November was filled with family time and prepping for our first floor renovation. My parents came out in mid-November for Thanksgiving (you can read all about our Thanksgiving time here), our older two had a constant flow of their friends in and out of our house (just the way I like it), and we spent A LOT of time figuring out paint and flooring choices for our renovation. What a blessing to be able to do a renovation that includes a wall removal, new paint, new floors, new baseboards and new light fixtures BUT what a TON of work. Throw in wanting things to be festive and beautiful for the holidays and I hit peak anxiety about all things by about November 10. I just had to decide to let some things GO. No, we were not going to bake and take cookies to friends and neighbors this season. No, we would not make it to see the Oakland Temple Christmas lights. No, we would not be able to attend every party we were invited to. But YES to sleeping and eating well, yes to family time, yes to embracing the concrete subfloor and weird paint test splotches all over the first floor and endless reorganizing projects that were so needed and appreciated. Yes to the Hallmark movies and annual Lord of the Rings marathon, yes to sitting with friends, yes to long convos with our teens about their classes and their friends and their troubles, yes to playing with the dog and watching the rain and fixing the fence.

It was a slightly different November (and December) than we have had in years past but it wasn’t bad – it was great. These photos are all over the place because that’s how our November was – all over the place 🙂