Merry (belated) Christmas! We thought that it'd be better late than never as far as documenting our Christmas last year....
In the beginning of December, the kids got their advent calendars. They got both their calendars with little chocolate morsels that they get every day and also they got a Lego advent calendar too. Eliana, however, isn't into Legos so she got a Lindt advent calendar with even more chocolate.
It is pretty exciting to wake up on December 1 and explore the advent calendars waiting for you. If you notice to the right of Gabe, there is an advent calendar with dogs. Elvin got an advent calendar for Lucky and it had treats inside made of salmon.
Xiao's Lego advent calendar is City themed and had a bunch of city-type items such as trucks etc. Karina got a Harry Potter advent calendar and Gabe's was Star Wars themed.
December is also the time that we make Christmas cookies. The kids enjoyed making spritz cookies using the spritz gun.
They also made gingerbread.
They rolled out lots of shapes.
And they made molasses crinkles.
And then it was time to go cut down a Christmas tree. This time the Christmas tree farm actually had trees to cut down. (Last year they ran out of trees, so we called this time just to make sure.). And we also picked a day it wasn't raining, which makes the activity so much more pleasant.
Lucky came along to help us pick out the perfect tree. The road was a little windy to get to the farm and he actually threw up a little bit in the car because he got carsick. He felt better after he got out.
All the kids had differing opinions about which tree was the best one. Eventually we narrowed it down to one.
The boys wanted to help cut.
Karina also tried her hand at it.
And then it came time to decorate the tree.
Gabe was really into it this year.
Everyone got their boxes of ornaments out and hung them up on the tree. And then Karina got the honor of putting the star on.
Gabe also wanted to put the star on too, so Elvin took it off and let Gabe do it. They are all getting pretty heavy and Elvin is not sure if he will be able to lift the kids up next year.
Karina put together the glockenspiel.
We actually have two glockenspiels and she also put together the second one too.
And Gabe hung up the stockings. They were on the staircase this year because we wanted them out of reach from Lucky. We were afraid that he would jump up and grab them in the living room, and pull everything down.
So there's the tree all decorated!
As Christmas approached, Elvin got really busy at work because that's when the COVID vaccine arrived at the hospital where he works. He had to help coordinate some things there and wasn't able to take time off work like normal.
So to keep the kids occupied, they got some early Christmas presents on the 23rd and 24th. We picked out some board games that we thought they would like.
One of the games they got is a game called Hotels which Emily played when she was a kid. It's sort of similar to Monopoly and the kids enjoy playing it. Although it can also be quite cutthroat and sometimes people end up upset when they are forced into bankruptcy.
One of the games they got is a game called Hotels which Emily played when she was a kid. It's sort of similar to Monopoly and the kids enjoy playing it. Although it can also be quite cutthroat and sometimes people end up upset when they are forced into bankruptcy.
The kids let Lucky open one of the presents.
They also got some illustrated Harry Potter books.
And then came Christmas Eve. Which means it was time for "Santa" to fill all the stockings with loot for the kids. You'll notice that even Lucky got a stocking this year. His first one!
Santa outdid himself this year. There wasn't even enough room in some of the stockings for all the mini-presents.
And then it was time to open the stockings!
Amongst other things, Karina got duct tape and a spray bottle, which she asked for.
She also got a hair brush, lots of gummy candy, some chapstick and silly putty.
Gabe got bubble gum tape, some padlocks (which he asked for), a morse code decoder, and a flashlight.
Eliana, who likes to organize things, arranged her loot very tidily on the couch. She got chewing gum, earrings, Lindor chocolate and other goodies from Trader Joes such as chocolate and peppermint bark covered pretzels.
We also let him play with a paper bag, which he likes to tear up.
He enjoyed looking through the kaleidoscope.
After that we had breakfast. Our traditional Christmas breakfast is bacon and cinnamon rolls.
The chickens had a special breakfast too....oats mixed with sunflower seeds and beef fat. Yum!
They devoured it.
And that was Christmas morning. Gabe spent the day reading his World Records book. He likes knowing facts about things.
During the day, Grandpa came to visit and say hi to the kids. Lucky met him for the first time.
And then it was time to open presents!
Gabe got a drone!
It's a little one and has only enough battery to last a few minutes. But it's pretty fun, easy to control, and can go in lots of different directions.
The kids got each other some presents. Eliana and Karina ordered Gabe a t-shirt. It's merch from a YouTube star that Gabe really likes watching...it's videos about Minecraft.
Xiao Yu got a robot.
He could control it using a remote control.
Lucky got a very plush dog bed. Sometimes he will sleep on it and sometimes he prefers the hardwood floor. Go figure!
Karina also made him a dog jacket.
We're not exactly sure he appreciated all the time that Karina put into making this present for him.
Eliana enjoyed opening some of her presents. She asked for and got a cash box. She has a suspicion that sometimes some of her money disappears every once in a while.
She also asked for and got a Binx box, which is a monthly subscription of snacks, treats, and toys for rabbits. It arrives by mail regularly and now the rabbits get new toys and treats on a regular basis.
She also got some earrings, now that her ears are pierced.
Here are some chicken-themed ones, which is very appropriate for this past year.
Here they are...
Karina also made off with lots of presents.
She got a little LED tree, which is made of wires and have lights at the end of the branches. It now lives in her room and lights the room every night when she goes to bed.
She also got a little potter's wheel. It's tiny and designed to make tiny pots.
The kids also got the parents presents. Gabe spent some of his own money to get Mommy some of her favorite candy bars.
Eliana got Mommy an ornament, that symbolizes a gift made to help girls in developing countries. Really sweet idea!
The pattern itself is coated with stickiness to hold the dots in place.
Everyone was curious about it.
Doing it is quite mindless, on a certain level, and therapeutic and so Elvin got into it too.
And then came time for dinner. Elvin made dough for rolls. So Gabe took a portion of the dough and brought his culinary creative genius to bear. He grabbed the bacon bits from the fridge, which is usually reserved for salads or omelets and kneaded a bunch into the dough. The result were rolls that had salty bits of bacon inside and the whole roll was infused with the smoky aroma of the bacon. They were delicious!
The chickens also got a fancy dinner, courtesy of Eliana.
Emily's sister from Seattle and her kids, our kid's cousins, came down to spend Christmas dinner with us, for our pared down version of Christmas. We, however, forgot to take a picture of the dinner itself, which was comprised of roast chicken and steak.
We did, however, capture on camera, an inter-sibling arm wrestling match. Later on, an inter-cousin arm-wrestling match took place between Eliana and her girl cousin. And then Elvin also arm wrestled with his nephew too!
Because Elvin knows how to use a potter's wheel, he coached Karina through the process.
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