Fun Little Things: "Full of things..."

The fact that I am writing my Hapy New Year post on January 4th is probably not a huge surprise to the people who know me well, and is definitely a sign of how my life goes without deadlines, but here it is:

Happy New Year!!!

I hope you all had a fabulous, restful, fun holiday and new year surrounded by the people you love! We were so lucky to be able to spend 8 days with family for Christmas! I will tell the truth, the 8 hour car ride each way with this big ol' belly was a little squishy and rough, but getting to spend so much time with family was worth all the squishing in my ribs.

A very good sticky bun making helper!

There was some rain and lots of fantastic, wintery, chilly weather. There were fires in the fireplace as long as we could convince Jack that they did not need his tending. There were truffles, fudge, cookies and cheesecake. There was verekrans (I am probably spelling this wrong, but man, oh man, this bread is delicious!) bread and Christmas morning sticky buns. There was a serious bowl of eggnog (but none for me)! There was lots of giggling and game playing. There were beautiful Christmas trees and a house full of dark red flowers and decorations. There were muddy, rainy dog walks in the woods. There were presents and one lonely stocking for Jack. There was some attempted dog bed sharing.

And lots and lots of love!

We drove home on the 31st (or as most people call it, New Year's Eve) with a stop in Salinas to see long lost friends and meet their beautiful 9 month old twins and one more in Simi Valley for more family, presents, a dog walk and giggling. The goal was home in time for fondue and chocolate mousse for dinner, but after 12 hours in the car (addictedly listening to Gone Girl on our brand new audible account) pizza it was. The traditional New Year's Eve dinner of almost every year of my life was postponed for one more day.

This has kind of been a stretched out season of thinking about the old year and the new, things that have already changed and the changes that are coming. Starting with welcoming back the sunshine on the Winter Solstice (or making it through the Mayan Apocalypse, whichever December 21st may have meant for you) through today, and I'm sure the weeks to come, changes are a constant part of my life. While looking for a new quote for our chalkboard, I came across this one yesterday:

"And now we welcome a new year, full of things that have never been"

- Rainer Maria Rilke

2012 was a year full of things that had never been, change and growth I planned and change and growth that happened to me. Taking a break from teaching, turning Fun Little Things into a real small business, getting pregnant (!!!), losing Buddy way too young, getting chickens and I'm sure so much more I just can't remember right now. 2013 is going to be a year full of so much more growth and so many more changes I can barely even fathom or plan for yet.

My only New Year's resolution? Have a baby! She is coming sometime in the next month! I can barely believe how quickly this has come! We have the baby room almost ready, just waiting on one more Amazon delivery due to arrive today (yes, I admit, I am stalking the delivery tracking online - As I type this it is listed as Out for Delivery!) Hoping to learn how to install a car seat this weekend. Dresser full of washed and folded tiny little baby clothes and mountains of cloth diapers just waiting. I am still planning some projects for her (and for my two little baby nieces coming just a few months after ours). Aside from that I have realized there is nothing I can plan for this year to come. I wait to meet her and to see what our life becomes. So in the meantime, I sit here:

The most comfortable and beautiful glider -
a baby shower present, refinished by
my mama!

or here:

yes, it needs a little more air, but this is the best we could
do without a pump!

I stretch, I go to yoga, I cuddle with Lacey, I clean (... a little bit), and in the weeks to come I will be writing at least 5 blog tutorials with all of the fun Christmas presents (and one birthday present) I made in the last few weeks. A little teaser of what you can look forward to ---