Merry Christmas

 Due to COVID we stayed in Arizona for the Christmas holiday. This was not an easy decision, but we feel like it was the best decision for our family. Max was super bummed about not doing our annual tradition of traveling to WI for Christmas, so I did whatever I could to still make it special and fun.

After Ninja class on Wednesday night, we went on a bike ride through the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. Max had a blast with this and he was even more excited to do it in his onesie.

For Christmas Eve morning we went to breakfast so Max could get his avocado toast with salmon and a large hot chocolate.

We spent the day lounging around and Max and I snuggled on the couch together and watched holiday movies. This was the best part. I really enjoyed my Max snuggles while watching movies. I told Max that we need to do this more often. For dinner, we stuck to our tradition of steak and crab legs along with chocolate fondue for dessert. Even though most of our traditions were not happening this year I tried to keep as many as I could. This included popping bottles.

After dinner, dessert and our Christmas movie Max and Andy tracked Santa before heading to bed. 

Max woke up to find that Santa arrived. He was so excited to see the gifts Santa brought. Max must have been a good boy this year because he had a giant pile of presents from everyone. 

Zoe was even excited to get her presents.

After the presents, there was a nice surprise at the door. Max was super bummed about not seeing any of his grandparents for the holiday, but my parents decided to drive down and see him. This was a secret and a very nice surprise for Max. They called to tell him their presents finally arrived and have been delivered. He should check the front door. When he opened the door grandpa J and grandma V were standing there. He was shocked. I did not get pictures of this, but I did take a video. 

After many hugs we all sat down for Christmas breakfast. Then it was onto opening more presents. 

We made grandma L's beef tenderloin recipe for Christmas dinner and of course popped another bottle, per Max's request. 

The dogs have become friends and Zoe was going to snuggle with Wendy and Cody rather they liked it or not. 

Game playing.

Wishing all of our family and friends, near and far, a very Merry Christmas!

Cookie the Elf

 Our elf was around for the month of December and Max woke every morning excited to see what the elf has been up to. Here are some of the ways Max found Cookie every morning.

It was a fun season with Cookie in town, but he is now heading back to the North Pole with Santa Claus. 

December Update

 I didn't realize I haven't blogged since Thanksgiving so I am just going to give you a December update all in one post.

We made Christmas cookies together. I found dye-free sprinkles and made dye-free frosting so that Max could eat them.

Zoe met Santa at daycare one day. She looks just as scared as Max when he sees Santa. I guess it runs in the family. 

Cookie, our elf, brought the family matching cozy pajamas.

We decided to all wear our extremely warm pajamas outside by the fire while watching a Christmas movie. The plan was to roast marshmallows by the fire, but we were all too full from dinner.

We went to Cruise the Zoo Lights and that was a lot of fun. It was kind of a cluster with so many people there, but we had fun checking out the lights from the car. Plus, it was "cold" out that night so it was nice to be warm in the car while we drove through the zoo at four miles per hour. When we were approaching Santa, we asked Max to pop his head out the window and wave. Max's response was "Oh, no, no, no." We finally convinced him to and he did it super quick and said he was done. I don't even think Santa saw him do it because it was that quick. This is why we send a letter to Santa every year instead of visiting him in person.

Max had ugly sweater day at school.

I finally received Max's first-grade school picture and he's such a cutie!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Like many people, our Thanksgiving was much smaller this year due to COVID. It was just us and grandpa T and grandma S. Even though it was much smaller, and we missed many people, we still had a very nice Thanksgiving.

Thursday morning started with Max injecting the turkey. He really likes to do this part every year. 

While I was working on making the sides, Andy and grandpa T dropped the turkey into the fryer.

Grandpa and Max opened up a bottle of champaign and Max thought it was hilarious when the champaign sprayed everywhere.

The turkey turned out fantastic, but it always does with Andy cooking.

Max left room for dessert and some snuggles with grandpa.

Friday morning, Max woke up to see that Cookie has arrived. Looking forward to all of Cookie's shenanigans for the next month. 

Also on Friday morning, Max and I decorated the house and Christmas tree together. He is such a big helper and really enjoys doing this tradition with me every year.

On Sunday we went for a bike ride and played at the park together.

We had such a great long holiday weekend. We wish all of our friends a healthy and happy holiday season.