Day 272: Thursday, December 10th
Go get the Christmas tree day!
It was a Thursday, so after lunch we headed on out, and there was nobody else on the whole farm!
And we wandered around looking for our traditional ugly Christmas tree.
This was a contender.
Oh, and we brought our Santa masks to wear.
We decided on this beauty.
It kind of looked like a spiral. Lots of holes. Asa chopped it down...
And carried it off to be shook, and tied to the top of the car.
Again, nobody else around!
Ellie came along. She was a big fan of the chickens.
Nobody wanted to go in with the animals this year, so we just watched from the outside.
Ellie did sniff noses with that little piggy though.
Once we were home I tried to string up some lights, only to find out half of three of the strings for the tree didn't work. So, we stole some from outside, red ones, which aren't my favorite. But, 2020, man. You work with what you have.
I also thought way ahead and had gotten the boys their ornaments months ago when I went to Disney.
And then we decorated.
Mom put up the piece of the tinfoil chain I have from my grandmas house.
And, I think it looks fine, even with the red lights.
Check out the spiral!
Obligatory self taken picture in front of the tree with Asa.
And Calib's ornament is a little graduate in honor of him getting his Associates Degree.
We also had the traditional getting the tree dinner: Chinese and pizza!
The old Ainsworth tradition.
I wrapped some presents that night. And, I must say I tried to conserve as best I could. I bought a bunch of rolls way back around Halloween knowing I wouldn't want to go in the dollar store anytime around the holidays. And, honestly, I don't know if the boys even noticed things like this.
Day 273: Friday, December 11th
Ellie made herself comfy on the beanbag chair.
And we went for a night time light walk.
My neighborhood seriously brought it this year. We had full on cul-de-sacs with lights going all around. They made a fence and archways out of PVC pipe and then strung lights.
It was really cool, especially when we were missing out on so many other Christmas traditions.
And then we played some Yankee Swap.
It was a rather intense year for it.
Mom ended up with a bowling game.
Calib got a spork.
Hayden got a spot for his phone and snacks.
Oh, and look! The Pfizer vaccine was approved! This was also the day the Supreme Court said it would refuse to hear any of Trumps grievances. So, a good day.
Day 274: Saturday, December 12th
With the new ovens, mom and I did some casual baking. We made puppy chow and chex mix!
And then we took another walk, and discovered in the little neighborhood next to ours they had strung lights all along the trees from house to house too.
It was so pretty!
And we appreciated the effort since we couldn't go see like the zoo lights or Disney lights or anything.
Asa's favorite in the neighborhood is this crazy tree.
There's like 18 different kinds of lights and bulbs on it, but it totally works.
That night we had movie night.
Home Alone, complete with snacks.
Day 275: Sunday, December 13th
Another Sunday, more tacos and Bucs games.
And for our activity: Siamese Wrapping
It's harder than you might think.
I wouldn't say it's the best wrapping job ever.
But then Calib and Hayden were up.
And they have trouble... communicating.
Peyton and mom found it hilarious though.
I'm not sure that counts as finished, but that's what they have.
After that there was more football.
And another walk around the loop.
And then we donated to the Georgia Senate Run-Off Races in order to be able to live stream a Hamilton Christmas Event.
Etta was happy to cuddle during it.
And Dipper hung out with me.
It was a fun livestream, we enjoyed it.
Day 276: Monday, December 14th
The electors officially met to cast their ballots for president.
Usually a total formality you don't see. But thanks to Trump's refusal to concede and his accusations of rampant voter fraud, CNN and other news stations went live to each state as the electors voted. My favorite was Hillary Clinton getting to be an Elector in New York. The irony is not lost on me that the woman that won the popular vote but didn't get to be president because of the electoral vote, was now casting her electoral vote to oust Trump.
Monday was also cookie box day. This is also one of the things that goes wherever mom does.
We set up the kitchen accordingly with boxes that would be mailed out to everyone.
And then we gathered up all the cookies we made, and the cookies that were sent to us.
And then, you fill the boxes.
Again, the boys aren't usually around for this part.
And when I ask them to do something they day the Ainsworth guilt doesn't work on them. When grandma asks, the do whatever.
Peyton and Calib both got graduation cards along with the cookies from Aunt Patti. Thanks, Aunt Patti!
All the boxes mostly filled.
But we still had lots to dish out.
I tried to get people to make less cookies this year. And I convinced mom to cut the cut-outs. But, they got made anyway. I have no power here.
I can give Tim a box of cherry slices though. It's my way of acting out.
Some cookies that get sent to us were.... less than perfect.
But, no worries. We had PLENTY.
I left to dish them out to the neighbors while everyone else worked on closing up the boxes.
And when I came back most of them were all closed up.
Oh, and that happened. First vaccines went out! It was exciting to see the first shipments roll out on trucks out of the facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan. But more excited to see people actually getting the vaccine. (Still I did one of those calculators and something lie 80% of people get it before me. So it's going to be in awhile. Something like 470,000 in pasco county are in front of me in line.)
For dinner after cookie boxes, we were rewarded with Moes.
And, I got to pick out all of our cookies. I went with the mostly chocolate route.
That night I worked on getting them all labeled. Turns out you can schedule a pick up with the post office if you label and pay for them from home.
It's a lot of work, but I didn't have to go to the post office. My lovely mail lady just took them off my front porch for me.
And it was a lot of packages.
Overall, though, that Monday was a good day. Cookie boxes done, Moes for dinner, the Electoral College shutting down Trump once again AND the Vaccine? That's a good quarantine day for sure.
Next Up: More Christmas!
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