I'll just say outright that this wasn't the best Christmas season for me. It was busy and stressful because of a few different things that were going on, and it went by quickly. There wasn't as much downtime as I usually like to have in December. We missed two church Christmas events that I was looking forward to going to, the first because of slippery roads and the second because of Bentwood's emergency. There was hardly any snow in December and it wasn't a white Christmas. I missed going to things like The Nutcracker and holiday orchestra concerts, which we used to do every year but now haven't done in years.
Listen to me, what a pessimist I sound like! In spite of all of that, I still very much enjoyed and appreciated the wonderful season of Christmas, my favorite time of the year. And Christmas weekend itself was pleasant, quiet, and peaceful. My last few Christmases have been unusual because of the divorce process (which still isn't over 😭), but I think I've adjusted pretty well to my new normal. And Christmas will always be Christmas, no matter what. No matter what else happens in life, Christmas itself doesn't change...just like its namesake!
We had a Christmas Eve brunch at my house, but Covid hit my sister and my niece and not everyone else could go, so it was a quiet brunch with just me, my mom, the boys, and Nate and Kat.
I provided an Edible Arrangements platter for the fruit portion of the meal. 😋 
In the evening, my mom and the boys and I followed tradition and had a nice pot roast and sparkling cider dinner, read the nativity story from the scriptures, we each opened a present, and we watched The Man Who Invented Christmas together. After that, once Sam had gone to bed, Santa did his her thing!
The boys' stockings have to be left on the couch once they're filled because they're too heavy to hang back up.
Mine too! 😊
One of my Christmas Eve traditions for years has been to watch It's a Wonderful Life (my favorite Christmas movie) on the night of Christmas Eve. I love this movie and I love doing this!
I leave the tree lights on all night on Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning was sunny and bright. And there was a genuine surprise from Santa out on the counter!
I wasn't expecting that!
This is what was in the bag, yummy chocolate Santas!
Violet was the first one up and she was ready to open presents. She could smell hers under the tree!
John got a body-building rubber duck in his stocking.
He thought it was lame. Look at his face. 😂
Sam got Spiderman and Iron Man rubber ducks.
Here are the three of us plus Violet's back 😆 (plus a weird reflection on my cheek) together during present-opening on Christmas morning. I like having a picture of this with me in it; it's a rarity. Thanks Mom!
My darlings
Me
Once we were done with presents, we had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast, and then we went to church, which was sacrament meeting only. Unbeknownst to us, it was our last time going to church in our building with our ward since it all got changed a week later. I'm glad we went. I used to not like it when Christmas was on a Sunday and I didn't go to church when it was, but I've evolved since then and now realize that it's the best thing you could do on a Sabbath Christmas--worship Christ in His church and renew your covenants with him through partaking of His sacrament. 💖
After church, the boys went to their dad's, where they spent the following week through New Year's. So it was just me, my mom, and Violet for a quiet Christmas afternoon and evening. I read and took a nap, and in the evening I took a nice bath.
It was very likely our last Christmas in this house, where we've celebrated the last five Christmases. I'll miss it here next season, but I'm looking forward to a fresh start next Christmas in my new house in the next stage of my life. I'm not sure my new place is going to accommodate that tree though! 😳😆
