The weather on Lookout Mountain yesterday was nasty, cold and wet. A dense fog settled on our house. We decided to throw out our outdoor plans. We cuddled up at home and tried to channel some hygge coziness. We turned on the Christmas music, pulled out the Christmas decorations and made some hot chocolate. We even let Caroline watch part of a Holiday British Baking Show episode. She was into it (“Oh no! Her cake isn’t going to turn out ok!”). Every decoration we pulled out, she treated like a precious treasure.

A friend of mine shared a blog post with me about savoring the simple joys of Christmas instead of feeling pressured to create an extravagant Christmas, especially when one’s babies are really little. I felt like I could really see the wisdom in that this weekend. Margaret, of course, is happy no matter the situation. Caroline expressed glee literally every time we pulled out a new piece of each nativity set. She savored the small piece of chocolate from her advent calendar. She laughed about a silly elf headband throughout the day. She’s already gaining opinions about her preferred Christmas music. None of what we did was complex, but she thought it was the best time ever.

On another note, I spent time working on photo books. We give our parents yearly photo books for Christmas. It was shocking to me how much the girls have changed and grown over the course of a year. I was getting emotional looking through all the pictures. I’m so thankful for these little time capsules.