The month of December went by very fast as usual. I used to have a list of things we did but then I started feeling like everything was a more stressful and we were just trying to cram everything in. I like for December to be open for whatever comes up and whatever we decide to do to enjoy the holiday season.
One of the things we decided on doing was the 12 days of Christmas for the sister missionaries in our ward. We found a nativity with twelve pieces and left them a piece every night with a scripture and then a small gift to go with it. It was fun and we often went to look at Christmas lights before or after we dropped of their gift. Some of the little gifts we gave them we saw them wearing at church like a head band, a Christmas mask, and a scarf. The girls thought that was great to have a secret. The missionaries were usually not home when we dropped off the items each night so that did take a little fun out of it. We didn’t have to worry about being caught. I also wonder if one or two of the gift was taken before they came home… it was still fun though. Another Sister in our ward put together a 12 days of Christmas for a family that recently lost their mom. We were able to get one of the days for that. When we dropped off our two turtle doves gift, they were home walking all around the house and even had the front door open with just the storm door closed, and a dog to help alert them to people coming up to the house. The kids loved staking the house out, making an approach plan and successfully leaving the gifts without being caught. Allison was decided on being the runner since Matthew was recently in his cast and couldn’t get anywhere fast. They lived close to a corner so we parked around the corner, Allison put the package on the porch, ding dong ditched them and ran faster than we have ever seen her run in her life. It was great fun.
We had several nights of making hot chocolate and taking it to drink in the car while we drove around and looked at Christmas lights and listened to Christmas music. I think we managed it without any arguing or melt downs this year, which is a FIRST. I think in general there were a lot more lights and decorations up this year, and earlier than usual as well. My opinion is that after all the crap of 2020 people wanted a little extra Christmas cheer. There were a lot more people driving around looking at lights as well. One neighborhood had a two hour wait to get into to see their lights.
We made neighbor and friend treats. Usually we do chocolate dipped pretzels but this year we made a box of whoppers look like a reindeer and put a poem on it that said it was reindeer droppings. I also sent out Christmas cards that the kids helped me address and mail.
Our house was decked out for Christmas, I loved reading a book with my hot chocolate by the fire place with all the Christmas lights on, we listened to Christmas music ALL the time and Allison and I played as much Christmas music on the piano as we could. We focused on having secret people within our family each week to do nice things for. My mom started that tradition in our family growing up. With each kind deed we put a straw in a manger to make soft for baby Jesus on Christmas.
Ryan decided that he wanted an electric smoker for Christmas. He also decided that he was going to have Santa deliver it early so he could practice smoking a few things before Christmas, then by Christmas he would be good enough to cook for the family when they all came.
We did our Christmas puzzle while watching Christmas movies. Christmas is a good time to do puzzles, also while drinking hot chocolate with the fireplace going.
Since we have been married we switch between the Terry family and the Jones family for Christmas and Thanksgiving. My family has switched to having a Christmas in July when it is easier and more fun to travel and having our get togethers then. This year was a Terry Christmas. Obviously Ross and Ryan already live here. Becky and her family came the week before, and Rachelle’s family decided to stay in Texas this year.
It was a very fun week before Christmas. We had lots of family dinners. Ryan tried his smoker many times and each time got better and better. The cousins had fun playing with each other all day everyday. Grandma handed out way to much candy. Ross baked and cooked all kinds of yummy food. Many board games were played, crafts were made, gatherings were had and movies were watched. I didn’t get nearly enough pictures.
A few days after Christmas my sister Sherri and her family joined the festivities. They love KC BBQ so we made sure we went to one of their favorites- Q39 for dinner one night. We also tried out the pizza oven in the smoker and had several good rounds of pizza. The week between Christmas and New Years had a good snow storm. We got about 4-5 inches of perfect packing snow. Aubry being a Florida native, was a little hesitant at first but once she got out in it spent as much time as she could in the snow. We had a couple snowmen, a wall for protection during snow ball fights, and Allison had a pretty legit igloo going before the snow started to melt. Ryan resurrected our Nintendo 64 and Sherri and I relived our glory days of playing Tetris Attack from decades ago. I can’t believe I am old enough to say ‘decades ago’. I won on occasion but Sherri pretty much kicked everyone’s butt. Matthew and Allison were very glad that video games have come a long ways since Nintendo 64 but still had fun playing the game.
We spent one of the afternoons at Dave and Buster’s with the French family. We all found a game or two that we were hooked on and spent our token allotment on. Ryan dropped balls into a hoop and won the jackpot, I liked a musical ping pong game, Allison loved the Deal or No Deal, Matthew liked the ship spinning wheel and hit a jack pot on it, and Emilee loved the motorcycle racing games. The French family was well rounded and helped all of us find our favorite games. When we were all done and turned our tickets in for prizes we had balls, stuffed animals, silly straws and a ridiculous amount of stupid candy. We followed it up with lunch at another favorite, a Mexican restaurant called K-machos.
Sherri and I were able to spend part of a day getting our nails done and doing some shopping. Neither one of us was interested in clothes shopping so we went to a makeup store, grabbed lunch and then stopped at Nothing Bundt Cakes for dessert.
I have some serious junk food habits to break and a lot of exercising to do after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.
There were a lot of other things that happened that I am not recalling at the moment, but the main thing I want to remember is it was a wonderful holiday season. With the exception of the Lee family we were able to have all of our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in our home at some point or another. There were a lot great memories and fun times had, meals shared and relationships grown. At some point or another when we were putting decorations away and taking down lights all the kids and Ryan and I talked about how much fun we had over the last few weeks and how awesome it was to see so much of our family. Not a bad ending for the year of social distancing.