Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, Happy New Year

We had a great Christmas break with so many things to celebrate.  On the 23rd, we did our traditional cousin ornament/cookie night and got to see the Stewarts' beautiful new house.  

We did our own little family Christmas on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a big breakfast, gifts, and playing games together.  The highlight for me was seeing them give each other their thrift store gifts, such as the water bottle Allie chose right away for Joshua, with some cat artwork from a random kid on it. 

 The big gift from us was an arcade-style basketball goal, which has provided a ton of entertainment, screen-free, which was my goal, since it feels like the kids sit like bumps on a log for hours in front of their computer every day, only to ask for more screen time in their free time.  

Next, we headed to Rock Hill Christmas day, for a not quite traditional family Christmas.  It was cold as anything, but the boys played outside nearly the whole day.  We wore our masks inside and enjoyed food, games, conversation, and a white elephant gift exchange.  It felt a little like "there's something between us" trying to talk with the masks on, but we made it work and hopefully that will be the last masked Christmas we have.  :)

We headed to Jeannie and Hunter's beautiful new (well, new to us...they moved in Valentine's Day but it was our first time seeing it) home and stayed a couple days just enjoying food and games and conversation...there's a pattern here.  ;)  

When we got home, it was about time to crank out the birthday fun for Julia.  She got to have Nanny and Pa all to herself for an afternoon, which was such a treat.  And then we did a birthday breakfast for her and some gifts.  On her birthday, she requested the whole family go skating, which was pretty hilarious.  Matt looked at it like a challenge he could not lose and mastered the basics pretty quickly, though that's a lot of force going past you and I was a little nervous that he might go down and take several with him.  Gray was clinging to the wall for dear life the first half but was very determined and kept trying until he could go around without holding on.  Joshua could do the basics but didn't enjoy too much.  He did take some time to watch Julia do her tricks, which was sweet.  Allie chatted with the skate guard girl just about the whole time...not sure what she was saying but she sure is social.  Julia also loved having her best friend Addie come over for the skating and then a shopping trip to Kohl's.  These girls spent hours looking at just about everything in the store and finally came away with throw pillows and a blanket.  So grown up!  We picked up donuts for breakfast the next day, Chinese for dinner, and enjoyed some beautiful cupcakes made by a family friend for her dessert.

Fast forward a couple of days and it was time for New Year's Eve celebrations.  We made a last minute plan for the Bakers to join us and we had--surprise--games, food, and conversation until midnight struck.  The kids got a little sleepy, a little hyper, a little crazy at some points, but all made it through and we had a great time ringing in the new year.  

Thankful that though we've not had some of our usual traditions this year, we've still had family and friends to be with and have made things special in a new way.