New Years Eve 2020

We know ourselves...we like what we like. 

We like each other and we don't like to stress over picking fancy party clothes are planning fancy parties. 

We puzzle. In our jammies. 

It is what we do and it just may be what we always do....I make no promises. 

The boys are quite capable of entertaining themselves...near the food.

They also enjoy a good puzzle...these ones are the frustrating kind. 

Our kind of puzzles bring happy feelings...

How can you not love these yahoos?

This year I learned a valuable lesson. If you pour the glasses 10 minutes before midnight, you will have a very awkward 9 minutes of staring at each other and feeling stupid. It's a delicate balance.

 This is our last year with all our oldest kids home. Every moment feels like something I know I'm going to miss and I am drinking it in. 

Goodbye, 2020....you really were the best of times and the worst of times. 

My present

 All I really wanted this year for Christmas was to redo our bedroom. It tends to be a dumping ground all the homeless items in the house. I'm pretty sick of it. We have never painted over the flat brown paint and the lights in the tray ceiling are partially working and kind of orange.

So we painted the walls a soft grey and bought some clean white bedding and hung curtains. It made a huge difference! 

Eventually we'll buy some artwork and it'll be looking put together!

Christmas Day

It was Everly's turn to pick out of the calendar on Christmas morning!!

And they get to look through their stockings while we wait for Dad to take his sweet time in the shower.....

My favorite part of Christmas is the fun of watching their faces when they open something that they really want...something totally unpractical and definitely nonessential. It's the only time we get to do that!

Proof that you really can't ever have too many weapons.

Laney's dragon obsession burns bright!

Wrigley Field street signs for the basement

All our favorite recipes for his college debut!

Tears of joy...a laptop to work her digital animation magic.

New Barbies!

Hamster Heaven!

And what did mama get, you may be wondering?

I got a drawer full of sugar...I got future weight loss goals. I got an onramp to the diabeetus.

So, as you can imagine...we whiled away the Christmas hours watching the hamsters run around in their little balls and munching our stocking snacks.

Then Flynns came over and we watched Soul and had yummy Christmas dinner. A perfect day!

Christmas Eve Bingo Jammie

Well, I did it! It took me 20 years, but I finally remember to have an activity planned for Christmas Eve DAY.  Right?? It takes FOREVER to get to the "eve" part! We need some fun! We need a little distraction! We need...

The gingerbread houses that we were supposed to make last Sunday! 

That's right, I procrastinated this one just where I wanted it. I couldn't have planned it better....cuz I didn't. 

Oh, and it should be noted that once again I had big plans to make our gingerbread from scratch. And then I read the recipe and it said that it has to chill for at least 24 hours. 

Graham crackers it is!!

I present! Mommas: (I'm pretty proud of this one)

Everly's:

Megan's:

Daddy's:

Mathew's:

 

Laney's:

And Anna's:

We scraped all the frosting off the countertops and swept the sprinkles off the floor and before you know it we were feasting on chicken enchiladas and guacamole! We love traditional holiday food, but our craving for something spicy and cheesy had to be satisfied!

And BINGO time!! Mathew did the honors...

And new jammies! 

And aren't we looking cute and maybe a little extra fluffy? The diet starts when the chocolate runs out. 

Merry Christmas!
 

In the mail and full circle bread bowls

Santa delivered!

Laney would not share...she felt it was something for her eyes only!! 

In other news, it's shepherd's night and we are finally having stew in bread bowls again. I have sworn a solemn vow NOT to try to finish off any uneaten bowls in order to "get my money's worth". Given that they are from Panera, it may take a Christmas miracle to resist. 

Oh, the bready goodness!

Ethan and Megan were the party poopers this year. They value their sleep over tradition. 

I totally get that.

2 more days!

Ice Skating on the down low

The ward had to cancel the annual ice skating party. I mean, we get it...how do you get 150 people together in a global pandemic? The skating rink is only letting 50 people in at a time, for crying out loud. But we are bummed. We look forward to this every year and the teenagers need to get out of the house!  So we gathered our usual suspects, painstakingly coordinated our calendars, checked with teenager work schedules, confirmed and reconfirmed, stayed up till midnight and franticly reserved tickets 48 hours in advance....no problem.

We went with the Guenthers, Petersons, and Flynns...some were more excited about skating that others...although, poor Courtney almost broke her hiney in her first 5 minutes on the ice. She gets a free pass.

Cute Laney and her awesome braces!

Anna is always out there in the thick of it...she skated as long as she could before the ankle blisters were too painful to ignore. 

And we FINALLY convinced Everly to get on the ice!! 

She scooted along the wall and we took turns holding her hand. She didn't fall, so I think she'll get out there again next year. I think I'll take her place snuggled in the blankets and letting people bring me cocoa.

We had such a fun time hanging out together and enjoying having every one of our kids there. These days are coming to an end soon. 

When all the skates were returned, we went down to see the big tree and the beautiful lights put up in the Crown Center Square.

Huffords 2020!!

We couldn't miss a chance to get a photo of our families all together. Every kid was here...that never happens anymore!