2020 was an unusual year in so many ways. This was the first year that we’ve ever spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day all by ourselves at home. (We did celebrate with our families later…just not on those specific days). We also spent Thanksgiving Day by ourselves this year. While we wouldn’t want to do that every year, there was actually something neat about just staying home and being able to relax a little more on those holidays. Travis especially enjoyed the slower pace. There was actually time for the kids to play with their new toys instead of rushing from one get-together to the next. Living through the pandemic, although less than ideal, definitely taught us that’s there value in slowing down and appreciating the simple moments spent at home. Here’s the recap of our Christmas Eve through the end of the year:
On Christmas Eve, the girls decorated sugar cookies before supper, and they really enjoyed it. I think this may have been Abigail’s first time to participate in the decorating…
I found a really good sugar cookie recipe online a few years ago, and we just use store bought frosting from a can and lots of different red and green sprinkles.
I thought it was interesting that Abigail put only one kind of sprinkle on each cookie. (The other girls mixed lots of different kinds of sprinkles on each cookie.) Ha! When I told Travis, he said, “Oh no! Now we really know she’s just like me (talking about Abigail)” :)
Brooklyn kept asking and asking, so we decided to let the girls each open one present after supper before we got ready for bed…
Brooklyn and Savannah each chose to open their biggest gift (naturally), and it was a new bike helmet for each of them. Brooklyn had specifically requested a pink and black “racing helmet”, and Savannah picked out a blue and pink one when we went to Walmart a few weeks ago.
Abigail chose to open a gift from Brooklyn, and it was a coloring book that Brooklyn picked out at Dollar Tree for her. Abigail loved it and said “OOOH!” :) I love how thoughtful Brooklyn is with her gift giving.
I had to get a picture of the girls with their new helmets! Abigail got Savannah’s hand-me-down Dory helmet and was excited about that too ;)
Mom ordered some new Christmas PJs for the girls this year, so I wanted to get a few pictures of them before they went to bed…
Brooklyn left a note for Santa by the fireplace…
…so of course, Savannah did too!
Santa really liked those sugar cookies the girls left out on the coffee table ;)
Brooklyn’s gifts from Santa
Savannah’s gifts
Abigail’s gifts from Santa (she didn’t get a new scooter, but she got a scooter “makeover”…streamers and a stuffed animal carrier for the front).
All of the gifts ready for Christmas morning :)
I tried something new this year, and put wrapping paper over the doorway to the girls’ hallway before we went to bed on Christmas Eve. That way, one of them couldn’t come out super early (ahem, Brooklyn) and take a peek at the gifts before everyone else was up. It worked!
I came out at 6:30 AM on Christmas morning, and Brooklyn was standing there at the wrapping paper…haha. We made her wait a few minutes before we turned on Christmas music (loudly), and Daddy started grinding coffee beans, thus waking up the other girls…
When I said go, Brooklyn busted through the wrapping paper and they all sprinted around the corner to the living room. It was fun to watch!
SO excited :) The wrapping paper over the doorway may have to be a new tradition. It was very entertaining!
Brooklyn was THRILLED about the huge stuffed lion that Santa brought. She had been asking for a big lion like that for a long time. She named him Hunter and played and cuddled with him for most of the day. Definitely a huge hit!
She introduced her new lion to Gabby, but I’m not sure Gabby was a big fan of him ;) Brooklyn also really liked the markers, glitter gel pens, and new notebooks and spent most of the day drawing and writing away
. Savannah’s favorite gift from Santa was a Furreal North Sabertooth Tiger that chatters its teeth and purrs. Haha. She saw it at Walmart a few weeks ago when we were doing some shopping and talked about it every day after that. She was going to be really sad if she didn’t get it for Christmas, so I’m glad Santa came through. It was looking iffy for a while ;) Savannah played with it all day and named it Violet.
Savannah also got a baby cheetah stuffed animal and a monster truck (although Santa didn’t realize it wasn’t a remote control one, so we ended up exchanging it…whoops). Definitely the big hit far above everything else was the tiger!
