Details.

This year I let a lot of the hustle and bustle go. It was really liberating. Some things that I let go this year, I will bring back next year. There just wasn't time or energy to put towards them. With Nathan's semester ending so close to Christmas and us all getting sick again with strep (yes, I said strep for the THIRD time this year!), it was either get EVERYTHING done OR have a spirit-filled Christmas. I chose the latter. So, no Christmas cards went out from our house this year. There was no birthday cake for Jesus, although we did sing and we did celebrate. We even waited until the day AFTER Christmas to erect our gingerbread house. Instead, we focused on Advent, my favorite Christmas tradition, and on just being together and celebrating Christ's birth. It really was a nice day for us here at home.

Today after church, we packed up a lunch and headed to the seminary campus for a little outing. We spent a few hours just walking around, letting the kids run, and taking some photos. It was great fun and we left wondering why we don't do something like that more often. It was free, fulfilling, family fun! I think the same problem comes up when we start to plan outings-DETAILS. I am certain that, when planning outings for my kids, I am getting too wrapped up in making them...SUPER, I guess and I miss out on the simple fun that we could be having right in our own backyard.

I am making it one of my new year's goals to try and spend more time thinking simply. In the meantime, enjoy some of the photos I snapped today on our outing. be sure to check out my updated kidlet pics on the sidebar also! We did those while we were out today as well.