Christmas 2021

No Covid for Christmas this year...that might have been the best gift, haha!

It was a Moyes Christmas Eve.  We drove up to Plain City when Justin got home from work.  The cousins did presents right away.  Molly got a necklace and some lotion, Stockton got Braves golf balls, Brynn got a necklace and starbursts, and Ivy got pop-its and a sort of lava bubble thing.  Molly was so excited to give her gift to Grandma: a drawing she did of the whole family, based on our family photo several years ago.  She did a great job!

Lucy, Ivy, Josie

Molly and Grandma Kay

We had a yummy dinner of prime roast, turkey, and all the fixings.  And lots of treats including my favorite Christmas Eve caramel brownies.

Spencer, Seth, Brynn, Ivy, Harper, Josie, Lucy, Grace

Molly, Ben, Gavin, Abby, Chloe, Tessa

Grant, Stockton, Justin

The nativity.  Molly was a wiseman, Stockton a shepherd, Brynn an angel, and Ivy a sheep.  The shepherd wore a baseball cap.  The wisemen primped in the bathroom for a long time.

Harper, Grace, Brynn

Molly, Chloe, Abby

Stockton, Gavin, Grant, Josie, Ben, Grace, Harper, Brynn, Molly, Abby, Chloe, Tessa, Spencer, Lucy, Seth, Ivy

We played Christmas jeopardy and a game that Tessa had made.  We took a family picture in front of my mom's tree then excused ourselves to drive home.  Ali won the photo bomb award for the night.

Ali + our fam

 

We set out cookies and milk for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer!) and went down to Stockton's room to put the kids to bed.  They had already set their beds up.  Justin read "The Night Before Christmas" and we left them to their excitement and dreams.

 

They woke up at 7:00 on the dot, like always.

 

Santa had wrapped their presents this year, which was a surprise because he has never done that before.  We all liked it!  It stretched the morning out a little.  We decided to take turns opening so everyone could see what everyone else got. They each got two gifts from Santa and three stocking stuffers + treats.  Molly got a surfboard for her room (as a decoration-she has wanted to hang one above her bed forever) and a new pillow.  Her stocking had dry shampoo, an arcade belt (so she didn't have to borrow mine anymore), a peace sign flower pot, treats and a soda.

 

Stockton got a new baseball glove and bat.  His stocking had a Sports Illustrated Kids subscription, Nintendo game, a Braves World Series pennant, treats, and a soda.

 

Brynn got a razor moped and a coat.  Her stocking had a beanie, water bottle, bubble gum for the bubble gum machine she got last year, treats, and a soda.  She had been out of gum for a long time but didn't want to use her own money for more.  Brynn got completely spoiled...her mind was blown when she opened her moped.  She kept calling it a moPAD and we had to keep correcting her.

 

Ivy got a swing for her room and Lego's.  Her stocking had bath bombs, a water bottle, color by number books and colored pencils, treats, and a soda.

*Santa kind of struck out with Ivy this year.  Once we got her pod swing set up, Justin didn't think it looked too comfortable and wanted to exchange it for something else.  Also, the Belle Lego set is identical, just bigger, to a smaller set that she got for her birthday.  Don't know how Santa missed that.  So she exchanged both of her main gifts for something different. She was a good sport about it but Mrs. Claus sure felt bad.

We moved on to breakfast.  We had creme brulee french toast, egg casserole, bacon, chocolate milk, bananas, and egg nog.  The kids' stocking sodas made an appearance at the breakfast table as well. 

Breakfast took a while to bake (those eggs took forever) so it was a couple hours before we got back upstairs to the gifts under the tree.  Ivy and Brynn each had a homemade gift to give that they had made at school...handprint Christmas trees from Ivy and an alphabet Christmas book from Brynn.  That seems basic for a 5th grader but it was really creative..."A is for apple pie, B is for cookie, C is for red and white" and so on. (Apple pie, Bake cookies, Candy Canes...)

 

It was Molly's year to go first with presents.  From her siblings she got a USA Women's National Team rain jacket.  Her reaction was awesome.  She did not expect us to splurge on this and was so happy.  I admit that I would love one of these for myself.  Lucky her.

 

Stockton got a Magtrax set.  This is a marble maze that he can build himself right on the wall!

 

Brynn got her Lego set-a shopping mall.

 

Ivy got some aquabeads.

 

Their second gift was a family gift...a projector with stand and screen for all of our family movie nights.  We have used this so much already!  The kids also got the game Exploding Kittens. 

Since we had already been to the Goodrich's earlier in the week and the Moyes's the night before, it was a day to stay home.  The kids played with their toys.  Gene, April, and Brett came to visit in the afternoon.  I set out a bunch of snacky type foods for everyone to munch on.  They had already given us presents so we gave them theirs (a voucher to come ride the train this spring) and we played Exploding Kittens.  We loved the time with them.

Stockton, Brett, Gene, Brynn, April, Molly, Ivy

My mom and dad came up that night.  I made baked ziti and they gave everyone presents.  All the kids got an outfit + one other thing.  Molly got a faux plant/tree for her room.  Stockton got a baseball holder made by Grandpa (shaped like home base) and Blitz Ball.  Brynn got roller skates.  Ivy got a remote control Barbie Jeep.  Justin got some tool, I got a picture of Christ.  The kids and I got Lagoon passes.  We enjoyed our evening with them.  It had been a wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the Goodrich's!