Another Christmas has come and gone. Like most others, I greatly enjoyed this one and did a lot of things that I do every year. I also did some new, special things, which is what I think will make this Christmas stand out in years to come. I’ll tell you a bit about it in this post.
Although I’ve woken up early in previous years, this year I slept in until shortly before 9:30 am. I then scrolled through my Kindle a bit before doing my morning routine and joining everyone else to open presents. We took our time giving each other the gifts and gradually making our way through them until there were none left to open. I then spent much of the afternoon trying out some of the things I got.
The things that I had the most fun trying were my hammock straps, my unicycle, and my headphones. I got a hammock for Christmas last year and, although the rope that it came with worked well enough, I’d heard that hammock straps are easier to use and better for use with trees, so I’d been wanting some for a while. After we finished with presents, I went to the backyard to test them. The straps were much longer than I had thought and it took a while for me to find some trees that were far enough apart to work. Once I found some good trees and set the straps properly, though, I found that they worked like a charm. I spent a good while relaxing in my hammock, enjoying the cool air, shade, and peace. It was nice to pause the day for a bit and just marinate in the moment out there.
Next, I grabbed my unicycle and went to the driveway. My dad had helped me put it together earlier and all it needed was some air in the tire. At the time of this riding, I’ve never successfully ridden a unicycle for more than a few seconds, and, before yesterday, it had been years since I even touched one. However, I’ve always wanted to learn to ride one, and I’ve learned and gotten good at enough things through consistent practice to know that I’ll eventually master the unicycle if I stick with it. So I spent a bit of time getting on and riding for a second or two before losing control. Unlike a bicycle, which will often bring you to the ground when you’re learning to ride it, a unicycle can fall out from underneath you and leave you standing. The bigger issue with learning to ride a unicycle is protecting your shins; it only took one good blow to my shin from a pedal to remind me to put on my shin guards. This made the remainder of my practice time much more enjoyable and free of pain. I had to stop and get ready to leave not long after I started, so I put it aside and came back to it after I got back home. In both practice sessions, I had a few moments where I managed a short, controlled ride of a second or two. Those moments felt great and gave me the motivation to continue. Now all I have to do is make it part of my routine to practice a bit each day and I should be able to ride it in a relatively short amount of time.
My headphones were the most unexpected delight of any of my presents. I’ve had several pairs of headphones and always manage to damage or destroy them, usually by messing up the cord. These headphones, however, are cordless and work through Bluetooth. I charged them for a while and tried them out when I got back home. The directions were easy to follow and soon I had them paired with both my Kindle and my phone. I experimented a bit with them to see how they worked and then used them for most of that evening to watch videos or listen to relaxing things on YouTube. There is a cord that I can use if I want, but I think I’ll avoid it. I like the Bluetooth feature and the freedom of movement it gives me. Plus I think going cordless decreases my chances of damaging or destroying these, and I want to keep them as long as possible since they’re the nicest, most comfortable headphones I’ve had.
In the mid-afternoon, I went to visit with my older sister and her family. Between the food, more presents, A Christmas Story in the background, and a few more things, it was a nice visit to close out the afternoon and make for a good little trip. That’s a theme that ran through this day: finding joy in small things. Sure, the presents were nice, but what I really enjoyed was the opportunities they gave me to relax, have fun, and learn something new. My day was full of nice little moments like that, so it felt like several days in one, especially since I was off work. This stuff makes for a wonderful Christmas, but it works with any day in the year. My plan is to do my best to make every day feel like Christmas and be grateful for the opportunities to do so. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and enjoy what remains of the winter holidays this year.