I truly do not know how November went by so fast.

I know that many of us say that about every month but November really did fly by for me.

We had some activities, but for the most part it was a relaxing month.

We celebrated two birthdays, an anniversary and, of course, Thanksgiving.

We took a field trip at the beginning of the month to a reptile zoo, which Little Miss was thrilled about.

The Boy and I enjoyed it too, but she was just in heaven. I’m sure we will visit there again in the spring or summer.

We did schoolwork and while there were some of it we didn’t enjoy, we are learning a lot of new things from a variety of sources this school year, so that has offered us some more chances for fun than other years.

I am moving a little away from a strict curriculum for some subjects and focusing on reading books on the topics or doing more hands-on activities instead of paperwork.

That seems to be a lot more relaxing for both the kids and for me.

The Boy still has to do some paperwork, but Little Miss is doing a mix of paperwork with reading various non-fiction and fiction books and exploring more of the things she is interested in.

I plan for us to do some lessons on cooking in December and January for both Little Miss and The Boy.

Even with our oven broken, there are many other ways to cook and that would be something to teach the kids in case they ever move into a place that doesn’t have an oven.

My goal this year for homeschooling is to focus on life skills and things that they will need to know how to do in life in addition to academics.

I still feel like I am not doing enough with actual curriculum, but teaching with less strict curriculum and more freedom in how we learn seems to be benefiting the children’s desire to learn and their overall feeling about school in general.

We still continue to use the curriculum, of course. We are just not as strict on using it every day. Some days we allow reading, art, music, and exploring to be our educational guide instead.

In a couple more days we will be moving into December and I love December more than I used to.

I once dreaded December because I knew cold weather came with it. It officially kicks off a winter that usually lasts a couple of months here in Pennsylvania and sometimes even more.

But now I know that December is when we can make excuses to watch cozy movies, read books full of Christmas happiness, and tell people who want to know if I want to go out in the cold for some sort of cold activity that I have family commitments for the holidays when I really don’t and just want to stay in and drink cocoa and watch movies instead of attending whatever function they want me to.

I’m joking about that last part, of course. I don’t really lie to people. I’m middle-aged. I just tell them like it is: “I don’t want to go out in the cold because I’m old now and I don’t have to do things that I don’t want to. So there.”

Our house is already decorated for Christmas. The Husband (my silly “pet name” for my husband here on the blog only) decorates every year the day after Thanksgiving. I would probably wait until December to decorate otherwise, but it’s nice to start the happy movies and books early.

We only decorate inside because our neighbors go all out for Christmas. Everyone in town (of like 600) loves seeing their lights, but the people driving on the highway down the hill from our street also love it because you can see them from there. They aren’t at the level of one of my husband’s co-workers who has a huge display every year. It’s one of those displays where people almost have accidents looking at it and it’s on a busy street too.

I’ll have some more photographs of their display later on this month, I’m sure, but here are a couple photos I took last year for now:

The weekend after this upcoming weekend there is a holiday event and book sale at the local library which I am looking forward to. I have a couple classics I hope to find there. There is also a light display at the local fairgrounds either that weekend or the next that we plan to visit.

So, while December was once not as fun of a month for me (until we got to Christmas), I now like several things about it, including:

• Colder weather that allows us to snuggle up under covers with a cup of cocoa or tea.
• Christmas movies and books
• My neighbor’s decorations
• Christmas celebration and family time
• Christmas events (like book sales!)
• Snow on our naked trees to make them look less depressing with no leaves
• Fun things to cook or bake

What are you looking forward to in December? Let me know in the comments.