Decorating for Christmas

We received word from the school district that, as a precautious measure, Laingsburg schools would be switching to 100% virtual learning on November 30th (the Monday after Thanksgiving).  All students will continue learning from home through December 18th and then will go on vacation for Christmas Break.  The next week back to school (January 4th-8th) will also be virtual and then hopefully, those children that want to be face-to-face (1/2 days) in the classroom will be able to return on January 11th.  

This is a big transition for us.  The three older kids have been given school-issued devices in which they are able to log in and complete assignments.  Frankly, if they start at 8:00 am -- which I make them do -- they are done for the day by 9:30 am.  And then I try to fill the rest of the (long) day with other things, like setting up Christmas decorations, movie time, hot chocolate, some outside fun ...

We are still avoiding trips to the store as much as possible with the kids.  Everyone is required to wear a mask, and while the kids are certainly used to it by now, I still try to limit their exposure.  They cannot play with many of their friends because they are outside of "our bubble," and their electronic screen time is already almost maxed out with virtual learning.  

Thanksgiving was split up this year.  We didn't want to "mix the different households" because of the ongoing virus so Steve's dad came over on Thanksgiving Eve to have dinner with us and then my family came over on Thanksgiving Day.  The night before, we did something completely untraditional.  We grilled steak and had twice-baked potatoes, rolls, fruit and vegetables ... and it was so tasty.

Thanksgiving Day was my mom's birthday so we celebrated with the immediate family and then had the traditional turkey meal with all of the fixings.  And what birthday would be complete without a cake?  None.

While it might be a little early for cranberries and greenery (aka rosemary), I love how it turned out.  And my mom is a big fan of cranberries, so it was completely fitting.  

We spoiled her with lots of gifts (and some for Sam too since this was the first time that my family was together to give her birthday presents) and I even got out the knife and spatula that was engraved from our wedding and used to cut our wedding cake.  Special events call for special utensils!

With the kids home for several weeks, I wanted to start decorating for Christmas a little earlier than usual.  The day after Thanksgiving, we set to work putting up the big tree in the living room.  

Over the years, it has evolved from Steve and me putting it together to the kids now doing most of it on their own.  They know how to look for specific branches that are labeled and they work as a mostly cohesive team.

The boys searched through the piles and brought them over to the girls.

In no time at all, the tree was put together and the kids were anxious to put the ornaments on it.

I quickly strung the lights on the tree -- we use multi-colored ones in this room -- and then hauled up the totes of ornaments so that we could decorate it.  This is their favorite part.  They love separating the boxes so that they can open and hang their own personal ornaments.  They talked animatedly about where they got each ornament, how old they were and why they received it.  There are some truly sentimental ornaments in there.

My mom buys the kids an ornament each year and it is always symbolic of something in their life at the time.  Usually, it coordinates with their birthday party theme or something that they love to eat.  For example, one year Sophia received this scoop of strawberry ice cream because it is her favorite flavor ever.  This year, Samantha's ornament was a stack of pancakes (her 12th birthday theme), Sophia's was a flamingo (her 9th birthday theme), Jack's was a fishing ornament (it became his hobby this year) and Jimmy's was a fish (his 4th birthday theme).

It was Jack's year to put the angel on the top of the tree after it was decorated and Steve kindly obliged in helping him reach.

Later, we got out our Christmas quilt and I set to work decking the halls.

In total, we put up 4 Christmas trees -- one upstairs, outside of the girls' rooms, one in the living room, one in the family room and one in the basement.  I just love the coziness that the lights bring and since we will be spending A LOT of time at home this pandemic holiday season, it is nice to be able to look at them all day long.