We picked up Colby and Leah from the airport, then drove straight home so Colby could study and take his last final. He’s graduated now! He ended up with a computer engineer degree and a math minor and electrical science minor. He has a job lined up in Arizona with Raytheon, the same company he interned for this past summer. He officially starts in June but they’ll let him bump up the start date. He has to sort out where to live and all that before he decides when to go, but first he wants to rest and relax at home for a while before jumping into his career. He’s worn out. He moved out of his apartment during busy finals week, and on Christmas Day someone contacted him and bought the rest of his contract, thank goodness.
I had a strange moment the first morning after all our kids came home for Christmas. I woke up, checked my phone, and there were no messages. No 2:00 a.m. missed phone calls or messages asking, "Mom, are you still awake?" or "I have a question." or "Mom?... "Mom?... Mom?... Are you there?" No funny memes sent in the middle of the night from any one of the kids up late studying or across the world, hours ahead of us. It was weird to see my phone screen blank. And then a feeling of peace followed. Our kids are all here. Home. I'm content.
It was warmish and rained for Christmas, no snow! It’s bizarre. We are not frozen. I love it. Dan even biked to the store for an ingredient. We finally had a small amount of snow on New Year’s Eve.
There have been puzzles and games.
Cooking.
Baking.
Lounging. (Next year’s my year to not be the sick one in the background of pictures, okay?)
Movies. Ping pong. Pickleball. Volleyball. Hanging out in pajamas. 
Laughter and gifts.
Hairstyling by Paige. That’s me, but I look like Leah from behind. I never let my hair get this long.
Packing meals for Feed My Starving Children.
Birthdaying.
Reading.
Crafting.
We spent New Year’s Eve playing games with friends and said goodbye to 2023. It’s a wrap. And before we all make resolutions to change ourselves for the next year, I like the thought of being kind to ourselves and thanking ourselves first for all we did to get through this past year. We made it!
