I got to do Cheer Open Gym again! I had so much fun!!
He said
As I write about this week, I am sitting under the glow of the new light fixture we installed this week that completed the dining room makeover for Danielle—the early Christmas present we talked about last week. The final piece in the puzzle was likely the pin point on where the room changeover talk began… Some time ago one of the glass shades for the fixture over the table was chipped and was missing a piece. That chip led to discussion of why fix it because we’d grown tired of the design and would rather put money into a new fixture. But a new fixture would mean we’d need to update the rest of the room. And so on… So it sat for some time.
When Emelia and I decided we would give Danielle the dining room makeover for Christmas, it put Danielle on one of her favourite hobbies: scoping Facebook Marketplace for deals. We saw the success she had last week in finding a dining room set, so we knew she’d be able to tackle the new light fixture too. And no shocker, she found the perfect piece being sold by an interior designer who had bought it for a project that she didn’t end up using it for. So we got, brand new in the box for a fraction of what it retails for. It is the perfect finishing touch on the room and suits the style of the dining table perfectly. And by all counts, Danielle couldn’t be happier.
With Emelia’s heart full-on focused on Cheer for next year, it has become more and more challenging to get her motivated for gymnastics practices as her mind is focused on something else. Part of what has made it challenging is her desire to be perfect in everything and to add new skills. She gets frustrated when she isn’t doing that, and then becomes demotivated and focused on Cheer. It’s made for some difficult times getting her to practice and with her new emotions this year, at times very challenging discussions. We’re committed to her finishing the year as we feel it’s important she see the season through, and she’s already heard from a teammate of hers from last season who said the one thing she regretted about leaving gymnastics was doing it midseason and not finishing it out.
So often the trips to practice are challenging but we know that she will be thankful in the end that she finishes out the season and when the competitions come up in March happy that she stuck it out (we hope). But I think it is an important lesson for her around commitment and showing her coach respect for the work and effort she’s put into Emelia’s career in the last two years. She’s been in this for six seasons and we’ve seen her grow and develop so much confidence because of this sport, and we support her wanting to do something new and I am excited to see what Cheer does for her. It’s just hard to see her this conflicted about going to practice—something that she absolutely adored to not so long ago. But, we know it’s time to move on.
With Christmas shopping pretty much all buttoned up, and only being a just a little over a week from Christmas, it is a very nice place to be. It certainly is been busy at the store and lots of fun with people shopping for just the right gifts. And the house is certainly feeling festive ready. I managed to get a string of days off leading up to Christmas this year, which normally I request the days after, so this will be new for us. So as of next Saturday at 6:00pm, I will be off for a string of four days that won’t have me back at the store until Boxing Day. And I am really looking forward to that time to celebrate and be with family for those days!
She said
The house is certainly transforming. When Emelia and John talked to me about transforming the dining room as my gift it has been a fun project to find just the right pieces but for the right price. I have become a wee bit obsessed with bargain hunting on FB market place. I have had such luck and everything is just the way we wanted it. John and I love mid-century modern and want to blend that with our craftsman home. We feel we have found just the right blend matching the styles while still making it casual and family friendly.
This week has been another busy one, another week where we had a bunch of appointments for Emelia and us, add in the pre-Christmas madness and it was a tiring week indeed. I am hoping this last week of work leading into the holidays is full of fun for the kids and filled with lots of happy memories. Emelia’s full week was not only with her appointments it was the start of the holiday parties and showcases for her activities. On Monday she and I rushed off and got to her dance holiday performances. Emelia was so excited to show off her skills. I was blown away, I haven’t been able to see her at all at acro this year so it was great to see what she learned.
She is by far the strongest dancer in that class and was loving all the ohhhs and ahhhhhs from the parents and friends when she showed off her tumbling skills. She is excited because after the holiday break they have been promised there would be a lot of new skills and tricks they are going to learn. Then we moved to ballet, this is the dance I am beyond impressed with, Emelia came into this dance class with the least experience by far compared to the other girls, many of the girls in the class are in the performance program for the dance studio and have been dancing for years. Emelia had a LOT of catching up to do, now just a few months into the class and she is blending in perfectly and you would never know she started out so far behind the other girls. She is loving dance so much this year.
This coming week Emelia has her annual gymnastics Christmas party for the competitive team, the party is smaller than it has been in the past and there won’t be a performance for the parents but the girls are excited none the less. Add in all the fun at school for the week leading into the holiday break I am sure Emelia is going to have a great week. As John mentioned Emelia has emotionally moved on to wanting to move to cheer, her heart is torn, she wants to do well this last season at gymnastics but is really wanting to get going at cheer.
Our balance has been cheer workshops and open gyms. This is feeding her want to start cheer but with the season started and gymnastics not quite done she will have to wait until the summer to make the change. Before we know it her gymnastics career will be over and we hope that she looks back on the last 5 years with only the best memories. Her coach says she’s in great shape and her routines are all coming together. I know she will be proud come competition season at all the hard work she has put in.
So we have a busy week ahead but the real countdown is on, only 10 days until Christmas and it will be here before we know it.