December

There are a lot of words that could be used to describe 2020. Unpredictable, scary, death, political insanity, isolation, divisive, racial inequality, quarantine, masks etc. etc. It was really rough for us around June-October when we had no idea whether or not Elliott would have a job. Thankfully we were one of the lucky ones that didn't get furloughed. Financially speaking our biggest hit was that overtime was cut. We had big plans of paying off a lot of debt from law school and going on our first family trip to Disneyworld. Without that overtime we make about $2,000 less a month and it's quite a hit, but we are making it work. We canceled our Disneyworld trip and are living paycheck to paycheck but had Elliott been furloughed for an undermined amount of time I don't know what we would have done. I know there are many families in that situation and I wish we were in a position to offer some assistance instead of treading water. I feel very blessed and fortunate for where we are and my heart breaks for those who have unnecessarily lost a loved one due to covid or have lost their job. We are healthy, we have a roof over our heads, food in the kitchen and a bit of money in our bank account and that is all we need.

Despite all the madness, this year has given us the excuse to slow down. Elliott worked from home, the kids and I were homeschooling and I have loved having us all together in our tiny 1,300 square foot home. I wish we had a homeschooling room and an office instead of our bedroom becoming Elliott's office and our one living space becoming our homeschool room but we have made it work! 

We started homeschooling early which allowed us the opportunity to set our regular curriculum aside and fully immerse ourselves in a Christmas curriculum. It was so amazing being able to spend the month focusing on the nativity. The kids learned songs on instruments, made their own nativities, baked cookies and so much more. I will treasure this time forever. I hate what is happening in the world but love this time of togetherness it has given us. 

Picking out the perfect tree at Home Depot. We stopped at Starbucks before to get apple cider and hot chocolate.

Helping dad hold the tree upright while he screws it into the base

The younger 2 still get a kick out of our elves. A couple years ago we decided to retire our original elf and secretly replace him with a newer version assuming our kids wouldn't know the difference. They took one look at the new elf and immediately questioned where Charlie was! We couldn't believe it. So, we have 2 elves now Charlie and Buddy.

These pictures are not in order, and it's a pain in the neck to switch them around so we'll just deal! Here's Ellie with her cookies

Brandon working on his gingerbread house

Audrey's nativity

Well shoot, I wish I realized how blurry this picture was! This is Brandon's nativity

Melanie's nativity

Working on his figures for the Nativity

Brandon's cookies

This was the curriculum we used. It was beautifully designed and put together. Each day we focused on a character of the nativity story, we talked about traditions around the world and the symbols of Christmas

Just about every night we watched a Christmas movie. 

Elliott and Ellie started watching the Mandalorian, Brandon ended up joining them throughout their binge watching

Audrey and I opted for the Christmas cookies shows on the Food Network

I woke up one morning around 3am and was so nauseous. It was awful. I was riding those waves of nausea all morning. Many people who get covid start with a stomach issues and so we were really worried I was coming down with it. I went down to get my first test, a nose swab. It felt like a pinch and wasn't terrible but definitely not comfortable. I ended up feeling all better the next day and it was not covid thank heavens.

Christmas YW party. We had cookies, hot chocolate and played games. It was an ugly mask party but only a couple girls brought their decorated masks because they didn't like how they turned out. Audrey's was so cute, but of course I didn't get a picture! She made 3 reindeer our of pipecleaners. It was adorable.

Snowflakes for homeschool

Christmas charades

Gingerbread decorating

The final product! Brandon, Audrey then Melanie's

Melanie working on one of her many projects. She created a whole bunch of Christmas decor for her room.