Wednesday, 12/4/2019 – Today was a pretty significant day in our house-selling journey, as today was appraisal day. We’ve got our fingers crossed that the appraisal comes back where we need it to to keep things moving along with the sale of our house, but, it will probably be some time until we know for sure.

Thursday, 12/5/2019 – I had way more feelings about it being my “last” Christmas door decorating contest at work than I expected to have! I didn’t win the contest but I did have a ton of fun putting this masterpiece together! It doesn’t hurt that I get to look at it and daydream all day either.

Saturday, 12/7/2019 – Sunday, 12/8/2019 – We realized this weekend that we have legitimately 3 weeks before we’re out of this house. The ticking clock kicked sorting, trashing and donating into high gear. We made LOTS of decisions this weekend! Luckily, most of the decisions were quite simple, as we’re going from 2,500 square feet to 600ish feet.

Tuesday, 12/10/2019 – While I don’t typically enjoy “working late,” tonight was an exception. We spent the evening doing some “marketing” for my work at a holiday event for underserved families in our community. It didn’t feel much like work (which is a great thing!) and we even got to snap our photo with Santa!

Wednesday, 12/11/2019 – It was ugly holiday clothing day at work. I completely forgot even though I really wanted to participate. Donning some ugly Christmas spectacles might not get me the prize, but, some holiday spirit is better than none at all! In other news, we took an ENTIRE truckload of stuff to donate at Community Aid again this evening. It felt GREAT unloading some more weight of “stuff” as we creep closer to being homeless in (hopefully) a few weeks.

Friday, 12/13/2019 – I’m still in a bit of disbelief that today was the 4th time in seven years that I’ve had a dumpster set at the house to get rid of stuff. This time, I only got a 20 yard dumpster, which is progress, I guess. I still can’t wrap my head around how two people ended up with so much stuff!

Saturday, 12/14/2019 – We spent the morning filling the dumpster and getting another truckload of stuff loaded up to go to the donation center today. We’re making some SERIOUS progress! Today was also Josh’s company’s Christmas party. We spent the evening surrounded by good friends and family and I’m kind of already sad that this will likely be our last company Christmas party for a while…

Tuesday, 12/17/2019 – Josh got to spend some of the day with a group of high-schooler’s on a field trip to his job site. It’s pretty cool to see him be able to educate and influence some high school kids that may be interested in his line of work in the future.

Wednesday, 12/18/2019 – Today was a very happy day! We learned that the appraisal came back on our house and we’re GOOD! Onward to closing on Wednesday, 1/8/2020! WOOHOO!

Friday, 12/20/2019 – Today was Alexis’s work Christmas party. We ate too much, laughed too much and had a great afternoon, playing holiday Pictionary.

Saturday, 12/21/2019 – First up, we moved our first load of “stuff to keep” out of our current house, in order to keep working toward being ready for closing on (hopefully) 1/8/2020. We’ve only got clothes and random miscellaneous stuff left to move before closing, so, we’re in GREAT shape! We’ll be staying with Josh’s brother after closing on our house until we’re done working in March 2020. This evening, we went to a Christmas get together with part of the family.

Sunday, 12/22/2019 – We made more progress on emptying the house – the basement and upstairs extra bedroom are COMPLETELY empty – HURRAY! Despite the hustle and bustle, the dog spent the day lazing around…

Monday, 12/23/2019 – Today was Alexis’s last day of work until Monday, 1/6/2020. We also took a break from sorting, purging and packing house stuff to go check out a local Christmas light display.

Tuesday, 12/24/2019 – The big project for the day was dealing with all my clothes. I didn’t take any pictures of the struggle in progress, but, I am extremely happy to report that the task is DONE! The master bedroom closest and my dresser are EMPTY and all of the clothes that I own now fit into 5 plastic drawers and 5 fabric cubes. Once we’re done working, I anticipate that I’ll be able to pair this back even further, but, for now, warm work clothes are a necessity.

Wednesday, 12/25/2019 – Merry Christmas! We spent the day running around, making sure to make it to all the family gatherings. We anticipate that next Christmas will be quite different so we wanted to make sure to spend this Christmas with everyone that we could. It was an early morning, starting at 5am, and we didn’t get home until after 9pm, but, it was a great day, surrounded by family and love.

Friday, 12/27/2019 – After a quick trip to the eye doctor first thing in the morning, we loaded the truck, hopped in and headed south, in search of sunshine, warmth and some relaxation. Stay tuned for more posts, sharing the adventures we had in the Florida Keys!