Raise your hand if you’re already listening to Christmas music!!
I’m one of those people who celebrates with abandon, and while I dearly love thanksgiving, the last weekend of November is for pulling out the Christmas decorations!
Honestly, I’m not even sure how to characterize November. It’s been amazing to finally begin to settle into our new town, new home, and new life. While it was sad to not spend Thanksgiving with family, Logan and I had a great time cooking more food than two people could possibly eat. I’ve spent nearly every day unpacking boxes, cleaning things, or updating our info. And I haven’t even gotten to my driver’s license yet!
In spite of no routine whatsoever – or largely because of it – lots of big things happened this month. Here’s how the goals for November went down:
- Move – done! The process itself went pretty smoothly, and we’re really enjoying Oklahoma so far. Most people we’ve met have been through Logan’s office, and everyone has been so fantastic and welcoming!
- Get unpacked (mostly), and maybe buy a couch – It seems like every day I unpack boxes. Not even kidding. But there’s something incredibly therapeutic to me about setting up a new space and making it my own. There’s a comic element to me though, of unpacking all our stuff with very little furniture. Our “couch” this month has been a twin bed. But never fear, we got wild and crazy on black Friday and got a BUNCH of furniture. Also purchased: a washer & dryer. It feels so adult!
- Read 7 books – This was an easy one. I listened to audiobooks throughout the 20 hours drive and for days while unpacking, so I soaked in a book almost every other day!
- Write 10 blog posts – check! Just this week I’ve gotten a better writing routine, only because there’s not a gazillion boxes everywhere I turn.
- Work on setting up Lightroom photo cataloging – I’ve set up the basic structure I’ll use. Now to just import the past 10 years of photos in…
- Finish editing Europe photos – Yes! Fist pump! Finally. That means you’ll see more Europe posts continuing very very soon!
- Work on Rosetta Stone (spanish) once a week – Nope. Definitely didn’t. What with all the transition/chaos/life happening, I did it about twice. We’ll revisit this in December.
- Exercise 4x/week – … hmm. So in the sense of going to the gym or actually running around, not really. But I have gotten a ton of steps in what with loading and unloading a moving van and setting up our new place!
- Celebrate Thanksgiving – Success! While we missed our families, we had a great time picking all our favorite foods and watching the parade. I may have gone a touch overboard and made two pies for two people, but who’s counting?
December will be our first full month here in Oklahoma, so I’m excited to start figuring out more than where the grocery store is. We’re starting to check out churches, plus I want to join in whatever seasonal things are happening around here! We’re staying here for Christmas, so I’m already working on gift boxes to ship back to family. Doing it this far in advance actually adds an extra element of fun for me: instead of a rushed post-exams or after-work Christmas shopping, I get to put a lot more thought and research into fun gift ideas!
My main “rhythm” for December is to start setting up a routine. After so much (good) chaos, I’m ready for a little predictability. This Monday was the first day that I didn’t wake up barraged by boxes clamoring to be unpacked, and this week all the furniture we bought on Black Friday will arrive! So things are starting to come together.
These are my attempts at concrete goals for December:
- Write 10 blog posts
- Read 7 books
- Exercise 4x/week
- Have some people over for dinner at least once
- Celebrate Christmas!
What are your goals for December? Does your routine change significantly during the holidays?
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Haha don’t worry about the furniture situation; we literally had one office chair in our living room for a month after we bought our house in August. (In our defense we purchased the living room set earlier; it’s just it took them a month to deliver the couch and recliner!) I’m glad to hear things are going well in Oklahoma so far!
Liz, I hear that! Thanks, we’re liking it so far! How are you settling into your place now??