That moment when your belly is full of Thanksgiving turkey, your heart is poured into further with gratitude for good health and great family, and then your body and soul start to overflow with the purest excitement, as the start of Christmas season gets marked by inviting a fresh Balsam tree into our house:

We’ve been waiting for you, Christmas tree.

It was a hunting season for the books! Except for the fact that we don’t have a buck to show for it. And except for the part where I had to trade my warm, cozy bed with an uncozy deer stand in the cold, dark woods. And except for that time when I got too close to the space heater and almost started myself on fire. Other than those minor snafus, I always love spending time with Dad, and I also greatly enjoyed the peaceful beauty of nature that I was reminded of every time I looked up from my Nintendo Switch.

After our quiet & lonely meals-on-wheels Thanksgiving dinner in quarantine last year, it was extra special to gather in person this year for our traditional turkey meal at Grandma & Grandpa’s place. It was more apparent than ever how thankful I am for good food and good family. Oh, and a good game of Farkle doesn’t hurt either!

Rush Wisconsin West Soccer Club lived up to it’s name… it was absolutely a rush of excitement and activity! From August to November, we spent every weekend playing 4 games, half of them located 2 hours away, in the Madison area of Wisconsin. We were a young and developing team, but we always played like the score was 0-0, we looked darn good in those uniforms, and we had the cutest cheering section (Genesee and Quinn). We’re gonna miss coach Zach, who had to move to Arizona for an internship, but we’ll carry forward the lessons he instilled in us: 1) Have fun, 2) Stay safe/healthy, 3) Be a good sport.