In the morning I did an easy bike work-out before running some errands. I dropped gifts off at Courtney’s house and then Chelsea’s before coming home and getting the kids bathed and ready for the day. I dressed the girls in their matching star dresses…and then took no pictures of them! We did send a Christmas polo to my friend, Jean, though, so at least they were dressed for that.
And then Abe cooked us a Hello Fresh lunch of chicken alfredo and after we all watched A Christmas Story on the couch. Well, I slept through it but everyone else enjoyed it and now they all understand the leg lamp challenge from the scavenger hunt. Abe actually found a leg lamp not five minutes from our house, and now it all makes sense!
At some point in the day Ammon or Lydia must have taken a picture of Mary and Clarissa dancing on the playroom couch:
In the afternoon, Daniel Olsen, Mary’s piano teacher and our friend, dropped by with some fantastically delicious treats and we had a great (socially distanced, doorstep) visit.
At 5pm we did a reader’s theater reading of The Christmas Carol with the Miners over Zoom. That was so delightful, and I hope that becomes some sort of new tradition.
And then I made oil braised citrus salmon, a kale apple salad, and wild orange rice for dinner. Abe read Luke 2 while we ate.
Then we called Clark and Swathi’s crowd before heading over to my mom’s to drop some things off and have a quick Christmas visit. While we were gone, my friend Michaelann dropped off some cookies for the kids to decorate.
After Ammon and Clarissa went to bed, the girls stayed up and sang Christmas carols around the piano with Abe and me. We finished by turning off the lights, holding lit taper candles and singing Silent Night. Next time I am going to fill a pitcher of water and bring it into the room because I spent the whole song playing the piano and ducking right and left dodging the flames on the girls’ candles. I think it might have been more peaceful just to have the water there and know that if they accidentally lit me or anything else on fire, we could put it out right away–so, er, not to worry.
Then the girls wrote a note to Santa. Lydia got vulnerable in hers, and Mary was understated and modest, as usual:
Ammon (as dictated by both Mary and Lydia): Ammon has been very good this year but he whines a lot but he’s doing better than last year I can tell you. He is very nice and sweet and friendly and is learning how to read and write. He has been having trouble social distancing. Clarissa (as dictated by both Mary and Lydia): Clarissa was a good princess. She was good at persuading people to give her what she wants. She’s very charming and cute. She loves her imaginary grandma. [Clarissa has an imaginary grandma who gives her authority to do whatever she wants. She invokes her grandma’s will whenever we tell her she can’t do something.] She can be bossy and no one gets any peace around her because she bosses people around and we do it both because we are charmed and because we don’t want her to scream. We love you Santa! Enjoy the treats!
Then Abe and I stayed up until midnight watching my new favorite Christmas romcom, Dash and Lily. It was my third time watching it. At midnight we finally started playing Santa and getting the gifts under the tree. I had wrapped most of them before hand but with all of the sorting and the few gifts left to be wrapped, we didn’t get to bed until 1:30 am.
