Molly didn't get to have a 13th birthday part thanks to quarantine, but she got to have a 14th. We had a low-key gathering on the back porch, and a good time was had by all.
Molly and her friends decorated cupcakes at her birthday party. There were themed rounds, with a champion of each.
Leah turns 11 this week. That should have meant her big Harry Potter party, but we all agreed that was a bad idea with the pandemic. So we delayed it till next year. After all, with a September birthday, she wouldn't actually start at Hogwarts till next year anyway.
But things have calmed down enough that we decided a small, outdoor gathering was OK. Leah had 3 friends over for some fun on the back porch. They played a couple games (Telestrations and Uno Attack), decorated cupcakes, ate cupcakes and ice cream, opened presents, and did some rather slow grass sledding. Leah said it was great!
We had our first socially-distant family gathering to celebrate Beth and Caroline's birthdays today. Jen made her first Smith Island Cake. It only took living in Maryland for 17 years for her to bake the official state dessert. It got thumbs up all around!
After spending a few days with the Batsons in North Carolina, we returned to Maryland for even more Batson time. We drove back Monday, then G’Mom and Grampa flew from North Carolina to Baltimore on Tuesday. First we exchanged more gifts.
Jen made G’Mom a shell ornament with shells the kids collected at the beach.
But it wasn’t just a day for Christmas celebrating, as it was New Year’s Eve, which is also Grampa’s birthday. Jen made a chocolate cream pie.
And there were birthday presents, too.
G’Mom and Grampa stayed with us for a few days. Jen and I took advantage of having them in town to go see Come From Away at the Kennedy Center in D.C. It was great!
G’Mom and Grampa even went with us to drop the girls at camp for their 3-day Winter Camper Reunion (which the girls had a lot of fun at).
On Saturday, almost everyone came to Ann and Steve’s house for the big Batson family gathering. Of course there was food, and before eating we all said the Batson family blessing (and a few even did the second stanza).
Mike and Mary were not able to attend, as they were stuck in Arizona with newborn baby Jacob. So, we all gathered around and FaceTimed them. It was great to see them, though I wouldn’t generally recommend videoconferencing with almost 30 people on one end.
And here are the new parents and new baby.
I took a picture of all in attendance to document the occasion.
There was of course a gift exchange. JJ seems excited.
Maggie’s now the tennis coach at her school, so we made her this bottle.
After our quiet Christmas, we hit the road. The big Batson family Christmas celebration was in Mooresville, North Carolina this year (which we love because it’s so close we can get there in 8-9 hours driving). We drove down Friday the 27th, checked into our hotel, then headed out for fun activities with everyone as they arrived. Jen joined a bunch of the ladies for dinner. The girls and I headed to The Pit.
The Pit has serious kart racing, an arcade, putt-putt, escape rooms, laser tag, axe throwing, and more. The kids played arcade games while we waited for others to arrive. Then we headed down to axe throwing. Best of all, their minimum age for axe throwing was 12, so Molly got to participate. She loved it.
It’s very tough to get the correct rotations to get your axe to stick, but Molly eventually did it!
And again!
The axe throwing was a lot of fun for all. Afterward, the kids wanted to try the kart racing so a few of us headed that way. This was very serious kart racing (more serious than we needed). But a lot of us did it. They had a kids race first (with Molly, Leah, Emmie, JJ, and a bunch of very experienced teenagers). Then they had an adult race with several of us and a bunch of other people who clearly do this a regularly.
Christmas day was very calm this year. We got up at 7:30 and opened presents around the tree. We do not generally get our kids big expensive presents (though some of their other relatives might), but this year we changed it up. Leah’s wanted an iPad for some time, and the prices at Black Friday were very good. So, she now has her own iPad.
Molly’s big gift was this refurbished MacBook Pro. She’s been using a very old laptop of mine, but it’s half-dead and struggling. In middle school she does a lot of her homework on her computer, so this was a tool more than a toy (though she plays on it a lot as well). She was very excited to get it.
Grams joined us at our house a bit later, and we ate and just hung out at home. It was quite lovely.
Our family was again very involved with the Christmas Eve Family Services. This was the 3rd in a trilogy of superhero-based Christmas Eve services. Molly played Supergirl in the skit (a change from being Wonder Woman the past couple year), and Leah was again one of the two worship leaders for the service. I also led the band.
The girls kept the tradition of opening 1 gift from Grammy on Christmas Eve, though we had to squeeze it in during the break between the 2:30/4:00 family services and the 7:00 traditional service.
After being a part of the 2:30 and 4:00 family services, Molly also sang and played in the orchestra at the 7:00 Christmas Eve service.
Leah was not supposed to have a job at the 7:00 Traditional Service. However, the girl who was supposed to do it bailed at the last minute due to illness. So, after the 4:00 service, Leah got the job. It was actually her first time being an acolyte (since we are not generally a traditional service family).
The girls donned their Christmas pajamas and were ready for bed after a very busy Christmas Eve.
And here’s our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. In the past, we’ve always had a live Christmas tree in our house. For years we’vegonetocutourowntree. But for some time Jen has been advocating getting an artificial tree. With the dwindling stock at cut-your-own tree lots and the rising prices as tree crops struggle with changing climate, I finally gave in this year. We ordered this lovely artificial Alberta Spruce 8 foot tree, and it’s been quite nice not to have to worry about watering it or cleaning up needles. The girls especially like all the different programs the lights can do (e.g. flashing and switching between white and colored).
