Christmas 2020

Like everything else in 2020, Covid changed the face of our Christmas.  For the most part, we were able to keep our family traditions and favorite activities of the season.  We did miss out on school Christmas programs this year, school dances, and several of our normal parties.  But with a family of eight, even when the world is crazy, it is always a party at home!

We made gingerbread houses:

Zac got a little intense and made an accurate scale model of our house out of graham crackers.

As a ward, since we couldn't have a ward party, Bishop Zac decided to give the youth the budget we would normally spend on a party and had each Young Women and Young Men class and quorum buy an item to put into a basket to deliver to every family within our ward boundaries.

The youth had a lot of fun assembling and delivering the gifts.

Ashlyn had some creative fun with her friends.  These girls are quite the artists.

And though we had to spread out a little more than we usually do, we still found a way to have a party with Grandmas and Grandpas while keeping them safe from germs.

And the kids loved re-creating the Nativity scene with their cousins.

I did a little better on the matching Christmas jammies for the girls this year and they loved them.  And the boys got some fun sweat pants and jackets for their athletics.

The kids had their traditional sleep over in Ashlyn's room on Christmas Eve.

And Santa didn't disappoint!

Tanner got a new toolbox and some skis.

Ashlyn got art supplies and hot chocolate molds.

Ian also got some skis and a new banana chair.

Charlotte got new curling irons and art supplies.

Bronson got a drone and a monthly subscription to an engineer maker crate.

Whitlee got a Barbie house and some fun craft supplies.

And Zac and I spoiled each other with a few fun surprises.

The boys all got these amazing lego sets and spent two weeks building the Taj Mahal, the US Capital, and St. Basil's Cathedral.

When all of the presents were opened, we surprised the kids with a hot tub.  The kids have been begging for a hot tub for a very long time and as they have been such a good help this year with all the demo and construction projects with our business, we decided it would be fun to reward them with a place where they could soak their worn-out muscles

This fun little hot tub has been such a fun place to hang out together talking and laughing and enjoying our family.  So far it has been worth its weight in gold.