The girls have both settled into their new schools pretty well at this point. They seem to both have made some good friends and like their teachers.
Oh, Christmas Tree!
We arrived back from Virginia on Saturday and on Sunday went right into Christmas mode. This year we went to a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm in Collegeville and did just that. We pulled out all of the holiday boxes, and by Sunday night the house was fully decked. One full month of Christmas bliss 🙂
Thanksgiving 2016
We headed down to my parent’s house in Virginia for Thanksgiving this year. We had the usual group of folks: Doug, Vicky, Carley (no Quinn b/c she’s still on her gap year), Nana, Becky, James, and Ariana. We were also joined by Tom and Ginger this year. Dave cooked the bulk of the dinner – as he always does – and it was delicious!
Election 2016
On November 8th, I headed to the poles with the girls to proudly vote for who we all assumed would be the first woman president, Hillary Clinton. As the day progressed into the evening it became clear that a lot of the country did not feel the same way. I was up early on the morning of the 9th and felt a loss and devastation that I haven’t experienced before. I didn’t know what to tell the girls after months of talking about the importance of this election, specifically the importance for women and girls. Not only had Hillary not been elected, but instead a sexist, xenophobic, intolerant scumbag had been elected. I literally did not have the words to explain it to them. It’s now a month after the election and I’m past the mourning, but far from acceptance. In our home we continue to emphasize powerful female leaders and acceptance of all, but what they’re exposed to outside our house can be a different story. The girls are going to change and grow up a lot over the next four years and it is our goal to talk about and expose them to people and organizations who are working for equality acceptance so that this may never happen again.