December

 December came and went in a blur. It was full of traveling and festivities. 

The first few days were a little more quiet so we had time for some fun. 

don't you love toddler fits... sigh

This boy and his fashion sense kills me.

I made the kids a makeshift advent calendar.  Each day we put sparkles on the number.  Not my smartest move as a parent. Sparkles are awful. They go everywhere. but the kids LOVED it. 

piggy jammies and a tutu

a walk out to see the chickens

December 5th we took a super quick trick out to Illinois for Kirk and Lexi's reception.  We were in Illinois less than 24 hours. 

Somehow, with  a little coordination, we were able to snag a quick picture of the whole family! We were all in one place for the first time in quite a while. 

all the cousins (minus Logan, who was having none of it.)

look at that. we are all dressed, smiling, and in one place.

And back to Indiana we went. 

mixing up some batter

they love to help

We had some fellow Andrew Peterson fans over one evening to watch the Behold The Lamb of God livestream.  BTLG is some of my favorite Christmas music. It's one of the VERY few CDs I'll listen to year round. (and I'm a pretty big Christmas-music-in-December stickler)

Playing a round of Resident before the concert. 

Gideon loved helping me put presents under the tree

what a beautiful sight

One day they wanted to match....

so yellow pants and dino shirts were the obvious choice.

The sibs decided to get my dad a new chair for Christmas. I got to do the shopping at Klopfenstein Home Rooms. We had a pretty handsome and helpful salesmen (Kray. hehe) 

Aurelia modeling a chair

Gideon wanted to get Grandpa a red one. 

Back at Maple we had a few days of baking. 

molasses cookies

cutting sugar cookies

decorating them....

Aurelia just ate frosting

:)

olives are suddenly popular here

making fudge :)

I'm always happy when it's warm for  December.  We are able to get out and play and it wasn't unbearably cold. 

frizbee throwing :)

snack by the Christmas tree

Lights up at Maple

Nathan had some friends come to visit one weekend. 

making breakfast

a leftover Thanksgiving turkey for supper

playing with the kids

Aurelia wanted a leg

so did Gideon :)

Lots of games were played

With moving and sickness, and summer, and Covid... Gideon FINALLY got to go to Sunday school.  He's a little unsure if he likes it or not. "the other kids sing too loud" ha. 

He got to sing in the virtual Christmas program. It was funny to watch. Suddenly he looked like a little boy again. He did great. He sang and did the hand motions, even though he said he wouldn't.

We got some snow! :) It wasn't much, but the kids still had fun. 

I went out shopping and couldn't resist getting them matching PJs

Aurelia discovered I had kitty wrapping paper. She tried to steal it. 

I caught her...

And then we started loading, and loading, and loading up the van.  We headed out to Illinois for a full week of Christmases. 

We do not travel light. Especially for Christmases.

happy to be back at the farm:)

dress up. hehehe

First Christmas of the trip: Big Wyss.

a group of us ran over to Faire Coffee in the afternoon. 

lots of games and conversation :)

The after party was at Fred and Di's.  Since we could put the kids down and just leave them with my parents, Nathan and I got to go too. :)

A hilariously wonderful debate on the theory of relativity.

Christmas 2: Wyss Christmas at the farm. :)

We went to church in the morning, came back for a relaxed afternoon of opening gifts and eating. 

Aurelia got a bitty baby! she was pleased. 

Gideon got construction Duplos

chaotic but fun :)

After all the gifts were opened we surprised my dad with his chair...

Oh dad.... hahaha 

The kids helped themselves to way more sugar than they needed

They played really well all day, which was so fun

We had a few more quiet days at the farm. 

We visited friends:)

We had clear skies and were able to see the Christmas star. It was a little underwhelming, but still cool. 

playing with my old Polly pockets

Troy came for a visit

And then we left for the Brakers. We stopped at the Aunts on the way to visit and then made it to their house by afternoon. 

Rebecca had all the cousins over one morning to make a gingerbread house and decorate brownie-men,

Christmas day we dressed up and headed to Church.

I made them take the obligatory picture

:)

We opened gifts in the afternoon. 

The cousins and Aunts got matching Tshirts 

more game playing

We left pretty quick the next morning and traveled all the way back home. 

Stockings ready for our Christmas

:)

I had fun with breakfast

"cookie" pancakes

opening their stockings

Gideon helped me make dessert. 

opening gifts

:)

very excited by his new book

a high chair for her doll!

astronaut costume :)

"I'm Bob!"

\

our "fancy" dinner

steak

The kids liked the fancy table

and the sparkling juice

dessert was sugar cream pie. 

It was fantastic. I honestly could eat the whole pie by myself. no problem.

Kacie, Claire, and Gabs came over to play games one evening

Aurelia wanted to look like a "Bucorn" 

We got an icy snow. The kids had fun walking and slipping around. 

Checking out the frozen lake

coloring

The last of Aurelia's Christmas gifts came. :)

She was sooo happy.

Gideon colored on himself with non washable markers.

 After a few sound scrubbings it had mostly faded to a light pink hue on his skin, 

but it took a few days to go away.

haha I'm glad it was winter.

We decided we should take the kids out to eat as a last hurrah before Maple opened with residents and we had our baby.  They think it's so cool to eat out.  

Cracker Barrel 

And then, like that, it was New Year's Eve and crazy 2020 was over. 

In Christ

~Michelle