Christmas 2020

 Christmas Eve:

I finished wrapping all the presents the morning of Christmas Eve! I don't do it all month long, because I want to make sure each boy has about the same number of gifts to open, so I have to wait until all the gifts are purchased, because some boys only get 1 or 2 things due to the cost of the item, but some get 5 or 6, so I have to group some together.

There are some movies that we watch together EVERY Christmas season, including Elf, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, and A Christmas Story. They're classics that always bring laughter!

For the past 10 years, the Linger's have hosted our friend Christmas Eve party, but they moved into a smaller house this year and couldn't host. Originally, we thought the tradition would just end, but then I got talking to our neighbor Camille with an idea that the adults could be at one house, and the kids could be at the other, because neither one of us has a home large enough to host us all, either. Ultimately, after several ideas circulated among us, I hosted the event. It was a tight squeeze in our house, but we all fit, and we had a great time! Everyone brought food, and after the meal, the adults played games in the dining room, the kids played in the family room and living room, and I even got out barbies for the little girls to play with in Kanyon's room. The Hobbs' were visiting family in Leadore, and we missed them, but the Williams', Oliversons, Lingers, and Dustin & Chris Jones were able to join us. It had a different feel than when we were at Lingers, but it was cozy, and it felt comfortable to be among friends. Everyone got along really well, which was awesome! The ladies were hoping this would be the year to beat the guys, but alas, it didn't end up that way! We played Wits & Wagers as couples, and then Buzz Word and Codenames as boys vs. girls. The party ended about 11:30, except the teenagers played the XBox until after midnight! It was a fun night, and I'm glad we kept the tradition alive!

After everyone left, the stocking were placed under the tree with care, in anticipation of the Christmas morning that soon would be there!

Christmas Day:

We all slept in a little bit, except for Micah who went down and did chores for Grandpa since he and Grandma were gone to Boise to visit Gideon & Alysa for Christmas. Now that the boys are older, nobody is up before dawn, which is nice to be able to sleep in, especially after being up late the night before! We started the day by eating breakfast, courtesy of Josh! He cooked us French toast, bacon, and we had eggnog too (my favorite winter drink!). Then the boys opened their stockings and saw what Santa brought them (the unwrapped gifts), which this year was just flavored milk from Gossners!

In mine & Josh's stockings, we gift each other scratch tickets, and we gave Ammon a few too, so Kanyon and Ammon helped us scratch them off before we moved onto unwrapping the gifts. I was the biggest winner this year--Josh's scratch tickets hardly amounted to anything, but surprisingly I got about $50 worth, which was exciting for me!  

The boys each got one main gift from Josh & I this year. Kanyon got a Nintendo Switch (a hard-to-find item, and one that he wanted last Christmas, but has been patiently waiting for!). Micah got a new suit jacket for church. Jonah got arrows and target. Ammon got new snowboarding boots and goggles. Ammon gifted Josh a new sweater with a 1/4 zipper that he loves! And Josh gifted me a new set of pots and pans, which I absolutely love! My old ones were trashed! I shrieked and cried when I saw them because I was so happy!

Usually, I have the boys arrange their gifts into piles, and I take their individual pictures with all that they got, but nobody wanted to do that this year! I know the mess after Christmas looks like everyone got a lot of stuff, but in actuality, because their gifts are getting more expensive the older they get, they're getting less items. Except for Kanyon's Switch system, nobody got anything that was really fun to play with on Christmas either, so I bought a few family gifts that we could do together over Christmas Break. I bought the movie series Rambo to watch (which unfortunately I didn't realize was on blu-ray until after we opened it, and we don't have a blu-ray player), the card game Exploding Kittens (which we only played once because nobody liked it), the board game Blank Slate (which was a hit!), and a new puzzle, reminiscent of the restaurant Sparky's Garage where we went over Thanksgiving Break (we usually do at least one puzzle together over Christmas Break). 

Josh got a large stash of Reese's this year--his favorite!

My new pots & pans collection, with new serving spoons, too!

We've been collecting gnomes in our yard for years, and gnomes
are in-style right now for home decorations, so I bought several
to add to my Christmas decorations. They're SO cute! 

We got started on the puzzle that morning. Ammon is my puzzle boy, and he and Micah helped me start sorting pieces and get the outline done. It was a smaller puzzle than normal--usually I get a 1,000 piece one but this one was just 750 pieces. When Ammon took a nap, and then left later that evening to visit friends, Micah was determined to keep going, and he finished it by that night!  

We ate our traditional Christmas meal later that afternoon around 3:00. Grandma Parsons joined us for dinner (she arrived a little late, and we weren't sure if she'd come, so we took the picture without waiting for her). We ate ham, potatoes au gratin, cream corn, orange/coconut salad, rolls and eggnog mixed with ginger ale. It was delicious! It's nice to spend Christmas day at home, without an agenda or schedule, and we can just hang out and do what we want, eat when we want, and sleep when we want! 

Christmas Break

Christmas was on a Friday this year. The Sunday right after Christmas, we wore some of our new gifts to church. I received some new earrings from a friend that I wore with my Christmas dress. Josh wore his new sweater (which was SO comfortable), and he matched with Jonah! Micah wore his new suit jacket, and he looked so handsome!

We took Grandma with us to see the new movie "News of the World" that night in the theater. It starred Tom Hanks, and was set in the late 1800's. It was a good film, and we all enjoyed it! Movies have been slow releasing, due to COVID closing theaters across the U.S., so we were so glad to be able to go to the theater again as family--it's something we've done for many Christmases together!

We took the boys sledding on the 28th, another activity we like doing together every Christmas Break. There wasn't a ton of snow, but we hoped the recent snowfall would be enough to sled at Lover's Lookout. It was a bit bumpy on the west side of the hill, but was manageable. The east side was more slick and less bumpy, but also more dangerous! Ammon biffed it hard on the east side, and hurt his tail bone when he hit a rock after flipping his sled near the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately, his cell phone was in his pocket, and it cracked the screen badly when he hit that same rock, which bummed him out because it was a new phone, less than a month old!

They're almost all the same height now!

I went sledding, too! 

That night, Amanda and Lance came over and played games with us. We played Blank Slate and Cover Your Assets together. It was fun to hang out with them! Amanda gave me a personalized sign for my classroom that she made with yarn. I love it! 

Unfortunately, although it only looks like we are all fun and games over Christmas Break, there's usually some work involved, too, and this year was no exception! Josh usually works on trimming trees at the golf course over Christmas Break, and the boys help him haul wood. His trimming projects weren't as big this year as last year, but he did have the boys help haul some wood home and stack it, and they also worked on splitting and stacking some of the other wood they cut this fall, too. Josh was also kind enough to change my headlight on my car before we took a little New Year's trip to Montana. I'm so grateful that he's able to mechanic our vehicles and ATV's! 

Although Christmas Break wasn't as long as some in years past, I really enjoyed the time at home with my family. It was very casual, but we also had some good memories with our friends and family!