What's Up Wednesday: November 2020

Welcome to What's Up Wednesday for November 2020. I'm linking up with Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me To to talk about what we've been up to lately. I love writing these posts, I love reading all of your posts, and I love re-reading my posts to see what we've been up to in previous months/years.

image from here

What we're eating this week... A few weeks ago, Holly who blogs over at Pink Lady, wrote about a cookie her mom makes, Applesauce Jumbles. They sounded delicious and thankfully she shared the recipe. Let's just say, we're on our second batch already. These cookies are DELICIOUS!!! You need to go to Holly's blog, get the recipe here, and make yourself a batch as soon as possible. Seriously, they're so good.

What I'm reminiscing about... Last year, around this time, Rachel was in her first holiday dance performance. Her studio alternates between performing "The Snowman and the Snowdog" and "The Nutcracker." This was supposed to be a Nutcracker year and I'm so sad it's not happening. So instead I'm reminiscing about last year when she was a polar bear.

 

What I'm loving... Our family pictures! We got them taken on a gorgeous day in early November and I LOVE how they turned out. Here's a small sample:

All pictures by Tessa of "t.e.h photography."

  

What we've been up to... We've managed to get outside and to a forest for all of the weekends in November thus far and I've been loving our forest hikes/walks. I'm feeling committed to getting outside, and getting exercise once again, and it's been such a good way to soak up some of the beautiful weather we've been having before winter hits.

What I'm dreading... Christmas without my parents :( And the holidays in general. I'm dreading not being able to get together with anybody. Boo.

 

What I'm working on... I ordered our holiday cards (Update: They arrived yesterday!!!) and I've been working on our 2021 calendars. We make two every year -- one for us and one for my parents -- and I have been working on those. Also, on Sunday, I shoveled snow four times in eight hours so I was working on that too!

 

What I'm excited about... We have a Cheese Advent Calendar sitting in our fridge, so honestly, I'm excited about that :) Plus, I've taken Friday off of work and Dave and I are hoping to do all of our Channukah/Christmas shopping in one day. We're committed to supporting local so we're going to hit our uptown and hopefully get it all done. I'm excited to spend a day with Dave and excited to spend a day in our uptown again.

What I'm watching/reading... We finally started watching Hallmark Christmas movies. I know, I know, I'm pretty far behind the curve on this one, but I feel like Christmas is special and having two (or more) months of Christmas isn't special to me. I'm really going to soak up all the holiday goodness starting this weekend, but we watched a couple of the movies this past weekend and they were fun! We saw Christmas in Vienna and Christmas Tree Lane.

The last book I read was "In Five Years" by Rebecca Serle. It reminded me a little bit of "Oona Out of Order" in that the main character gets a glimpse of the future and then the story is about how they get to that very different looking future.

 

What I'm listening to... Right now as I'm writing this blog post, Rachel is working on Dave's computer, writing a play for her stuffed animals and listening to music through headphones and singing. Loudly. She's alternating between "Into the Unknown" and "My Heart Will Go On." 

 

What I'm wearing... Well, Sam got a Sherpa sweater in March, I got one in October, and then I got one for Rachel in November. This past weekend Dave commented, "I want one too!" so we're all wearing them. As Dave said, "We're just a big pile of cozy!" Hahaha!!!

What I'm doing this weekend... We might try to get out to the woods again. We're going to light the first candle on our Advent wreath and I'm going to pull out our Christmas and Channukah decorations. It's time to get festive!

What I'm looking forward to next month... Jólabókaflóð. This is the Icelandic tradition of giving everyone a new book and spending Christmas Eve reading. Our family has done this the past couple of years and I LOVE it. It's such a cozy way to spend the evening. The kids call it the Christmas-athon which I love :)

What else is new... Since we're Canadian, we celebrated Thanksgiving back in October. However, the kids wanted to mark American Thanksgiving this year so we've planned a special supper for tomorrow night. Then we might break out our matching family pajamas for this year and start addressing our holiday cards. We shall see...