In spite of the chilly mornings, we have been having our gorgeous fall weather here in Texas. The leaves are changing, the highs are in the 60’s and 70’s, even if they dip into the 40’s at night, and my December roses are blooming beautifully. They always make me happy.

Another fun thing from this week, was that I went and got a haircut – which hadn’t happened since Darcy washed my hair and trimmed it after my brain surgery. She did her best with what is left of my hair, as between all the thinning from chemo and the bald patches from brain radiation, I maybe have a quarter of the hair I began with. That said, it felt so wonderful to feel like a normal person and get my hair done and styled. What a blessing! (Especially because I have discovered that my very expensive wig really hurts to wear because of how it rests right on my surgery scar.)

Arthur was right back at it at school, and had his second UIL Academic competition. He didn’t perform as well as he would have liked, but he still loved getting to participate. And now he knows that he needs to study more before the finals 😉.

While Lily and I were making sure to get Arthur where he needed to be, cleaning up the house, and watching movies, Kevin and Derek went and had their own adventure. Kevin got free tickets for the BYU vs. TCU football game at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium, and so he met up with his brother Brian and our nephew Isaac for some football. They were even able to meet up with my niece McKayla’s husband Joe while they were there.

One thing that would usually happened this week, but actually happened before Thanksgiving week even rolled around, was putting up Christmas. I do love to document all the new ornaments we have collected, and this year I added quite a few, including some from our time in Boston, Newport, Vermont, Maui, and even when I was in Pennsylvania. And of course, there is my new Buc-ee’s the Beaver ornament. Good times!

The kids all got new Hallmark ornaments (and Kevin as well, but I forgot to take a picture of his), and then our traditional yearly NSA ornament – we have ten of them now. So fun!

I may have gotten a little out of control adding new nativities to my collection this year as well. Is six too many? I mean it feels like an addiction, but Kevin said that it is okay if I am “addicted to Jesus” 😉. They are all just so sweet! One of them I found when Kevin and I went to Kneaders for dessert, and I even said the words, “I am not going to walk out of here with a new nativity.” I was wrong 😂.

My very favorite is the driftwood nativity from Newport, RI that my dear friend Becky sent me when I first got sick. We had seen it together, and I had regretted not buying it, and had tried everything to get it after the fact, but no luck, as the store wouldn’t ship it to me. Well, she drove three hours to Newport to the Christmas store, bought and mailed it to me, since she “couldn’t bring me a meatloaf for dinner.” Every time I look at it, my heart overflows with love and gratitude 🥹.

It was a wonderful first week of our Christmas adventures, even if there were other and more difficult things thrown in (like MRI’s, CT scans and bone scans, etc). We are definitely being watched over.