As the year wraps up, it’s time for my 2023 favourite things to capture the memories of this year, specifically, and to share things we’ve loved with you!
1. time with friends – this year, we have been excessively blessed with lots of time with lots of lovely people that we care about a lot. We started the year still being neighbors with some of our best friends (though that has sadly changed), as well as the kids spending even more time with our other wonderful neighbor-friends. In the early months, Harry and I took some fun social walks with a friend, too. Last year, I made a new good friend, and this year we brought our families together to learn and play. Obviously, despite a little distance, we’ve still prioritized time with our other besties. Both kids are in spaces with lots of kids, and have been socializing there. I also had personal training for most of the year with one of my favourite friends. Add in the kids au pairs, who are now our neighbors, and we have had so many opportunities to enjoy the best company that we quite literally have not had the time to enjoy it all. Though I was hellbent on trying. And we stuffed as much of it into our schedules as we could.
2. lego – for our anniversary this year, Todd surprised me with my dream Lego set—the a-frame cabin—which was actually the first set I’ve ever built. It was so fun, and it’s the coolest set. For Harry’s birthday, he was given a 4+ Lego set, and he was delighted that it had his age on it. So, for Christmas, my mom gifted him a 4+ firehouse set, which he has adored; and I also gifted him the Duplo set he wanted for Christmas. Gwendolyn also got her dream set, the Oxford Blocks Traditional Korean Wedding. Since that had 3 of us with our dream sets, I couldn’t resist blowing the Christmas budget and getting Todd his set-of-all-sets: the Lion Knight’s Castle. His reaction was amazing, so I have 0 regrets. He spent 4 days putting in working hours to get all 4,514 bricks put together.
3. seeing live performances – after taking Gwendolyn to her first play last year, I decided we could do more of this. We saw a Peter Pan ballet, which was DELIGHTFUL; Cinderella ballet with Todd + Harry; a hip-hop showcase at UVU; and Christmas Around the World; The Nutcracker; and Adventsingen at BYU all during December.
4. mcfly – every year, I have to use my old iPod dock to listen to Christmas songs, but I left it out in the new year, and we listened to a lot of McFly (I may or may not have a tonnnn of ripped songs on that iPod). Then, in the summer, they released a new, and amazing—quite possibly their best ever—album, which me and the kids have devoured (with out ears, of course). We are still listening to it, and the kids enjoyed listening to their few Christmas covers this season.
5. chiropractic care – I’ve been seeing our chiropractor for 6 years. This year, I feel like my body has been falling apart moreso than usual (it’s the chronic stress and burnout). However, in early September, Todd tweaked his back so bad he gave himself mild scoliosis, so he went on a chiropractic plan, which helped him so, so much. The kids get adjusted, too. Thank The Lord for our chiropractor.
6. enneagrams – If you’ve read my booklists, you might know I’m a pretty big fan of the enneagram personality typing. This year, I made something like a dozen people take it, just to see. It was so interesting. And validating? And useful. I’ve also puzzled about my kids (kids don’t have numbers set yet, but there can be patterns), so that I can better support them.
an anonymous collection of a few such friends’ results
7. video games – lame. I feel like I’ve played my favourites (Sims4, and Civ5) a l o t more this year, but Todd also introduced the kids to games, mostly through watching him. This resulted in Harry becoming Mario-obsessed. But the kids are also in love with a game on the RaspberryPi, and Todd has had a whole heap of games he’s been loving this second half of the year. He’s also really, really making progress on his own game.
8. classes – this year, we have taken SO M A N Y classes. Over the summer, I took a hip-hop class for 8 weeks, as well as teaching two beginning Korean classes (for kids) for two different friends from about February-July. I am still taking Korean classes myself, too. The kids both took 2 swim lessons during the summer, as well as a dance class each. The kids are in several classes each this academic year.
What positive patterns did you enjoy in 2023?