Abigail was initially confused about the scooter makeover and thought Santa had brought her an entirely new scooter…haha. I thought she would be more excited about it, but unfortunately it was too cold to go outside and scooter in the driveway that day. She loved her new stuffed animal puppy, which she named Hero. She was funny about some of her gifts today….sometimes saying she didn’t like them and didn’t want them until we threatened to send them back to the store, and then she would change her mind and want them again. Little stinker :)
Candy is always a big favorite too!
After breakfast, the girls opened some gifts from Mommy and Daddy and from each other. Savannah liked her new Bible we gave her and was excited about picking out a cover for it.
Brooklyn was beyond excited about the Star Wars character encyclopedia we gave her.
I had a feeling she would love it!
Abigail’s favorite gift was a Frozen book that Savannah bought her at the Dollar Tree. She was jumping up and down when she opened it…it was so cute.
Just goes to show that the cost of the gift isn’t what’s most important :)
I was really proud of the girls today… no one threw a fit or acted jealous about what the other girls got. They were all happy for each other and very sweet during gift opening.
One of my favorite things about watching Brooklyn open gifts is how she feverishly tosses the tissue paper up the air. She gets so excited, and it definitely shows. I’m going to be sad when she gets too grown up to do that anymore one day ;)
We are big fans of the What Would Danny Do books, and I was excited to give the girls the newest book in the series about Danny on vacation.
Brooklyn and Savannah saw these Beanie Boo slippers at a store prior to Christmas and hoped to get them as a gift, but then forgot about it later. I surprised them both with a pair, and they were excited!
Savannah made some sweet gifts for us at school and couldn’t wait for us to open it. I loved how she decorated the bag too.
After gift opening, we Facetimed with Paw and Rae Rae and they were excited to show them all their new gifts. Abigail got to press the button to end the call and proudly announced, “I hanged them up!” We spent the whole day at home and the girls had a lot of time to just play. It was really nice!
Abigail tried out her new bowling set…
…and Brooklyn and Savannah did lots of reading!
We ate baked Hawaiian sandwiches for lunch and peppered shrimp alfredo for dinner. Mark it down as probably the only time I’ll ever cook twice in one day ;) We also made donut muffins and got things ready to take to Cici’s house the next day.
After dinner, we watched How to Train Your Dragon 2 as a family for the first time. It was a really special day!
On December 26th, we went over to Cici’s house to do Christmas with Travis’s side of the family. It’s always a loud morning with all the cousins together and amped up for gift opening :)
The Loveless family brought over a game called “The Floor is Lava”, and the kids all liked playing that while we were waiting to open gifts.
Brooklyn was excited to get a science experiment book!
Abigail got a game called Hoot Owl Hoot, and it has been a family favorite over the last few months.
Savannah got some new craft kits that kept her busy for weeks afterward.
Opening this big gift was a joint effort :)
Brooklyn got a bunch of new chapter books and then promptly read through them all in a few days…haha
Cousin hugs are so sweet!
Everyone pile on Uncle Tyler!!
I guess if I didn’t take this picture with Alisha, you wouldn’t have even known I was at any of the Christmas festivities. The struggles of being the family photographer….you never actually get in the pictures!
Brooklyn and Savannah love Carter so much :)
After brunch and gift opening, the rest of the day was spent napping, playing games, and snacking. We enjoyed it so much! When we left that night, Savannah was sad about not having her new tiger in her seat with her. Abigail didn’t show her any sympathy: “You’ll be fine, Savannah Pookie!” ;)
On December 28th, we packed up our stuff and headed to Trussville to celebrate with my side of the family. Notice the large lion that came with us ;)
This year, we really strung out the gift opening…haha. The girls opened one gift each that afternoon. Abigail got a new book…
…Savannah got a new water bottle, and Brooklyn got some dot markers :)
On December 29th, we went to the Botanical Gardens to have family pictures made with Paw, Rae Rae, Jenn, and Chandler. (I’ll share some of the photos in an upcoming post).
After we were finished with the pictures, we walked over to one of the greenhouses to see the giant poinsettia tree that Mom had heard about.
It was really pretty and worth walking over to see before we left :)
After we got back to Paw and Rae Rae’s house, we all opened our stockings as well as a couple more gifts…
This year, Abigail was definitely more interested in her gifts than ever before. She also had the cutest reactions when she was excited about something.
