the grovers - patently awesome

Christmas

After a day of scheduled meals (places to go, foods to eat), we stayed at home on Christmas Day and let the party come to us.

Of course, we started with presents.

Miriam's stash.

Rebekah's stash.

Ana's stash.

Winnie's stash.

Along with the stash on the couch, Miriam received a drum set we purchased from Craigslist. We didn't want to/couldn't bring it in the house, so Seth came up with a clever way to alert Miriam to its presence. He had created a "Christmases" album on Google Photos and had it playing on the TV a couple days before Christmas. This included photos from many Christmases past. Then on Christmas Eve he took a picture of me at the drum set and Photoshopped Miriam's face on it (see below). Then he added that photo and a photo of just the drum set to the album. He made sure it was playing on the TV when the girls came down Christmas morning. Miriam saw it and expressed some confusion. That's when we took everyone out to the shop to check it out.

The doctored photo that clued Miriam in to her big present.

Rebekah opening her present from Ana: an ocarina. Ana received fidget spinning rings from Miriam. Miriam received a custom hoodie with a quote from Keeper of the Lost Cities from Winnie. Winnie received Weird But True books from Rebekah.

The rest of the day was super low key. We watched Spiderman: No Way Home. Grandma Scott, Grandpa Scott and Aunt Jessica came over for a Scott family Zoom call that needed several attempts before everyone was able to get on and visit. Everyone but me (because I'm bad at it) played GoldenEye. Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis came over to check out the girls' presents.

Rebekah sitting out a round of GoldenEye because you can only have up to four players.

Winnie giving Grandpa Dennis a massage. She received three different scented lotions for Christmas, so she set up a spa and was peddling for customers.

Christmas Eve

We packed in as much fun and food as possible on Christmas Eve.

First, a Grover breakfast hosted at our house. We ate delicious food, then got all the Grover siblings together via Zoom to visit and open gifts to one another.

Sitting in the living room talking to Kent and Melissa in Italy (who had just BARELY arrived back from Germany/Austria) and Jason in Boston. Kent and Melissa had us this year, and they gave us Italian candy and handmade Christmas pottery ornaments and a dish.

Then a Hendricks lunch at the church. We ate delicious food, then visited, took a group photo, played nine square, watched the kids perform the live nativity and listen to Grandma Hendricks talk.

Queen Miriam.

Rebekah reacting to someone getting out.

Ana moving forward.

Winnie on the defensive.

Ana the queen and the rest of the game. Since there were several younger players, the house rule said that if you had to duck to walk under the squares, you couldn't play with your hands. The tall people used their heads.

Seth visiting with Grandma Hendricks.

Miriam the innkeeper during the nativity.

Winnie an angel.

All the nativity performers. Somehow Bekah and Ana avoided participating this year.

Grandma watching.

The older "cool kids" at their table.

Some of the great-grandkids (Claire, Miriam, Madelyn, Hudson, Cooper) listening to grandma talk about some of the items she brought to show and tell about.

One of Grandma's doll dresses from when she was a girl.

Rebekah is too cool.

Seth showing Ana a closeup of his eye.

Winnie whacking the pinata.

The crowd watching Kelsey and the pinata.

Miriam's turn with the pinata. The older kids didn't get a chance to hit it since Madelyn smashed it entirely. They weren't too disappointed.

Lastly a Scott dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Scott's. We ate delicious German food, read the scriptural accounts of Christ's birth, sang "Stille Nacht" and received presents.

Cuddling cousins on Grandma's couch.

Grandma Scott talking about the porcelain dogs that her Grandma Martha brought from Germany when they emigrated in 1927.

Lighting the Weihnachtspyramide.

Winnie in her Christmas jammies with the lip glosses she received.

Miriam in her Christmas jammies with the anxiety wrap she received.

Ana in her Christmas jammies with the fuzzy socks she received.

Bekah in her (guess what?) Christmas jammies with the fuzzy socks she received.

Grandma Scott feeling just how soft Ana's jammies are.

Grandpa and Grandma checking out the calendar I made for their Christmas present.

Then we tucked everything in their beds for a long winter's nap.

Christmas concerts

Tuba Christmas came back! Last year was canceled due to COVID, so Rebekah rejoiced when she found out that her favorite Christmas tradition was returning. She drove herself to Rexburg for rehearsal, and we (our family, Grandma Hendricks and Grandma and Grandpa Scott) joined her to hear the beautiful (no joke!) tuba Christmas music at the Manwaring Center on Saturday, December 11.

Rebekah and C3PO (her euphonium) decked out for Christmas. This is the kid who refused to wear anything resembling a costume to school on Halloween.

Winnie and Miri reading Dog Man while listening to music.

Ana and Grandma Hendricks listening.

Standing at the end of the concert.

We had the ward Christmas dinner and party on Tuesday, December 14, and our family was asked if we could perform three "fun" Christmas songs. We gladly obliged.

Ana and Andrea playing a duet of "Frosty the Snowman" while Miriam plays the bells in the background.

Rebekah on trombone playing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" while Andrea accompanies.

Andrea and Seth playing ukulele and guitar and singing "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

Miriam and Winnie singing Christmas songs with the Primary.

We also got to return to Lincoln Court after a year (but we recorded ourselves playing so they could show it over their closed-circuit TVs) and play music for the residents on Monday, December 21. Since Winnie has started piano lessons, she joined us for the first time playing live, and Seth arranged to finish work a little early so he could perform with us as well.

Winnie playing one of her piano solos.

Miriam playing a piano solo while Rebekah waits for her turn.

Ana and Bekah playing a duet.

Miriam keeping Seth's phone from falling asleep while he plays/sings (the lyrics were on the phone) and Bekah plays trombone (and Ana sits in the background).

Seth and Bekah.

I played too (piano duets with Miriam and Winnie, accompanying Rebekah, guitar/ukulele duets with Seth), but I couldn't take pictures of myself. ;-)

We followed up our performance with dinner at Applebee's.

Rebekah sipping her Dr. Pepper and wearing Seth's hat at the restaurant.

Andrea and Seth sporting super cool Christmas jammies at the house after our night out.

Gingerbread houses

Rather than actually planning ahead, we decided to make spur-of-the-moment gingerbread houses on Sunday, December 5 when we had an evening at home together. I hadn't bought the usual candies, but we had enough leftover Valentine, Halloween and birthday candy to make up for it. And rather than struggling with getting their houses to stick together solely with royal icing, three of the girls opted to hot glue them, then add the icing for looks. Honestly, I don't know why we hadn't thought of that before.