December 2020 Fun (WE DID IT!)

 We did it, y'all!  We made it to the end of 2020!  Good riddance!  Can I travel yet?

NOT SO FAST.  Gotta get that vaccine first.  In the meantime, we spent a quiet December in our new home. 

Well, the kids had fun this month as we got a bit of snow early on in the month.  This didn't even compare to what we got later in December!

It was mid month when we hit 300k Covid deaths in the United States.

December always brings low sun angles so sometimes it makes for a pretty sunset.  You know. At 4:15 pm.

Santa down!  Santa down!  We had a really windy December.  We only averaged below a 10 mph wind speed for 11 days of the month- and of those 11 days, we only averaged one day that was below 5 mph. An 8 mph wind doesn't seem like much until the air temp is 27.

There was a rare astronomical phenomena right around Christmas when Jupiter and Saturn were so close together in our early evening sky that they appeared much brighter than usual.  It's been almost 400 years since this last happened and it may even have been the source of light known as the Star of Bethlehem!  Of course, we didn't actually get to see it because the entire week of Christmas was cloudy. This was taken the week before (and you can't tell from this picture but the only visible planet was Jupiter.  Saturn was off to the northwest of it a bit.)

We did get a neighborhood visit from the Big Guy as he went up and down almost EVERY street in Ashland with brightly lit and loud firetrucks.  We went down to the Tally house to watch (here with Aiden and Jackson).

Hello Santa!  I think it was funny he was on a boat on a trailer.

The firetrucks were super loud, and you could hear them zig zagging all over town for several hours before they got to us.

Todd has been very into making his own pizza lately (Wegmans crust is die BESTE!) so after Santa rode through town, we had some for dinner!

Man, I thought these days were over but apparently they're not.  The kids still will not touch him.

I needed to get a few things at Trader Joe's but the governor put new limits to the human capacity of stores so Trader Joe's had set up a, "1 person leaves, 1 person can go in" policy.  The first time I tried to go, it was raining and I didn't have an umbrella, so even though I had to wait about 10 minutes to get in on my second try, at least it wasn't raining and the store wasn't crowded at all.

Y'all.  Have you ever seen such a nicely folded fitted sheet?  Todd did this!  Sure is better than the balled up mess that I usually make.

We got a decent snowstorm (especially for December) in the week leading up to Christmas.  We went to bed and it looked like this.

We woke up, and it looked like THIS!

Todd and our neighbor Mike, like two ships (men), passing in the night (snow).

I took this one as a zoomed in shot of how deep the snow was.

My OCD is off the charts here.

Kids, go out there and shovel the new walkway.  I'll say it again... isn't this why people have kids???

Always Daddy's girl.

Grant finally got to go use the new snow tube he bought with a gift card from Nauni and Uncle Gordie for his birthday.  He's like, knee-deep in the snow trapsing across the yard!

So apparently there's this meme where when people make terrible gingerbread houses that fall apart, they say, "If your gingerbread house fails, just add a dinosaur!"  Ours actually came out pretty good, but after leaving it on the counter for two weeks with everyone breaking off little pieces here and there - this eventually happened.  So we added a dinosaur!

And in December, THIS finally happened.  It was only a matter of time.

We also had our Pillsbury Dough Boy jump off of the top cabinets not ONCE, but TWICE!  Once when Grant was alone in the kitchen, and once when I was alone in the kitchen.  He was up on top of the cabinets, wedged up there between the cabinet and the ceiling and suddenly... he was on the floor!  We secretly think Buddy, our Elf on the Shelf pushed him.

One of the hardest things about this holiday season was knowing we couldn't go to any Christmas markets (not that we could go if we still lived in Germany.)  But at least we were able to find some Glühwein (thanks World Market and Trader Joe's!) and enjoy the hot beverage in some of our favorite Christmas market mugs.

We make these Christmas cookies every year and the kids do the decorating.  We can plow through 4 dozen pretty quickly.  I like that Natalie seems to be pondering what toppings to put on her cookies.

I swear I had the heat on in the house.  The kids had just come in from playing outside to decorate their cookies.

I think this is one of those memes...  How it started....

How it's going.

Our tree was really pretty this year.

These numbers were not so pretty, however.

A couple of days after our big snowstorm, the neighborhood kids made a snowman in our front lawn on a 53 degree day, which also happened to be Christmas Eve.  Here is Quinn, AB, Grant and Ava showing off their new friend.

The kids took advantage of the warm weather before the snow melted and went sledding in our backyard.

Natalie and AB took turns on the man made snow ramps Todd built.

Then they all slid down on their bellies!  Natalie, Nathan, Grant, AB and AT rode down on their rainbow colored sleds!

These faces ha ha ha - I love it!

Natalie and Grant were bookended by brothers AT and AB. I think AB won this race!

