The last days of 2017 are clipping by and while I haven't been a prolific blogger this year I've kept a streak of sharing goals and my spending habits every month. And although the posts are coming late this month (and the October spending is coming really late) I can't let a perfect record slip.

For me, Christmas lights and cozy dark evenings bring about reflecting on the year and where I want to go next year as much as they do the holiday spirit. I relish this time of reflecting and planning.

This year feels like such a mixed bag. In our little family we took joy in watching the boys grow and change. Parenting got easier in some ways and I felt I had more bandwidth for myself. Little things like going out to eat as a family and actually enjoying it felt like big triumphs. At the same time, Chris took on a new leadership role that kept him busier than ever and I filled just about all my bandwidth.

All this was against the backdrop of current events. There is hard and tragic news every year but this year it felt nearly relentless and even the everyday news felt heavy because of the current political administration in our country.

For the last couple weeks of 2017 and CHOOSE I'm keeping my focus on family and friends, recharging, and feeling hopeful in 2018.

November wins:

+ Consistently went to bed early. This is the key to everything!

+ Scheduled routine doctor's appointments for myself (eye doctor, dentist, annual midwife appointment).

+ Completed lots of Christmas shopping.

+ Ordered Christmas cards.

+ Chris and I reached $60,000 in our long-term savings/investment account (which is outside of our retirement savings).

Big things happening in December:

+ Family birthdays: my sister-in-law's, mine!, and Cedric's.

+ Holiday events: my work holiday party, host friends for dinner, bake cookies with family, date night to see Star Wars, hang out with friends who will be in town, host a Christmas Eve family party, host a neighbor New Year's Eve party.

+ Christmas!

In December I choose to:

+ Spend time thinking about my goals for 2018.

+ Have an annual financial summit with Chris (it's one of  my favorite days of the year).

+ Decide what to do for Cedric's birthday. We'll keep it simple but it comes up so fast after Christmas we need to be ready.

+ Assess toys after Christmas and donate what we no longer need/want.

Happy December!