December 21, 2020 Monday--noon

Good afternoon!!

What a week!  Busiest I've had in a long time now that our quarantine times were finally up.  Getting my visiting in while I can.  :)

Leah came over on Tuesday night--earlier than usual and stayed till 1am!  Got the bullet pages all printed off, cut in half, and punched!

Last year I used the TUL journal with the solid rings (different punch).

I may not have had as much going on in 2020 so the bullet looks a bit sparse, but I would be lost without it.  

Still keeps me organized.

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This year I am using this refillable journal.

Different punch needed for the six rings.  Leah figured out how to set it because I was lost--LOL!  So far, I did get all the blank pages collated for 2021 this week.

Now I just have to start filling them in.  At least get January filled in.  Man!  That is coming fast!

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Leah put up the new lights around the patio door for me.  98 feet for really cheap (actually bought them last winter) so they went almost five times back and forth!  

Really nice and bright.  But they don't twinkle--even if they said so.  They all flash rapidly--awk!  I like them just fine without the twinkle, though.  Realized how much I have missed all that color!  I've had half a strand working across the top since last Christmas.  Seemed fitting, I suppose, for 2020--LOL!  Now I have pretty lights again for 2021.  ;)

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Ended up my extra spoons didn't go to any art again this week.  Didn't have as many, more recuperation time, and needed to make food--LOL!  But I had a wonderful reason.  Having our early Christmas on Friday was easier than Sunday for Leah (dinner and all)--so I went over for the day on Friday.  These boys were waiting for me... 

...in their red Christmas pajamas.  :)

Liam is chatting with me more and more.

Ian was getting the table cleaned off before dinner.

There was playing and watching Daddy play Zelda for a while in the afternoon.  (Zelda doesn't look anything like it did when Dagan was little!)

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After dinner the boys got to open Gramma's presents.

Ian was playing pirate with his homemade eye patch for a little bit in case you're wondering--LOL!

They love to help Mama and Daddy in the kitchen.

Now they have their own matching aprons.

Then we started to open the games that I gave to the both of them.

You may notice there were still unopened presents on the table--LOL!

As soon as one was opened Ian wanted to learn how to play it.  So I showed him how to play Connect Four (travel version out of wood).

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Meanwhile, Daddy helped Liam open up Parcheesi.  Liam tossed the dice a few times.

They opened up Sorry and the Chutes and Ladders...but we actually took out Candyland (they already own) so that Liam could play more easily.

And we could play a real game together.

I combined some of Leah's photos with mine.  

Now the rest of these are Leah's.

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I love the candid shots.

Boys being silly by Mama and Daddy's walk-in closet.

This was a big important project.

Wrote letters to Santa this year...since they couldn't go see him at the mall.

Liam dictated his (so funny).  Ian wrote his with a little help.

You probably have to click on these to enlarge them to be able to read them if you're interested.

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The post office is doing this, I guess.  You send them in to Santa at the North Pole and Santa sends a letter back.  (Which was Leah being Santa on the back side so they can always be kept together.)

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I didn't know Ian wants to learn magic tricks.  He added lots of hearts and a picture of a snowman's head.

Liam wants a train (but also added some really cute stuff).

This should be pretty exciting for the boys to get.

But I wonder if they will get them before Christmas??

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They helped a lot decorating cookies.

I think that is one of their favorite things to do in the kitchen--LOL!

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Since I had previously planned on coming over on Sunday for early Christmas...

...I spent most of the day visiting on Sunday, too!  Just a low key visit to hang out.

Dagan was watching football, the boys were playing, and I started playing solitaire on my phone.

Ian noticed and wanted to know what I was doing...

...next thing I was teaching him how to play solitaire...and then Liam came to watch, too.  We played sorting games, matching games, and wooden puzzle games.  They have so many ads to wade through--and kept "advertising" this silly game where you had to squirt frosting out of a unicorns butt.  It made the boys giggle so much I finally put it on the phone and they got to take turns with the unicorn...a duck quirking out bubbles, and just a tube squirting out ketchup.  You collected keys and they got to open treasure chests, etc.  We wasted most of the afternoon playing games on the cell phone.  Ended up I had Liam laying his head on my shoulder and Ian on the other side most of the time. 

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BUT--I got rid of that game as soon as it was time for dinner.  It was three free days and after that something like $7.99 a week!!!  Really dumb, silly game that the boys exhausted themselves laughing.

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We had dinner, Liam went to bed, Ian got to watch Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer for the first time--the old one with Burl Ives as the snowman.  Gramma was home by 9pm...and slept 10 hours last night--ROFL!

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And, believe it or not, I'm going back again tomorrow!!  Because after that McFamily will be visiting with her sister and family...and that will be another 2-week quarantine after their visiting is done.  (They both teach and their boys go to day care and school--so they've been quarantining so they can have Christmas with McFamily.)  So I am getting about as much visiting as I can handle while I can!  :)

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Today--I still need to make some soup (chicken/bok choy), but that's about all the spoons I have for today after blogging...and I'll have to work up to making the soup--LOL!  Tired and sore but very happy.  My time with McFamily is very precious to me...especially these days.

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I'll leave you with a little video I made of two partridge coveys squabbling over the seed on my patio.  Always makes me laugh.  I hope this new way of adding a video works for me again.

Until next time--Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it.  Best to everyone.  I am so hopeful for a better year to come.  :) :)

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"What do happy people have in common?

They appreciate what they have."

Chris Woodman