As the day got warmer, the snowman started to look a little sad.  Natalie, always my overly warm child, is outside in a t-shirt and snow boots. 

Oh Frosty, you're looking pretty sad!  By Christmas morning, he was gone.  I did a whole other post about Christmas Eve(ning) and Christmas Day- so you'll have to read that to find out what we did!

NOT ONLY is this maybe my new favorite bourbon... but seriously, how much better is the camera on my new phone???

OH MY GOODNESS aren't my babies 5th and 8th grade pictures SO CUTE???  I'm so glad their schools allowed them to come take school pictures even though they're doing remote learning.

Much like every other holiday this year, New Year's Eve was spent at home.  Todd made us a nice little snacky spread while we watched our favorite New Year's Eve show... Dinner For One!

Fireworks aren't allowed in Massachusetts (not to say some people don't still use them) but it's certainly NOT AT ALL like Sylvester in Germany.  Instead, we got pots and pans ready to say AUF WIEDERSEHEN to 2020.  The pots and pans are a little too loud for Grant though, so he put on his headphones!

No one looks happier than Grant to say goodbye to 2020!

Todd and the kids went outside to make some noise (and I think they were distracted by others doing the same!)

Just doing our 80s prom dance on New Year's, no big deal.

We didn't get to see them this year, even though we had tickets and whole trip to New York planned, but at least we got to end 2020 on a nice note - seeing our handsome boys from BTS!

You know I always end all of my travel posts with, "Until next time, (insert random European city here)!"  I truly hope there is no other year like 2020!  Good riddance and here's to better things in 2021!

Christmas Week 2020

I just decided to break down December into two posts - one of what we did before Christmas Eve and one of what we did on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We had too much fun!

Oh look!  Santa is flying toward Regensburg!  He would have been near our house at this point!  I took this around mid day our time on Christmas Eve.

Another picture of when Santa was heading past Amberg.

Meanwhile, back in America, we had Christmas Eve tickets to the Magic of Lights at Foxboro.  

Sponsored by... HBO Max!

It was actually pretty cool, and they had holiday music playing on a low FM station as you drove through.  The whole thing was set up in the big parking lots across Route 1 from Gillette Stadium.

The kids actually really liked it.  I think maybe it was because it was literally the only holiday thing we did outside of our own home/neighborhood.

Because we couldn't see family or friends for the holidays....

And we couldn't go see Santa at the mall.....

And we didn't get to have holiday Christmas concerts at school.....

And we didn't get to go to work or school holiday parties.....

And we CERTAINLY didn't get to go to any Christmas markets (although briefly, we felt the European love!) ....

But at least we got to do this! Our ONE Christmas family event.  I particularly appreciated a random Leaning Tower of Pisa next to a menorah! 

Nothing says Christmas like a bunch of red, white and blue lights.  'MERICA!

Toward the end of the drive through the Magic of Lights, they did a whole 12 Days of Christmas theme.  Here we have seven swans a swimming!

I liked driving through these lights.

It was a really pretty ending to the Magic of Lights.  Hopefully we can make this an annual event - although in the future, I doubt we would go on Christmas Eve.  We only went because we were not going to church or spending any time with family.  It was really nice that you didn't have to interact with any other humans (other than the girl who scanned my phone at a distance at the entrance) and never had to get out of your car.

On the way home, of course we got stopped by the purple line train.

These kids were anxious to get the party started.  Naturally in keeping with tradition, we had to throw some reindeer dust onto the lawn. Natalie... no coat, really?

Throwing reindeer dust near the house so the glitter on the lawn will reflect in the moonlight.

It's funny how WE used to be the ones putting out cookies, veggies and eggnog for Santa and the reindeer, and now the kids are doing it!

How many cookies should we put out, Grant?

On Christmas Eve, the kids always get to open a (pre-determined) present.

What EVER could it be?

Oh right, it's ALWAYS pajamas (or a cool t-shirt for Todd!)

Everything is set out and ready - hopefully Santa doesn't bust his butt falling down onto the wood stove that is in our fireplace!

Next, Todd did his annual reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

We actually had Carole, KK and Warren on the Portal (behind me), listening and watching Todd read the story.

OH MY GOODNESS HE IS OVERHEAD!  (Seriously tho... this was like, 10:30 pm ha ha.  The kids were like... I thought he always arrived around midnight?)

Santa and Mr. Claus quite enjoyed the cookies.

We were ROLLING at Natalie's note!  And the fact that BOTH of my kids misspelled reindeer!

Santa left a note back!

Hey, if you were worried about Santa catching Covid, we were assured by Dr. Fauci that he had had his vaccine.  Plus, he was wearing his mask!

The stockings are too heavy to hang by the chimney with care.  So they sit under the dining room tree.

Santa was here!

