Corona Virus Quarantine Day #276 & #277: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: December 24, 25th, 2020:
So first, Christmas mass needs to be discussed…for starters we had to make a reservation and we able to secure a spot at 2pm. With this system we were able to not only be socially distanced but…we could arrive to Christmas mass about 15 minutes before it started. There was no getting there an hour early for a seat situation…which was amazing. I can’t say that it didn’t feel a little weird though. The socially distanced seats were strange and the limited music was as well. But…we were in church on Christmas and it was beautiful.
On a side note…I think Catholic church should continue to do this when Covid is gone. Charge money, allow people to reserve seats and make a day that is supposed to be about celebrating the birth of JESUS and eliminate some of the craziness of Christmas. Just a thought…
Anyhow…after church we headed home to get dinner ready and get ready for our limited guests.
In the last two days I must have said “our kids are so blessed” about 1,000 times. Not because of presents or anything Santa delivered but instead, because they get to grow up with siblings they genuinely love and like, and that they get to grow up with cousins they feel that same way about. They have had so much fun playing with their cousins and running around with their siblings. It’s been such a fun time!
Christmas with kids is the most exciting time in the world. We have had so much fun! There were so many special moments throughout the past few days I hope I can do them justice.
We got dressed up and ready to party. It’s been awhile since my kids have been in clothes that weren’t athletic wear! Some of us weren’t excited about it (Finley Joe)!
Somehow…we didn’t get a photo of our whole family, but we did get one of the kids and their grandparents before they stripped down to their athletic wear once again!
Ellen and Cooper had the idea a few days ago that they would make an Elf hunt. Cooper designed the elf they would hide around the house giving the “teams” clues to find them. The winner got some of their Halloween candy! They wrote all the clues themselves. They were really pretty impressive. The kids had a blast doing it and it kept them busy for nearly an hour! Our kids are far more creative than I could ever hope to be.
Delicious food was eaten by all. Those smiles tell the story of how much fun these kids had on Christmas Eve. While it still looks like a considerable group last year we had over 40 people. So not so much this year! Just family and it was a blast!
Jones the prize for the win. The kids got all kinds of treasures in the gift game and there was quite a bit of trading going on. Zeke helped decorate the house with one of his treasures from the game!
Fletcher and Zeke are seriously the best buds! The fun these two have had in the past few days is really quite something!
After Jones the Prize we moved on to left, right, center. The past four years kids have won the game (Ellen and Liam)…this Christmas Eve it was a different story. The kids got so into it, it was really loud…but so much fun!
This amazing video pretty much summarizes the whole experience. This was the moment of Grandpa’s big victory!
Some other random goodness from the night. Jennifer and I rarely take pictures together anymore now that we have kids so we had to snap a few tonight. Bryan and his other red headed girlfriend, a church selfie and Mommy and Cooper Claerhout!The final picture of the night, Santa’s cookies and the reindeer’s carrots! Yummy!
The kids didn’t get to bed on Christmas Eve until 11:30…which is very late for the Dorsey crew. I wasn’t sure what time present opening would ensue but we got it started about 7:30. I can’t say it didn’t take a really long time because we open them one at a time and there were a lot of presents. The kids get 3 presents from Santa because that is what JESUS got…so the Santa presents weren’t out of control…but the kid to kid presents were outrageous…but also so incredibly sweet.
I have never in my life known someone more excited about getting a box of books from Santa. Ellen asks for the same thing every year. Books and art. This year she asked for a Polaroid camera which Santa brought and my word does she love that thing. I think we’ve already taken about 100 photos! She put her volleyball earrings (a stocking stuffer) in her ears almost immediately!
This kid was super jazzed about his hockey jersey, hockey ice skates and basketball bag. Cooper has wanted ice skates for a few years and this year Santa literally delivered. He was so happy and he deserved to get what he wanted because he spent so much time and energy on other people’s gifts!
Finley was pretty pumped to be outfitted with basketball gear. He has wanted a real basketball bag for a long time, it even came with clothes inside. He also got a bounce back device for the barn and a hover board. The hover board definitely took the cake. Wow, is it cool!
