We hosted the volleyball Christmas party for our team. I helped Mom cut fabric for fleece tie blankets
while watching the 2nd Hunger Games movie. The party was a lot of fun. We started with Secret
Santa and Landrie had me again this year!
We hung out, tied our blankets, ate, and laughed a lot. Most of the moms stayed for the party too and
we didn’t mind.
I was so glad for Christmas break. It started off with a lot of cold and snow. We only had one day before Christmas, and I went
to Aaron’s house to decorate gingerbread houses. I really enjoyed getting to hang out with him
and get to know his family better.
We had a busy and fun Christmas! We went to Papa Ron and Linda’s on the 23rd. Mark and Chase came over and we had lasagna
from Aldo’s-yum! We spent the night
there and really enjoyed playing games and laughing. Papa Ron made us a big breakfast on Christmas
Eve morning, even though they were hosting a Christmas at Linda’s house. We spent some time visiting Grandma Rose that
morning. It is always good to visit
her. Then, it was off to Grandma Kathy
and Grandpa Tom’s! I always love hanging
out with my cousins and eating good food.
Uncle Steve made a saran wrap game this year and we had a blast
demolishing it! We hated to leave, but
we headed to our Church’s Midnight service (at 11:00) for the first time. It was weird when they turned off the lights and
everyone lit candles and sang Silent Night.
We got to have Christmas at home again. That is truly my favorite way to celebrate
Christmas. My Santa gifts were a Hopeless
Romantic sweatshirt and a soft gray blanket.
We had a nice relaxing day at home.
Nana Arden and Papa Rodney’s Christmas was rescheduled to the day after because
Catherine was sick. We got together for Christmas for the first time in three
years at Aunt Lisa and Uncle Otto’s. We
enjoyed visiting and playing games. We
visited Nana Arden and Papa Rodney recently too and actually went into their
house for the first time in three years!
We were able to do some fun things after Christmas too. Landrie and Lilah spent the night at our
house, and we took them to practice the next day. I really love my teammates! I also did another positional camp at Stephen’s
over break. I finished all my Christmas thank you notes. One of my presents was to get my ears double
pierced. Mom took Emily and me to a tattoo
shop to get this done. I acted very brave,
but then realized I had been holding my breath and felt like I was going to
pass out. All is good now! Emily went to
her friend Avonlea’s house one day and our family was invited over for
dinner. I REALLY did NOT want to go, but
Mom coaxed me into it because she thought I would love her mom, Aurora. Well, she was right! She treated me like a grown up and we talked
about books and played a fun game all night and I didn’t want to leave. I also got to hang out with the original Lila
at her house as well over break.
New Year’s Eve went exactly how I had hoped! Aaron came over to celebrate. We decorated cookies (even though Emily knocked
his name on the floor and he ended up being ARRON), watched movies, played Taco
Cat Goat Cheese Pizza and Throw Throw Burrito with Mom and Emily. He said they were a lot of fun! He even gave me a quick kiss at “midnight”,
which was really 11:00.
I was able to see Aaron a few more times this month. I went to his basketball game against Oakland
after practice one night and went to his last middle school game the next night. I even got to meet his grandparents! My mom
and his dad took us on another “date”.
We went bowling and walked around the mall.
Our Church had another brunch worship, and I got to go to
Youth Group again because practice nights have changed! Another huge event was
that our family finally joined the Church.
I was really nervous and uncomfortable in front of all those people, but
I’m also glad to be a part of all of them.
This month has also been all things volleyball. We got our new backpacks, had three practices
a week, had some positionals, and had our first tournament! We played in the Gateway League (13s-15s) in O’Fallon
IL. Our team went 3-3 overall. We beat
the 13s teams, lost against the 14s and 2 15s teams, but several of our losses
were close. Our team played well
together and was much more competitive than our teams in the past. I struggled
in one set and was taken out. The other team
was targeting me, and it shook me pretty bad.
Everyone said that I did really well though. Papa Ron and Linda came to support me too!
It was hard to go back to school after having time off. I can’t believe I only have one more semester of middle school left. I have been playing it cool with high school coming up and have been super excited, but once we started selecting high school classes, it got pretty real. I’m starting to get nervous and anxious about my future classes and what to take and how I will do. I know it will all be fine, but now it is happening fast!
Narrator for Reader's Theater
Saran Wrap ball
