Christmas 2021

We had grand plans for the week of Christmas this year. Then there was a Covid scare in Alison's family and we had to adjust our plans again. Alison's brother, Bret, made the difficult decision not to visit from Chicago. Given all the craziness of the Omicron variant we couldn't fault him for his decision. 

By Christmas eve everyone was testing negative. That was great news. For a minute there our Christmas eve and Christmas festivities seemed to be in doubt, but with all of the negative tests we felt comfortable proceeding.

Skylee came to our house on Christmas eve to help Alison bake many delicious items - they made a chocolate cake and rolls for Christmas Eve and orange rolls for Christmas morning. 

Skylee hung out with us all day. In addition to baking we watched Lindsey Sterling and Taylor Swift music videos. Alison also painted Skylee's nails. We also watched a Tik Tok series about a lady who traded a bobby pin for a house. Skylee was entranced by this story. 

At night we all met up at Blake and Debbie's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Blake and Debbie smoked a prime rib. We had a great spread of food. We all enjoyed a nice dinner and spending time with family. After dinner we cut into the chocolate cake - which was a hit. 

When we were all finished eating we played a little Drawful as a family and then it was time for Kristin and her family to leave. Skylee was quite motivated to get home and get to bed so that Santa wouldn't pass her by. She had spent the evening playing games and tracking Santa on one of the computers. 

After they left everyone else played a bunch of rounds of blackjack. We used mini marshmallows as chips. It was a ton of fun. Alison's grandma, Aleene, was the most polite bettor you have ever met. We all took turns dealing and went around and around. Alison and Debbie both lost all their marshmallows, but then they got more from the house so they could keep playing. We played late into the night. 

On Christmas morning we woke up and headed to Kristin and Dan's house to open presents. It is so fun to see their kids excitement on Christmas morning. 

We got Anna Holly a giant piano from FAO Schwarz. We have a knack for buying her completely awesome, but also somewhat loud and annoying gifts. 

We all opened our gifts to each other. This year I got Alison a new set of diamond earrings and a book about In the Heights by Lin-Manual Miranda. She got me a Thanos Gauntlet lego set, a SNES classic edition, and matching sweaters for myself and Tex. I loved all the gifts, but the sweaters were so epic. 

Once the gifts were all opened we made breakfast. Debbie brought over a breakfast casserole, Alison and Debbie made aebleskivers, and we finished off the orange rolls. We broke out giant janga (a gift from Blake and Debbie to me) - it was a hit. We had time for a couple more rounds of blackjack before everyone dispersed. 

Alison and I headed over to my grandparents house where they were hosting my entire family. It was great to see my aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, and cousins. We didn't go last year because of Covid, so we were glad to be there this year. We enjoyed catching up with everyone and exchanging gifts. 

We headed back to Kristin and Dan's house. We ate some dinner and played Risk Junior (a gift Skylee was very excited about) and Exploding Kittens. We then watched Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - watching Jumanji has become somewhat of a Christmas tradition for us. Then Alison and I came home. 

It was a fantastic Christmas. We loved the focus on being with family. More than anything else spending time with the people you love makes Christmas a special day. We are really grateful our family was healthy this year so that we could safely get together.