It is December and that means Alfred is back! Griffin spotted Alfred on the family room bookshelves – he was even properly wearing his mask and came with a note this year.
With December came snow and at the first good snowfall Griffin was out on the back patio just after 6 am one morning! He joined me for a walk with Brutus and we finished by enjoying snow fresh snow together.
We got all dressed in our matching pajamas and fixed some hot cocoa prior to decorating the tree this year. Even Brutes had jammies to match, though I’m not sure he was as excited as the boys and me.
Reid has no fear on the ladder, easily climbing high to help hang or deliver ornaments. Griffin conquered his fear and gained more and more confidence by climbing high too. We took advantage of a special Graeter’s promo of free delivery and capped the evening with bowls of yummy peppermint ice cream 🙂
We met up with the Manning’s and Kessler’s for a walk outdoors through the Columbus Commons which was decorated with Christmas lights. It wasn’t too long of a stroll, but it was fun and we were able to have hot cocoa together in the parking garage, lol.
When Lexi arrived on the morning of her birthday we showered her with a surprise of gifts and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The boys were excited to watch her open things up.
And here are a few of just some wintertime shenanigans.
Given the Covid-19 Pandemic, we still wanted to find a way to share Christmas gifts with our friends and neighbors. We had the fun (funny?) idea of giving everyone a bottle of wine along with a container of clorox wipes, holiday themed disposable face masks, and a roll of toilet paper – ha! Signs of the times. We had fun assembling them and then driving around the neighborhood with the Tim Horton’s, the tail gate up, boys with their Santa hats on running up to everyone’s front doors to make the deliveries. The boys had the best time and were full of energy.
Afterward the boys were happy to snuggle on the couch in the new OSU blanket given to us by the Stephens. It is so cozy!
Ugh. Boys will be boys. Kids will be kids. However, I cannot stand finding things like this!! I walked in my bathroom one day to a disaster in which Reid had pretty much completely emptied my jewelry drawer and mixed and tangled everything together. I about lost my marbles. Kevin, as he so often does, found the perfect gift that he gave me for our anniversary and hung it up around the holidays. So I took to one of my favorite things and began organizing. So much better now to see and find what I want to wear!
Making mom’s recipe of chocolate macarons and Grandma Kirk’s Swedish Tea Cookies!
Another evening of winter fun we picked up hot cocoa and drove around looking at Christmas Lights, including one neighborhood that has a light show choreographed to music that you tune in to via radio station. It was pretty neat.
Here the boys are opening gifts from Abir Elmosleh and the Bolan’s (to remember 2020!). And then their Christmas gift from Lexi, a fort-making supply bin and blankets she made for each of them. They were in heaven. She also painted an awesome piece for Kevin and me of the boys. It’s a cute wintertime scene of them playing in the snow. We love it!
Kevin took Brutus to give him a holiday bath. He always looks so scared in these pics but Kevin says Brutus actually does great and seems to like it. He comes home smelling and feeling much better, that’s for sure!
Once again, amid the times of Covid, we did not gather with family for Christmas. Instead, we set up a time for Mom and Dad and the Bethune’s to come to our house where we setup tables in the garage and exchanged bags and boxes of gifts this year instead. Not nearly the same as all being together on Christmas morning, but a nice short time to gather nonetheless. All masked up with our winter coats on! Kevin also prepared awesome charcuterie boxes for each family. Delish! The Bethune’s gave us cute snow man mugs, hot cocoa bombs, and a fresh (still warm) loaf of homemade sourdough bread. Yummy!
Reid was exhausted and fell asleep at the end of our garage meetup. We put him down for a short nap and then decided to head to Enon to deliver the gifts and charcuterie box we had for Jim and Pat. It was a snowy drive but a fun one. We enjoyed our charcuterie in the car during the trip :).
When we returned home it was time to put out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots and a candy cane for the reindeer. Then we read the last reading from our Advent calendar and the boys put baby Jesus in the cradle.
Christmas morning the boys woke up early to a fresh snowfall and full of excitement to see what was under the tree. So many fun things including a pink remote control jeep for Reid, pokemon cards for both, OSU clothes, Reid’s own mug, a soccer ball and football pants for Griffin, the list goes on. These boys are blessed beyond measure.
Mom and Dad sent us some pics from their Christmas day too and once again we were able to Zoom everyone in on a call later in the day.
Christmas dinner wasn’t quite the same, but we made do and enjoyed quite a feast of filets, turkey breast, roasted carrots and broccoli, charcuterie, cookies, and Mom’s figgy pudding that she delivered with our gifts. It’s not Christmas without the figgy pudding!
Later in the evening with had a phone call with Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong while the boys opened their gifts from them. The were super excited with their new cameras, gamers, and robot!
Random photo of our oven not being this clean since we bought it. A Christmas break project to clean it up after I mistakenly turned the oven on one day while a plastic Ikea kids plate was in there. Yikes. It was a super long cleaning process but turned out pretty well in the end.
I was fortunate to have some days off in December and on this particular day we went to the barn with Lexi to see and ride Tango. It was cold and the fields were SO wet and muddy. But we had lots of fun going through the pastures, meeting other horses (and a mini horse about Brutus’ size), and doing some riding in the barn. The boys each fed treats to Tango and had a great time. I even got to ride and it’s been a LONG time since I’ve been up on a horse!
And here we are saying goodbye to 2020 and welcoming in 2021. We had a family party in our living room with party hats and noise makers.
The progress on the office space updates continues at Millcreek. The framing is going in and the former overhead doors are now all framed out.
Check out this picture from two years ago – Griffin is wearing the same sweater that Reid wore this year! These boys are getting big!
The Christmas holiday was a little different for us this year. After being in Mansfield for a few days, we headed back to Powell in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. After a morning of lounging and then all receiving our traditional pajamas (this year we did it around the kitchen table!) we headed back home and readied ourselves for church at NPC. This was the first year we’ve attended our church on Christmas Eve. It was a nice service of songs, a short sermon, and candles at the end. I spent the last 15 minutes perusing the hallways and lobby with Reid as he was operating on full-speed and wouldn’t sit still or be quiet. 
After we had opened almost all the gifts we had a quick and tasty breakfast of overnight french toast. Then we headed to the basement to “take a few toys downstairs”. Kevin had setup a new train track and we’d covered the air hockey table and put a bow on it. I was really surprised at how low-key Griffin was. He thought whatever was under the sheet was for us, not him! Once we uncovered it everyone jumped in and played a couple of games.
We headed to Enon for a couple days for the Armstrong Christmas. This year the Christmas gathering was at Jim and Pat’s house. Not long after we arrived Griffin was pretty excited to open gifts, so we opened them and then played with all the new toys. Griffin also loved playing on Grandma and Grandpa’s mini-trampoline. It’s a good way to expend some energy 🙂
