Christmas Day

Santa arrived!  The boys were excited to find some little panda figurines in their stockings.

Kenzie cuddling her stuffed Jack Skellington.  I accidentally had hinted that her present was weird, so she easily guessed it was Nightmare Before Christmas related!

I feel like this blurry shot encapsulates the craziness that is Cameron and his barely contained excitement - 

- but there's also this expression, too!  He was determined that Santa was bringing him a giant stuffed panda, and Santa did not disappoint!

Kenzie liked to be bundled up as a baby (well, she still does) so Chris always called her our "baby burrito".  We got Kenzie a blanket that looks like a tortilla so she can still be a burrito!  It's really soft so she was quite eager to wrap up in it!

Parker eats Cheez-Its every night as a snack, so it was funny to buy him a jumbo sized box.

Everyone checking out Dad's new Crokinole board, which has been a big hit.

My new narwhal mug and a cinnamon roll - that's a great breakfast if you ask me!

Kenzie with all her new stuff!

Cameron was already playing on his new kids tablet, but he paused for a picture.

Santa brought Parker a new-to-him phone, and he was already busy downloading games and texting his cousin, with his new laser gun in his other hand!

We did visit Grandma and Grandpa Arnold in the afternoon.  It was strange only having about half the family there, but the kids enjoyed seeing at least a few of their cousins again (we hadn't seen anyone since Labor Day).  I thought this picture was funny of Uncle Mike trying to surprise Parker during their laser gun battle.

Kenzie and Grandpa playing a round of Crokinole.  It was a low key Christmas season, but still a good one for us!  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Our last few items of business leading up to Christmas - decorating gingerbread men...

... and Muppets Christmas Carol night, which involves eating dinner of cheese and crackers, but the kids act like it's the most amazing meal of the year!

Christmas Eve dinner!

Lighting sparklers on the pear tree just like Chris always did when he was a kid.

The kiddos wanted to exchange presents, and I said, "Present time would arrive quicker if you helped me in the kitchen!"  Suddenly I had three very enthusiastic helpers prepping the Christmas morning cinnamon rolls.  Ironically I'm sure it took far longer with their help, but it was cute.

The annual sibling Christmas Eve gift exchange.

Cameron was especially impressed by the Zelda sword Kenzie picked out for him!

Kenzie found Parker a shirt that says, "I Paused My Game to Be Here."  Parker laughed and said, "It's true!"

Kenzie enjoyed the little Baby Yoda figurines Parker picked out.

Cameron insisted Kenzie needed this Baby Yoda blanket, even though she already has about a thousand blankets.  Kenzie was pleased, though, so he wasn't wrong!

Getting Ready for Christmas

When I asked the kiddos which traditions they look forward to most at Christmas, they picked gingerbread houses, seeing the lights, and cookies.  We always drive through the light display, so it was nice that at least we could still do that (if our tradition was always Temple Square, we would have been quite disappointed this year with it being closed).

The kids find it highly amusing that the cat likes to sleep under the tree.  As I have put more presents under the tree, I don't hear, "Wow, what will I get?" or anything like that.  Instead, I hear, "Is there still room for Duchess under there?"  (yes, I've left her a couple of empty spots to sleep in!).  

Working on their gingerbread houses.  

They're always so proud.  Cameron made me take a picture from all four angles of his house.  He tried really hard to copy Parker's idea of making frosting icicles, and of course there's always some sort of backstory involving lasers with him.  Still quite cute.

Our grown up Kenzers, who at least still enjoys decorating her house, too.  

Parker really covered his roof in icicles and was very proud of his creation.

I thought this sure was sweet - Cameron likes to snuggle up to Daddy when we watch TV.  I can't remember if we were watching Rudolph here or Mickey's Christmas Carol, but there are a few we make sure to watch every year.

After the first concert was cancelled and rescheduled several times, finally Kenzie was able to have a band concert over at the high school!  She's just warming up here, second from the right in all black.  She is still enjoying band and playing the flute, and was happy to have a concert again!

After Kenzie's performance, the power suddenly went out while the orchestra was playing.  The band teacher joked it was fitting for this to happen at 2020's concert, but it was so touching to watch other students rush up onto the stage and offer their flashlights from their phones so those playing could still see their music.  All those cute teenagers, wearing their face masks and standing on chairs in the back, trying to use their light to help their friends, classmates, even kids they didn't know.  I thought it was probably the sweetest thing I have seen this Christmas season.  

I do believe in the Light of the World, our Savior, who can rescue all of us from the dark.  That's what makes it a Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

Cameron was being so helpful the other day with the leaves... turns out this was why!  He sat in the pile, then ran off.

Kenzie kind of rolled her eyes at me for wanting to take a picture, but she's holding her Honor Roll certificate.  The poor girl struggled so much this spring when schools shut down, I just wanted to remind her she's a good student!

The day before Thanksgiving, Cameron helped make the Crispix mix and an Oreo pie.

Parker came running full tilt when he heard the Crispix mix was out of the oven.  

Kenzie made the pie crusts for me this year and made a cherry pie, a Rolo pie (so rich!), and decorated the pumpkin pie.

Kind of funny to make four pies for five people, but we had fun!

Parker made the filling for the pumpkin pie.  We were out of regular clean bowls by that point, so he mixed everything in a giant bowl.

Cameron running around with various plastic weaponry as his siblings prep the pies.  A very cute sight!

I had the tablecloth and cloth napkins down but before I could take a picture, Kenzers opened the sparkling cider and apparently Parker had been a little vigorous while he brought it to the table... it exploded in a mountain of carbonated mess.  Everything went into the washing machine, and we forged on!

The real excitement was in pie time, anyway!

Once Thanksgiving was over, it was time to drag out all the Christmas stuff!  I haven't set up my large nativity set in years.  Kenzie has officially laid claim to it.

Parker was pretty helpful with the ornaments.  He didn't secure all of them, which was funny later when suddenly an ornament would appear to just leap right off the tree and roll across the living room.  

Cameron put on the Santa hat, sang along with the Christmas music, and was just happy to be there!  He put a few ornaments on the tree, but mostly he was around as comic relief!  There was our low key Thanksgiving weekend!

Pumpkins

Yesterday when I flung all the mushy pumpkins into the trash can for garbage day I realized I never posted our pumpkin carving pictures!  We finally got around to carving them on Halloween.  Cameron was a little miffed he was expected to clean out his own pumpkin, but he was very eager to use the "ghost" pumpkin he had picked out.

I didn't take a completed picture, but Chris simply carved "2020" into his pumpkin.  Scary stuff!

Kenzie tried to make the Horned King from the Black Cauldron.

Cameron started off making a cat, but then got carried away and carved all sorts of other things.  I didn't even keep track.  He was happy, though!

Parker hefting his large pumpkin!  Another year of pumpkin carving in the books!