The kids woke up in the morning at around 7 and blasted the Chipmunks, "Christmas Don't Be Late" to wake us up.  Their bedrooms are actually on the main floor, so we made them come down the stairs and pose like they were running for their presents.

First stop, opening stockings.  They're generally full of candy and toiletries.

Next, we had some sour cream coffee cake and THEN we move on to the living room where we open PRESENTS!

Here's Grant, opening his 2020 Hess truck from Nana (and Pop Pop!)  I swear all day he would ask, "Where is the Hess truck?" (as it got buried under wrapping paper!)

Natalie opening the first of a plethora of K-Pop albums!

We let Grant open this one, even though it was a gift for the whole family.  He had been begging for an iPad 8th gen (but 11-year-olds don't get iPads for themselves!)  Our iPad was like... a first generation that my mother had given us long before we even moved to Germany.  It was time for a new one!

Grant also got a laser tag set (there are 8 of them so the whole neighborhood can play!)

Natalie opening up a present from Grammi and Bean.

She was squealing! ANOTHER KPop album!

A yule log among chaos.

Grantie got Minecraft Dungeons for the PS4 from Grammi and Bean!

But Mommy got the best gift of all... a new iPhone SE!  You don't even have to take it to the store to move everything over... it just does it with a quick set up!  I love technology!

Natalie was super excited to get Twice's Eyes Wide Open album!

Daveed Diggs!???  You shouldn't have!

Bwahahahahahahaha this t-shirt has my favorite line from Hamilton!  (Said by Daveed Diggs!)

KK got the kids the coolest gift... a gift card to go sledding/tubing!  Hooray for gifts that don't take up any space in my house!

The kids were also SUPER excited to get a giant Jenga game from Nauni and Uncle Gordie so we can play that outside in the summer!  You might recall we always play this in Maine... and even once in Plymouth this past summer.  Now everyone can come to our house to play!

Then the kids were opening Uncle Steve and Aunt Jeanne's gift! (Also, Grant got a blanket because he's always stealing Natalie's!)

Uncle Steve and Aunt Jeanne got us HBO Max and gift cards (and candy!) - so we watched Wonder Woman 1984 later in the day!  It was raining ALL day on Christmas so watching a movie was the perfect rainy day activity.

Todd and I had a hard time opening presents while the kids were opening presents so we kind of saved a lot of ours until the end.  Especially him.

Aren't you so excited to get a new set of knives?

Someone please come in an clean my living room up.  And check out those awesome Auburn shoes I got from my mom!!!!  And the one surprise gift that even I didn't know about... a video projector and a 17 foot inflatable screen for our backyard!  Todd totally surprised us with this one!  It will be fun to enjoy while socially distancing from friends - if this next summer comes to that.

Don't forget, we have to sing happy birthday to baby Jesus (with the Hess truck supervising, of course.)

This was a hilarious story... apparently our friend Dorothy got Kern these EXACT same beers!  World Market for the win!

Todd took this pic of Natalie with the albums Grammi and Bean had bought for her.

Grantie looking all cute at his computer downstairs.  He got a new monitor for this computer!

Todd made an amazing lunch on some pretzel rolls I got from Whole Foods to remind us of Germany.  Bacon, egg and cheese on a pretzel roll was so awesome!  (And yes, those are Christmas Vacation glasses - Todd got me those for our anniversary!)

I'm sure I'm about to annoy you with all of these pictures, but Natalie and I played on Snapchat for the longest time on Christmas day and I haven't laughed that hard in forever.

Merry Christmas pretty girl.

"Nat, pretend like you're surprised that there's a reindeer behind you on the couch!"

This was the weirdest filter ever and we were laughing SO hard.

Then Natalie accidentally took a picture of herself and overlaid it on our other picture and we laughed even harder.

I don't know how many tries it took for her to get V but it was a LOT.

I liked this one cause it looked like I was burping the word Dynamite ha ha.

AWWWW look at our boys!

Filters are so fake but dang we look good.

That girl is on fire!

We were ROLLING at the Facetime with Joe Biden filters.  I won't post the pics of us Facetiming with Trump (we weren't as nice!)  Grandpa Joe, is that you????

Then Natalie and I needed some purple hair, lash extensions, glasses and a nose ring.

Don't forget the bold lipstick.  She can pull that off way better than I can.

After we cuddled up on the couch and watched Wonder Woman 1984, we had a big old Christmas dinner!  I've always had ham for Christmas, but apparently Todd thinks that is for Easter, and no one else in my family likes ham but me anyway... so we just had turkey again!

After dinner and pumpkin pie, the kids had to break the wishbone again.  And you'll never believe this... but it actually just split DIRECTLY in half.  So it's the second time in a month they have had a bizarre wishbone break!  SO 2020!  

Until next year, Christmas!