There are so many options and ideas for a theme – it is so easy to go overboard. I focused on the first movie – The Sorcerer’s Stone and kept it very light – nothing scary. My goal was to use props and supplies that I already had, and to buy things that could be reused for future party decorations. I ordered most everything from Amazon, and I ordered early – knowing that mail often takes a month or more to get here, and frequently gets lost along the way.
I organized everything by station: Hogwarts Express, The Great Hall, Defense Against the Dark Art class, and Potions class.
I even gave Jackson his Lego gift early, so that he could put it together before the party, and we could use it as a decoration!
Back in December or so, I convinced Jackson to let me plan a Harry Potter birthday party for him. He has been quite against it, but once I convinced him to watch the Sorcerer’s Stone with me, he was all in. We agreed to have a small-ish party at the house, and we set the guest list to 8 kids total.
I started with the invitations. Most invitations are digital these days, but I went old school and created ‘flat card’ paper invitations, with a Hogwarts wax seal for the envelopes. I used 4 Privet Drive font for both invitation and envelope, with black ink for invitations and a green ink for the text of the envelopes. I think they turned out marvelous!
I have a few years left of work, but it is time for me to focus on what comes after retirement. I have a lot of ideas that will make me happy, but I’m working to ensure I have a way to pay the bills too!
I’ve started taking classes part-time through Penn State World Campus to get a degree in Digital Multimedia Design. So far, so good. I’m taking a photography class and a basic design class this first semester. Most days, I’m getting up at 3am to fit in the classwork. Fingers crossed that I can get to the finish line!
My brother and his daughter have birthdays in early February. I created these adorable birthday cards for them, and Jackson helped me with the scoring tool, so that we could fold them easily and get the in the mail.
I created both cards in Adobe Illustrator, using a template I had set up previously. It is for a 5X7 card, with fold and cut lines. I also bought these cute watercolor woodland animal designs from Creative Market.
I’ve only had one session so far. This style is called Copperplate Calligraphy. I’ve learned the basic shapes that make up the letters and a few of the lower case letters.
It really reminds me of the cursive writing that I learned while in school. So far, the exception is the letter P. In calligraphy, we don’t close the loop at the top.
The instructor came to the house. She brought the pen, nib, ink, paper. Really everything I need to get started. Now it is up to me to practice daily. My next lesson is in February, and I want to be ready for what comes next!
With all of the busyness of unpacking and getting ready for the holidays, I had not yet packed for our trip home! I typically start early and slowly add everything we need to our bags. This time I was looking for our winter gear and throwing stuff into the suitcases the night before we left.
I was so thankful that the taxi showed up on time for our 2:30am departure from home. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and the airline was not even open for check-in when we arrived!
The flight was unremarkable, except that it was 6.5 hours long, and the food was bleh. With a quick layover in Japan, we didn’t do much but take advantage of the wi-fi and let everyone know that we made it to Tokyo. Jackson was amazed with the bathroom! Lots of automation in there!
After a 10.5 hour flight, we made it to Chicago. Again, the food was bleh. But the flight was fine. I was excited to have an Italian Beef sandwich while in Chicago, but the airport sandwich left a lot to be desired. We had a long layover here, so we indulged in Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds! We had a few flight delays, and since it was snowing, we had to get ‘de-iced’ before we could take off. Two hours later, (and after 30+ hours of travel) we arrived! It’s good to be ‘home’!
We had our Cub Scout Award Ceremony. Jackson has earned Fur, Feathers, and Ferns, Fellowship and Duty to God, Bear Necessities, Bear Claws, and his Whittling Chip! He has worked very hard to complete these requirements and is well on his way to earning his Bear Badge. I even got to help hand out the awards to the Pack!
Sitting with Santa
After the awards ceremony, we moseyed on over to have pancakes with Santa! Jackson told Santa that he wanted 100,000,000,000 Robucks!! Santa assured him that he had plenty of room on his sleigh for all of that! 😊 We had pancakes and waffles for breakfast, visited with friends, and Jackson even made a paper ornament for the tree.
Pancakes with Santa
We then headed to the pool for lessons, and a fun surprise…there was a bouncy slide that went directly into the pool! Jackson stayed focused on his lesson, and then broke loose to enjoy some fun with his friends. What a great Saturday!
It has been a real challenge to unpack my house, and prepare for Christmas, while working full-time!
I’ve been making lots of lists to ensure I completed my top priorities on time. All of the boxes are unpacked and out of the house. I don’t have everything placed where I want, but I’m ready to move my focus to Christmas.
Lego still need to be put away
We got off to a bumpy start: the community water pumped died, so we were without water on Saturday morning. Then, Jackson attempted to plug the ‘strip plug’ into the wall, with an adapter. He blew out the power to the entire house and burned up the strip plug. Luckily, the movers stood up my ‘big’ tree. It is an older pre-lit tree and the lights have died. I picked up some 220v lights in Lithuania, so I wrapped those around the tree, and plugged them right into the wall. No transformer or adapter needed! Win! I put the ornaments on the trees, set up the nativity, and hung our stockings on the window grills.
Stockings are hung
Next up was the baking. Jackson and I rolled out, baked, and decorated 9 batches of cookies. We gifted the gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies to neighbors, teachers, coaches, the bus driver and the bus monitor. I put the cookies in clear cellophane bags with red ribbon. I baked peanut butter cup cookies for the neighborhood cookie exchange. I think we ate all the cookies while visiting – there wasn’t much to exchange at the end! I also made white chocolate-raspberry scones early one morning – they were AMAZING! I put the warm scones in little kraft boxes with tea bags, gingerbread cookies, and jams – tied up with red and white striped ribbon with nutcracker tags – to make cute little ‘take away’ afternoon tea boxes for colleagues. I also roasted some almonds in cinnamon and sugar. I put those in clear cellophane bags, tied them up with a red ribbon, and attached a gold tag for my office mates and the Marines.
Neighborhood Cookie Exchange
I somehow made time to whip up a batch of Pizzelles for Jackson (special request!), wrap up the Christmas gifts that will go under the tree, and I even purchased a few gifts to bring home. It was a mad scramble, but I (mostly) pulled it off!
Each year, we celebrate the local staff who work at our embassies. The celebrations vary from embassy to embassy, and from year to year. This year, we organized a Thanksgiving lunch for our (400+) colleagues.
I shared my Thanksgiving decorations – pumpkins, leaves, acorns, etc. – which were set out on the serving tables. I also helped to serve lunch. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, and apple crisp. It was so lovely to see my colleagues, serve them, and let them know that they are appreciated.
I mentioned previously that this year is filled with milestone birthdays. Mom just turned 70!
I worked hard to create a birthday card for her. It did not turn out as planned, but she appreciated my efforts!
I was so proud of myself for acquiring the ‘assets’ – the pictures to be used for the card. I created the card – front and back, set up the card with cut and fold marks (to show me where to cut and fold the paper after printing), and even exported the file into a pdf, so I COULD print it.
Everything seemed to be going well, but when I cut on the cut lines, my card was much smaller than the envelope it was going into! (and I cut off the fold marks!) I don’t have a ‘creasing tool’, to crease the paper where it should be folded, so I folded as best I could. 🙂
Next time I will fold before cutting the fold lines off. (and I’ve even ordered a little scoring tool to help with this process!)
I did get it in the mail and it showed up right on time!