This little lady wanted all the volleyball stuff, a Polaroid camera as well as a fuzzy chair for her room. She is the least girly girl I know and she doesn’t like girly stuff but if it involves comfy or sports she’s 100% in! She was pretty excited to be outfitted entirely in Stanford gear. She wants to sleep in her chair and she also has taken about 100 pictures with her new camera!
I didn’t get the best pictures of this guy opening his stuff…but he was pretty excited Esmerelda our elf decided to stay for Christmas morning to watch them open their gifts. He did get several boxes of rocks (which he asked for in the school Christmas video) as well as a scooter and a hockey net and hockey sticks. Believe it or not a lot of driveway hockey is played via roller blades at the Dorsey house and we only had one net so Santa knocked it out of the park for this guy! This image deserves to be by itself. Cooper Claerhout Dorsey spent countless hours perfecting presents for his siblings, his Gaga and his parents. He definitely put the most time into Gaga’s gift. More on that later. This is the stack of gifts he bought (mostly with his own money), wrapped (with duct tape…my favorite part) and/or created for his family. He also wrote each of us our own card. He has literally the biggest heart in the whole world. We are all so blessed by his heart and I love so much how willing he is to show it.
These are just some of the sweet presents he gave his siblings. Finley got two presents from him…but the Jordan sweat shirt is the fan fav. He got Fiona volleyball spandex because “she loves them,” he gave Fletcher rocks (his favorite thing) and he bought Ellen earrings she was eyeing in Florida. He had noticed her and Fiona looking at two things in a store and when we were leaving to go on a ride Daddy wasn’t going on, he asked him to go buy the for the girls for him. His heart…seriously!
Just some more of Cooper’s goodness. His card to me and his present for Gaga. He made her a crossword puzzle with our whole family on it as well as the whole Gile family on it! He came up with this by himself and asked Daddy for help to get the letters to glue onto the wood. He was beyond excited about giving this to her. My card…I cannot. This one will be laminated for sure!
Finley and Ellen had Fletcher in the grab bag and they got him things he was pretty psyched about. Rocks and an opportunity to make his own experience (or candy). He calls them experiences and it’s appropriate because that’s what they feel like to Mommy!
Ellen and Fletcher had Cooper and he got Spike ball and more Camo shirts…his favorite!
Fiona had Finley and Ellen and she really wanted to find the best presents for them. Finley got a snow board and Ellen got stepping stones she wanted to paint! They were both pretty excited!
Finley bought for Fiona and Fletchy. Fletchy got some kind of dig it up kit that involves gems and pirates. Fiona got fuzzy rainbow pants and a book about Fiona the hippo. She was pretty excited!
Some of the incredible things the kids made for us. Ellen made us both handmade ornaments. #1 coach and “Dad you rock”…she’s so creative. Finley and Fiona painted us a canvas and Cooper made us one as well. Fiona painted us both a canvas as well. What impressed me the most about these gifts is they asked for no help from us to create them. They came up with and execute them alone. Their creativity amazes me daily!
When Fiona got the baby yoda purse Cooper bought for her. She was almost speechless. It was a sweet moment.
We might as well hover board around the kitchen…why not?
After all of this fun at our house, we headed down to Grandma’s for more fun! This time was filled with more fun with our cousins, a lot of laughter, great food and believe it or not more presents!
Present opening at Grandma’s is always sure to be a good time!
More present opening fun!
Wouldn’t be a Dorsey Christmas if someone didn’t get a power tool! Uncle Brent was pretty pumped about his. Grandma even got one this year!
Hot cocoa, Duke hugs, games, trampoline jumping and lots of laughs had by all!
This five second rule game the kids played had them all rolling! It was pretty fun to listen to!
I am with Fletcher…Christmas is tiring. The way home from Grandma’s we fell asleep! Too much fun for one day!Closed down the day with some Grandpa Joe time!
I am tired just reliving all of this for this post. The kids had an amazing Christmas surrounded by people who love them and that they love dearly. I am so grateful for all the awesome people they get to grow up with.
#Celebr8Awesome 