Christmas 2021 was definitely different than expected with Covid making it's way through our family (Charlie, my Mom, me, most likely Robert, Auntie Jessie, Ben S, Rosie & Auntie Katie) but we still had so much to be grateful for including getting to wake up at my childhood home with my parents on actual Christmas morning!
Christmas Eve begin with a 3 hour parking lot adventure waiting for Robert, Rob and I to get Covid tested. Robert was a champ taking his first nap of the day in a very bright and motionless car... sweet boy! He also did great during his Covid test. We all tested negative including my parents, so we decided to proceed with our normal plan of going to outside church together that afternoon and celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with them at their house.
Looking back we probably didn't wait long enough to test, since my Mom woke up with symptoms on the 26th of December and even not feeling well on Christmas day (later testing positive on the 27th) however we felt very lucky and excited that we were able to all be together for Robert's First Christmas.
Our outside church service was wonderful! We were thankful that it was so warm. We were able to see Katie, Chris and kids too which although it was a quick hello it felt nice to see them on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve at my parents house was calm and cozy. Robert ate mac n' cheese for the first time and loved it. We enjoyed a tasty charcuterie board before dinner and played a round of charades. Robert must have known that Santa only comes when kids are sleeping because he had a great night's sleep, sleeping from 7pm to 7am.
Robert's First Christmas was a blast! He enjoyed opening his stocking (mostly just shaking the tube of puffs he got) and then he opened his gift from Santa which was a wooden & beaded activity center. He seemed to really enjoy playing with it which made Rob and I smile. His outfit seemed to have shrunk a bit in the wash (especially the hat, whoops) which gave us all a good laugh. We just love our little Christmas elf so much!
Rob was gifted a gnome drinking coffee and there is a bit of a story here. It was given from my parents as a "joke" gift because I love this brand of Santa's (Jim Shore) and every year my parents gift me one. The joke is that Rob just lovesss (tolerates) these Santa's, so this year he got his very own Jim Shore.... gnome, which he actually loved! It's a super cute little guy. Rob and I are on the same page that we probably don't need a Jim Shore Santa everyyy year but they sure are beautiful!
Mamie and Robert opening up her and Papa's gift from him! He used his hand print to make them a bell ornament.
Robert took a great mid to late morning nap which allowed a few of us to enjoy a cold Christmas beer with our lunch. We were all excited to use our new koozies that we got from Santa in our stockings.
A family photo on Christmas!
Since Robert has been really loving his stuffed animals Mom and Dad gifted him a big dinosaur stuffed animal. He is slowly warming up to "dino" but still loves his favorites at home.
Robert made Dada a frame for Christmas. He painted his sweet little hand prints all over the frame and was very proud of his hard work.
Robert was a very busy Christmas creator this year because he also found the time to make Mama a new mug with his picture on it. It says "I love you a latte" and has a picture of Robert holding a Starbucks cup. It was one of my favorite gifts of this Christmas!
Robert posing with Dino!
Christmas 2021 morning crew! The Stratton family really loving some bold patterns this Christmas, haha!
The Jenkins crew was suppose to be at my parents house for both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning but sadly Charlie tested positive for Covid a few days prior to Christmas Eve, so they were unable to join us. However, we still wanted to all get together so we did an outside Christmas in the Jenkins back yard. Normally I perform a crisp, cold (even snow if we're lucky) on Christmas morning but this year it was a real blessing that it was 70 degrees out.
