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Our first Christmas this year was actually the weekend before. We spent it with Allen’s family. We were back in the garage again this year and it was a chilly wet day. But that was the best way to keep us all safe! It had been a VERY long time since we’d all been close enough to talk in person so that was a blessing in itself…just being together! Wanda did a great job of decorating it up and we had lovely treats and hot beverages to keep us warm. That said, fingers crossed that we have done our last garage Christmas EVER!
This year was our first celebrating Christmas Day up in Suncadia. We finally have a house that can fit all of our family comfortably. Beds and rooms for all and plenty of common space for everybody to spread out!
We had Jill and Colin with us for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning so we got a chance to take some family pictures. Since Ellie is in Boise much of the year I have to take advantage whenever we are all together! Mother Nature also helped us out but providing a lovely snowy winter wonderland.
We had plenty of time for games and puzzles and walks in the snow!
We did our bigger celebration meal on Christmas Eve because we wanted Jill and Colin to join us. My Mom made our ABSOLUTE favorite Christmas Eve traditional meal…Tortiere! This is a french Canadian meat pie made with ground pork and cloves and cinnamon. Yum! We fight over these leftovers and my Mama is nice enough to make a gluten free version for me! We also did the Christmas crackers which came from my Dad’s side of the family. That is why we are all wearing ridiculous hats.
You know you’ve hit a milestone when the kids read their own ‘Night Before Christmas’ story!
On Christmas Day we got up early to start opening the mountain of presents we brought up there with us. Poor Colin is used to a 10am start but the boys like to go much earlier. So we compromised and had an 8am start. We also had some fun re-creating the top of the stairs pictures we used to take when the kids were little. (Note Kate’s ‘I’m so excited I can hardly stand it’ face. Or Colin’s ‘It is way to early to be awake’ face.)
Just a few gifts to note…Kate received a set of pillows of our pups. I figured this would be the perfect way for her to bring them to college with here. (And they don’t need to be walked!)
Jill and Colin received this beautiful planter that Ellie made in her ceramics class this year. She noted that the predominant color in their apartment seemed to be green (she saw it on Zoom) and made it to match.
Allen received this special mug from the boys. Joelle ordered it off Facebook but clearly didn’t check the contents of the box before she wrapped it. The misnomer actually makes it so much better! (Also funny because the boys don’t even call ME aunt. They call me Uncle ‘Chelle!)
Ellie is a HUGE fan of Sue Bird. How could I resist getting her a notebook that says ‘Sorry I wasn’t listening. I was thinking about Sue Bird.’ Ha!
This year we decided to give the girls each $100 of Bitcoin. When I thought of this idea at the end of October I signed them all up for Coinbase accounts. This gift also ended up being a lesson in the volatility of cryptocurrency because by the time they received it it was only worth $85. You win some you lose some!
By the evening of the 26th everybody had left. That means Ellie, Kate, Allen and I happily had some quiet time, plenty of snowy walks and we some good Netflix binging time. The perfect way to spend a few days!
Every year we try to give our kids experiences. Something we can do together. In 2021 Seattle got their first NHL team, The Kraken. We got tickets to take Ellie and Kate to a game and the seats were fantastic!
Jill and Colin were a bit concerned about COVID so we did not force them to go to a game with us. Instead THEIR experience is a scavenger hunt around Seattle. We will find a nice day in January to do this with them because there will be 3 miles of walking and 20 challenges to do while we end up going to a bunch of murals around Seattle. Should be a fun day!
Overall this wasn’t quite the way we thought we’d be spending the holiday but it sure was a good time. If you made it all the way to the end of this blog post you should award yourself with some chocolate or your favorite beverage. It was a journey!