Week 41 at Home: Christmas 2020 (we made it!)

Christmas finally arrived! We had a short week leading up to the holiday, and I'm very grateful for that. The kids and I clearly had holiday brain and were laser focused on our upcoming time off of work and school. We were all able to wrap up everything that we needed to, and have enjoyed our time off, so far.

Working on a pic for Santa

Playing quietly and nicely together...suspicious!

The end result from our Santa drawings/paintings

G was working on making a city out of stickers...I was trying to keep him busy so I could get stuff done!

G and I watched the church Christmas Eve service on Thursday morning, and we even joined in the singing. It was nice to have someone sing with me. :) Ava and I watched It's a Wonderful Life on Thursday afternoon, and then we all enjoyed a yummy Christmas Eve meal...the traditional German butterball soup, and then a mixture of other foods...apps, salad, treats, etc. The nice thing is that none of us went to bed stuffed, which was part of the goal. After dinner, we all snuggled in to watch A Christmas Story. We tracked Santa's path on NORAD until it was time for the kids to go to bed, but we kept an eye on it. Santa made it to Minnesota a little after 11pm, so I was happy to show that to the kids the next morning.

Butterball soup...so good!

Reading The Night Before Christmas

Opening our matching jammies on Christmas Eve

I tried to convince Ava that I had shrunk hers...but then she was too clever and found the tag inside that read "doll gown"...darn it!

Here's the non-doll sized version :)

This made us giggle

Treats for Santa...but nothing for the reindeer this year!

Also, I need to give props to our kids for being so incredibly patient. I remember that the hardest thing was to be patient and wait to open gifts on Christmas morning...there was no getting up at 5am and tearing into things like I see happen in some families (and that's ok, it's just not our style.) Instead, the kids let me sleep in until 7:45, and when I wandered down stairs, we then opened the stockings. Ava and I made a lovely breakfast for everyone, and then after we spoke with Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey, we dove into the gifts. Scott's gifts were all kitchen themed...mostly salad related, with a few fun things thrown in there. I had a great mix of clothes, jewelry, a book, a Google Hub, and all sorts of wonderful gifts that I had picked out for myself. ;)

Christmas morning breakfast

Both Ava and G got what they asked for from Santa...G wanted Legos and more Driven vehicles, and Ava got a new sketch pad, books, and some Starbucks (and a bunch of other fun stuff, too, of course.) We had bought a Switch for the family, so we've been having fun playing it together. I like that we can use one Switch, but have four separate controllers so we can all play. Mario Kart has been a blast so far! We haven't tried Minecraft Dungeons yet, and I'm a little surprised it hasn't come up...maybe there's been so much going on that G doesn't remember he got it as a gift, ha!

Scott worked really hard and made a fantastic prime rib dinner for all of us. We also had the chance to talk to my parents and my aunt in the early afternoon. It was wonderful to catch up with so many family members on this special day. Hopefully next year, we'll be able to see more people, in person!

We watched Home Alone for Friday's movie night, and we're going to watch Soul for Saturday's movie night. And I am going to find time to squeeze in Wonder Woman 1984. I watched my share of Christmas movies this year, so I'm ready to move onto some non-holiday themed movies.

We also said goodbye to George...we'll see him again in 2021!

12/20: Hanging out by the kitchen sink, waiting to surf

12/21: Maybe he was eaten by a shark the day before?? G wanted to crawl into the tub to be in this pic!

12/22: Taco George for Taco Tuesday!

12/23: Wanted for Elf mischief...Sherriff Reiny is tracking him down!

12/24: Time to say goodbye for now...see you in 2021, George!

Now I'm looking ahead to the upcoming week, thinking about all of the things I'd like to get done this upcoming week. Taking down the Christmas décor is on the list, but I sure do love watching TV by the tree lights. It's so cozy. I guess my first project could be doing something else, and not removing the tree quite yet...

But in any case...let's pray that 2021 has its share of positive things and is a departure from this crazy 2020.

Happy New Year!