Christmas 2020!

 

My brother and his family came into town for a few days. Baby Roman is now 4 months old and was so much fun to play with. on Christmas Eve we hung out, watched our church service on the tv, ate a yummy dinner, and opened gifts. 

Mom loved all the snuggles with Roman. Actually, all of us did! Even my Grandpa, who is 88 was loving it. This was Roman's first trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house! 

We took our gingerbread house kit over to moms' because Arnold honestly HATES putting them together and we thought Uncle Alex would have more patience with the girls ;) They were having a lot of fun and doing great, but SOMEONE didn't pay attention to the directions ;) And the house fell completely flat! :D Oh well, there's always next year. They did enjoy eating all the candy! Next year we have planned to have a family competition of building them! 

3 Generations! We should have gotten mom in this picture too! 

I got a little too excited and bought Roman tons of gifts. I had so much fun, though. Poor little guy just couldn't hang, and fell asleep in the middle of all the present opening :D

Mom and Dad surprised us big time (i had no idea) and got us the Roomba! They have one and love it. We have already run it twice at our house, and its amazing how much it picks up. Poor Max and Sheldon are terrified of it though. Sheldon barks when it gets close to him, and Max just runs away :D Mom also got me the Pioneer Woman knife set I had been wanting! Dad just rolled his eyes.. he will never understand. 

Mom's big gift this year was a new puppy! Her and Dad's 15-year old dog, Mindy, passed away earlier this year. Mom had been very lonely lately, and always wanted another dog. Dad got in contact with some people in SC who had dachshund puppies and he got her one! Mom named her Willow, and she is adorable. Mom already has her in a collar with a little pink bow, and she been spoiled with lots of toys already (including from me! ;) She is very playful, and likes chewing on everyone's shoe laces, hiding toys under her dog bed, and chasing people around. She has really gotten attached to my dad and Caleb. She likes to lay in their laps and go to sleep. Poor thing won't know what to do now that all the Christmas chaos has calmed down! 

The girls wore their matching Simply Southern shirts. They said "True Love was Born in a stable."

Christmas morning was a little different this year, because we didn't go ANYWHERE this year. We stayed in our PJs, and everything was low-key, which I think Arnold loved. Rachel got an ipad, a knockoff apple pen, and an app to draw with. She also loves playing Roblox these days. Brooke is getting a room redo, and we plan to get her new blinds, curtains, etc. 

Arnold was easy to buy for-- just got all guitar-related stuff! Two LIFE IS GOOD shirts that have guitars on them, guitar socks, guitar pics, a guitar sign, and a little guitar man pen holder for his desk at work. 2 of his gifts didn't make it here in time, but I'll just save them for his birthday, which is on New Years! 

Caleb got a giftcard to buy Xbox games, and a lot of new room stuff. His favorite color is red, and I got him new red bedding, a red lamp, red alarm clock, red hamper, and a red MINI FRIDGE! It will hold 6 cans at a time, and we also got him abig pack of root beer, which is his favorite. I should have thought this through though, we may never get him out of his room now! ;) Oh, and the shirt he is wearing came from his Aunt Christina and Uncle Alex, and it is SO HIM!! :)

For the first year since I married Arnold, we did not go to his parents' house for Christmas. His Mom is very scared of all this covid stuff, and didn't want a gathering. She cooks every year, so she went ahead and cooked, and packed it all up and sent it over to us by Arnold's dad. That was so nice to have a meal ready after opening presents, and it was yummy! Arnold's dad came in and stayed for a little while, while the kids' opened their gifts from them. This year was so much different than normal, and while it made me a little sad, we still had a great time with family and made memories.