Christmas 2020

As is true for many this year, our Christmas has been quiet in comparison to most years. My side of the family is small enough we could get together without going (much) over the size limit for gatherings so we headed to my parents Christmas Day. Christmas Eve was celebrated at home with a 5-course feast prepared by Seth. 

Normally Santa would come while we are at Mass, but we decided to go to the less popular Christmas morning Mass lest we get turned away for lack of space with the limited seating requirements. 

Santa came while we ate and gift opening was done by 8:00, leaving everyone time to play with their new toys for a bit before bed. Charlie left out a special cookie he made for Santa along with 9 carrots for the reindeer (you can't forget Rudolph!) along with a couple of notes, such as the one he was forced to leave below. (He had to replace the word "two" with "three" after another infraction)

Olivia received a few obnoxiously loud toys, which she was thrilled about. And Charlie's lightsabers were thoroughly enjoyed by all the males in the household. 

I am happy to announce that Olivia stopped her boycott of clothes on Christmas morning when we told her it was time to get dressed to go to Grandma and Papi's. I had brought down two shirts, not sure which to put her in. Once she had one on, she insisted on also wearing the other one - fortunately the first was thin. The same thing happened with her skirts the next day: I brought down a new skirt to wear, and she would only wear it in addition to her skirt from the previous day. So in one day, we flip-flopped from rarely wearing a sufficient amount of clothing to wearing more clothing than one would think of as comfortable. 

Here she is on Christmas Day (she absolutely loves her Uncle Eliud!). It was Frankie's turn to wear our one Christmas bowtie this year.

And showing off her double-skirt look the next day:

The following night Alex came to spend the night at our place, while Charlie and Frankie got to have a sleepover at Grandma and Papi's. Frankie was beyond excited! Here is a picture of Papi reading stories to the kids before bed. 

Also at Grandma and Papi's, the kids recited their annual Christmas poems that they memorized for Grandma as her gift. We sort of forgot about it until 2 days before Christmas so they were all quite short. 

COVID tests & Xmas concerts

Sam and Charlie also got their first COVID tests in early December because they woke up with coughs. Both were negative so we only had to isolate for 2.5 days. With all of our schedules to juggle those 2 days brought on more "what if"s and "how are we going to do this?" situations than I would have anticipated.

It didn't help that for that particular week, I had made regular lesson plans, replaced by distance learning plans when our school switched to DL, replaced by hybrid plans when we switched again, then replaced by sub plans due to our covid test, only to switch right back to the hybrid plans. 

The school was kept in limbo those couple of days, too. Their Christmas Concert was to be performed Wednesday afternoon (for students only, unfortunately). They videotaped the concert and then broadcast it over zoom that evening for families to enjoy. With 4 children in the concert, the music teacher was just as anxious to know whether the kids would come back to school in time or not.

We were told the test results would be back by Tuesday. Come Wednesday morning, we still had heard nothing so understudies were frantically getting ready to stand in for Sam and Elena who had speaking parts. I finally called medical records 2 hours before showtime, and they were able to send me the results. So we quickly packed the kids off and sent them to school just in time. 

I was one of the fortunate few parents who got to see the actual performance because I helped direct, and I assure all of those who missed it that the kids did great!

(I was dependent upon another mom for pictures so I only have elena's class:)

Elena's class also did a Living Nativity last week outside with a sheep and donkey. It was a new tradition brought on by the pandemic, which I suspect will continue into future years.

Livi at 18 months

Likes: shoes & socks (I have to wait until she's asleep to take them off), peppers (says "I want!!!"and points at the peppers in the produce aisle), apples, raspberries, anything sweet, Coco, standing on countertops/tables or anything else not made for the purpose, climbing stairs, emptying cupboards/drawers/bookshelves, brushing her teeth, reading books, pounding on computer keyboards (especially while Mom is in a meeting with students), wrestling with her siblings, growling, being chased around the island, dancing 

Dislikes: blankets, clothing, pajamas, winter coats (light jackets are acceptable), mittens, hats, staying in one spot for more than 5 seconds (unless it's Mom's lap), getting dressed (this is a total scream fest every day), ironically she also hates getting undressed and tries to put her dirty clothes back on when you take them off, eating more than a few bites of food at a meal, sleeping through the night, allowing Mom to get anything productive done (thus fewer blog posts lately), being constrained to my arms at church or the grocery story...even though she rarely leaves my arms while we are home

Words she says very well (and frequently): 

• Shoes
• No! 
• hi/bye 
• stop it
• I want it
• chocolate 
• owee (her general sound of frustration)
• Mommy/Daddy
• Coco/Cat
• water
• Grandma/Grandpa/Papi
• book
• go!
• happy! (said mostly on birthdays)

Dancing:

Keeping up with the mayhem!

Big month for Sam

 Not only did Sam turn 12 at the end of November, he also got his first deer...and his 2nd deer in the same weekend! He shot his first deer in an interesting spot. I won't say where it was, but his new nickname is "Ballseye." 😂 

We were fortunate to have nice weather the week of his birthday so we met with my family and went hiking at Camden park to celebrate. The warm weather has allowed him extra time with his cousins on that side, and for that we are very thankful! 

His godmother spoiled him with Lindt chocolates and a gift card. He keeps finding interesting things to buy with the gift card, and I always tell him to wait a day or two before pulling the trigger so he doesn't just buy something he'll never use on impulse. He's usually found a few new options by the next day so we have yet to see what the gift card brings. 

A few options so far: 

an you have to shoot from across the room to turn off

a throwing hatchet

prank electric shock pens