Savannah got a 5 minute Star Wars story book. Both Brooklyn and Savannah have really gotten into Star Wars lately.
Savannah asked for a pair of binoculars and was so excited to get them…
The rest of the evening, she was checking everything out…haha
The next morning, Paw helped Brooklyn do an experiment from the science kit she’d gotten the night before :)
Brooklyn also left me a very cryptic note that morning. It had to do with her deciding that she was an Auburn fan a few months earlier. The note said, “Go upstairs and you’ll find me watching for you to make your decision. You don’t have to do it right away, but it has to be some time today. Talk to Aunt Jenn and Uncle Chandler to think about it and tell me. Everybody has to agree to the decision and go all together….”
When I got to the top of the stairs, I found this note from Brooklyn: “I have a problem that I need you to fix. Ever since I’ve been an Auburn fan, I’ve been bugged in my mind that I’m on the wrong team. When I pretend I’m an Alabama fan it all floats away. Do you see the bow that has Bama colors? If you think I should be a Bama fan, leave it there. If you don’t, take it away. Give it lots of thought.”
Haha!! I thought her notes were too funny! (I didn’t tell her what team to cheer for, and she says she’s still an Auburn fan 6 months later….so I guess she’s no longer “bugged in her mind” about it!).
Love my girls so much!!
We opened the last few presents that afternoon (December 30th). I told you we really stretched out the holiday this year! ;)
Savannah was really happy to finally get her own “umbree-wella”. (I still love how she used to pronounce the word umbrella!!).
Abigail also got a new umbrella…and a Frozen raincoat :) She is all ready for rainy days walking home from school now…
Anything and everything Frozen was Abigail’s favorite this year…like this Anna doll!
Brooklyn wanted an Auburn t-shirt for Christmas, and of course, her aunt Jenn came through…haha
Back in November, Savannah had also decided she was an Auburn fan since Brooklyn was such an outspoken fan, so I put an Auburn t-shirt down on Savannah’s wish list too. Well, Savannah changed her mind back to being an Alabama fan between that point and Christmas…but it was too late. Aunt Jenn had already bought her an Auburn shirt too! When she opened it, she just stared at it for a second and then tears started to well up in her eyes…and she burst into tears!! (Savannah doesn’t know how to cry silently…it’s wailing or nothing). It was so sad…and a little funny…all at the same time. After a few minutes, she decided that she would still wear the t-shirt because she still liked Auburn…just not as much as Alabama ;) She has worn it ever since and hasn’t cried…haha. None of us were expecting that dramatic of an initial reaction though!
The girls went shopping at Dollar Tree for Rae Rae and Paw this year since they didn’t have the Peppermint Village shopping day at school due to the pandemic. Brooklyn picked out some Hershey Kisses for Rae Rae.
I loved this excited reaction from Abigail about these craft kits.
Savannah eventually came around, and we were able to get a picture of the girls in their new Auburn shirts :)
Savannah and Abigail tested out their new umbrellas inside. Hopefully that wasn’t bad luck!
The girls enjoyed hanging out with Champ, Jenn and Chandler’s dog, while they were over…
Brooklyn drew the sweetest Christmas picture of Champ too. I loved it!
The next morning, December 31st, Abigail was excited about her yummy pancakes for breakfast. A good way to kick off New Year’s Eve!
Paw and I took the girls to a nearby playground for a little while that morning…
Trussville has changed a lot since I grew up…we didn’t have cool playgrounds like this one!
These wobbly stools were a big hit. The girls had fun!
Paw taught Brooklyn how to write a check, and she made her own on a piece of paper ;)
Savannah was all about the dogs this trip! She loved cuddling with Charlie too :)
Our last day in town was New Year’s Day, so I’m going to include it in this post. We headed home after breakfast and getting everything packed up.
We enjoyed the longer-than-usual stay in Trussville, although I’m sure we wore Rae Rae and Paw out!! We really enjoyed the holidays this year and getting to spend time with family. It was even more of a treasure than usual after spending so many weeks apart during the first weeks of the pandemic.
