Christmas and New Years 2020

Christmas this year was busy! Funny that in a year of social distancing and smaller gatherings, it feels like I was much busier than past years! I figured out why too. Last year, we went to my parent's house for Christmas so I had everything done a week before Christmas. This year, I was pregnant which left me feeling too tired to do more than one main thing/outing a day. That meant it was down to the wire for a lot of the things I wanted to do. Hopefully next year, I'll be able to get things done early again so it won't be as hectic the week of!

Since we went to my parent's house last year, we decided to stay home this year, and guess what?... My parent's drove up to spend Christmas with us in Utah! We had a full house and a lot of fun.

Julia came up for the break and Great Grandma Grimes came to stay with us too during the week of Christmas! 

To add to all of that, we had one more person come to visit... Santa! Haha! But he didn't spend the night and was too busy to even say "hi." 😉

Here's a few of the fun things our kids got for Christmas:

David: a Wii, a fighting robot game, and a little drone from Julia

Brooke: a baby doll, play food, and barbies

Aaron: a hot wheels car track, the Elefun game, and a slide

Aaron getting a little slide from Santa was the best thing for him. For the last few months he's been using our legs as a slide every time John or I is sitting. Haha!

Some other fun things that happened this year...

We finally did a good job trying to replicate my Aunt Toni's Christmas Eve feast! Although, we definitely bought too much food... We were eating it for the rest of the week and were too sick of it to have much more of it for New Years. Next time, we'll know to scale back a little...

Julia and I somehow gave each other the same exact gift on accident. Neither of us had talked about it or had any clue that would happen!

Also, John and Julia unknowingly gave me the same gift as well... an electric pencil sharpener! I guess they both knew I needed one but didn't think anyone else would give me one! Haha!

One thing I gave this year was a jean blanket to my parents to use while camping or on picnics. This time, I made a pattern of the Tetons and a barn on the back. It was the most detailed quilt I have made and it turned out well.

One thing John gave this year was a binder of ancestor stories he gathered and rewrote to be more geared to children. He included a lot of photos and pictures and it turned out great! 

Both of the gifts John and I gave were started in about July, but they were definitely worth it!

After Christmas, we went to Star Valley, Wyoming for a few days. My parents are thinking of retiring there in a few years and wanted to make sure they could handle the snow. It was a lot of snow shoeing, sledding, board games, and tv. If that's what they plan on doing in retirement, they'll be fine. Lol.

We drove back home on New Year's Eve and spent the night playing games at home. Julia lit off a few fireworks and my mom, Julia, and David banged pots and pans at midnight.

On New Year's morning, we went out to eat for breakfast (my mom's favorite tradition) and then came back home to sleep! And that's where my dad's joke of starting the year off with not enough sleep, too much food, and too much spending comes in. Haha! 

Looking back on the year, it has been a good one for our family. We took a lot of trips (most included camping) and spent a lot of family time on our own and also with our parents and siblings. Hopefully next year will be just as great! Or at least hopefully, we'll keep up the positive attitude so next year will be as great as the last no matter what!