Non Traditional Christmas Day

 I was the worst at pictures this year!  Santa came in the morning, then we had our regular Christmas breakfast with my mom and Monica, with a viewing of Christmas Story and presents.  It was nice and relaxing.  Due to COVID, we chose not to get together with Ladd's family.  We did go visit his parents on the doorstep from a distance with masks, and give them our presents.  They had dropped off taco fixings for everyone to eat at home so we had that when we got home.  The kids were very disappointed to not get to see cousins on Christmas.  It showed me how important these traditions are for kids.  Hopefully we will have a totally normal, traditional Christmas next year!  We also sent videos of the piano concert the kids were practicing so grandparents could watch it on Christmas Day.

All I got for pictures is Felicity wearing the cute new outfit Monica got her.  

And Charity with her new jammies and matching doll outfit...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve morning started off with my friend going into labor, so I was able to spend the morning with her cute kids who were so excited about a new brother for Christmas.  Once their uncle got there, I headed home to start preparing our Christmas Eve feast...   

We celebrated Christmas Eve in classic Cook style.  We missed Grandma, but were so grateful to get together and have a regular Christmas celebration after such a rough year.  So grateful for Debbie, Kathy, Brenda, and their families.  

Monica and I were sporting Grandma's Christmas vests in honor of her!

 I love watching these second cousins get along so well!

These guys were so excited to take pictures near the tree.  We were missing Leto this year.

On their way out, Monica texted that we needed to come out and see this rainbow.  What a perfect Christmas Eve rainbow.  Hopefully a sign of good things to come...

Later that night, we were informed that a family in our area was not going to have any presents due to a miscommunication with a charity that was supposed to help them out.  We scrambled and along with many other wonderful families, were able to pull together gifts, food, and money so these kids could have a nice Christmas.  So grateful for opportunities to serve as Christ did as we celebrated his birth.

It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Christmas...

 As is our typical Hoyal Christmas tradition, the Advent Calendar Fairy visits everyday during December inviting us to share in some Christmas activity for the day. With so much shut down this year, it was a little more difficult to come up with daily activities, but she did it!  Here are a dew highlights...

Decorating the house...

Decorating Christmas cupcakes with Grandma...

Making gingerbread houses...

Going to a Christmas Carol at Riley's Farms.  This is the one place that has stayed open, and normal, during the pandemic.  It was nice to see peoples faces and interact like normal for a few hours!  

We had some friends in the play!

Hayride while singing Christmas carols...

Eating delicious food between play watching, singing, and dancing.

We had so much fun at Riley's, all three kids were knocked out on the drive home!

We were still able to get into the Christmas Spirit even amidst a pandemic.  

Thankful November

 COVID numbers were increasing throughout November, even among many of our friends, so things were getting shut down again, including all in person church gatherings.  So, back to entertaining ourselves!

Performances by the girls...

Chalk Drawings...

Plenty of time for schoolwork...

Some Thanksgiving Crafts thanks to primary teachers who dropped off cute crafting materials...

Backyard Lemonade Stand-kept the girls busy all day!

Eating raw beets for breakfast...

Well, I guess we did some gathering.  The neighborhood kids get together once a week to go for a mile run.  The kids don't want it to end as its a rare opportunity to see a group of friends once a week!

We also gathered at Chelsea's for Thanksgiving Dinner.  She did a great job decorating and it was a wonderful day.  I didn't get any pictures though!

Thankful for all of our blessings even amidst this challenging year!

A 2020 MCO Story

 Due to COVID, MCO could not practice or perform.  But, they figured a way to make this semester happen.  Each week, the kids got video that they would practice either on their own, or some weeks we got together with other MCO friends to practice together.  Then after 8 weeks of "rehearsals" we got together on the beach to lip sync to the songs that thankfully were already recorded in February for the Christmas CD.  It was definitely not the same MCO experience, but it worked out.  The kids had a great time seeing all their friends on the beach and enjoying this relaxed MCO experience (MCO is usually not relaxed!).  And I had so much fun catching up with moms I hadn't seen since last March.  MCO is going to combine all the videos they took from each locale and turn it into a performance video.  I'm sure it will turn out great!

**Update:  The video was fantastic!  Here is a link to full show.  

Halloween Happenings

We managed a decent Halloween this year even amongst COVID.  Our church still did trunk or treat.  I brought a "Scary Pumpkin" and a Prisoner Zombie.

We've been able to meet in person for Activity Days outside, so we had a Halloween-y themed activity...

Ladd's office did trick or treating and donuts. A police officer and white cat came with me (we also visited Grandpa)...

Our neighborhood *mostly did trick or treating.  A gray cat and Zombie came from our house. The D Family still had their neighborhood pre-trick or treating potluck, and that's always fun!    

*There was a lot of "don't knock, just take one piece of candy from the bowl" and not nearly as many houses "open".  But my girls still had fun!  And my boys got to go to Halloween parties with friends so it all worked out!

Happy 2020 Halloween!