December

Preparing for Christmas 
We enjoyed making and eating cut out cookies!

Nathan and Mason both love working in puzzle books.

Nathan purchased an online Christmas concert for us to watch at home.  He made Thimble cookies which are his favorite Christmas cookie.  Mason's favorite cookies are Peanut Butter Blossoms so we had made those together.  What a cozy evening.

The church Christmas Program wasn't the same as usual this year because they wanted to keep the crowds socially distanced.  Mason sang some songs one Sunday evening.  The following Sunday evening Levi sang some songs and he played the lead part in the play that they performed!  I was proud of him for having the desire to do this and for doing a great job!

The SCCS Christmas concert was an At-Home concert.  All 3 boys participated and Levi even had a saxophone solo which was awesome to hear!

Mason had a fun last week of school before Christmas with all of the Gingerbread activities!

Terry Peak

We joined the Boogerd family to go skiing in the Black Hills!  It was the first time the boys had been skiing at Terry Peak.  We took Jacob along with us so we had 6 people and a lot of luggage for our drive out!

The boys were pretending to be manikins while eating their ice cream on one of our stops to break up the drive.

We didn't have any snow at home and we heard that there were only a limited number of runs open at Terry Peak and that they had just opened for the season, so we were excited when we finally found snow!  And it was fun to see a mule deer, too!

We found it!

The view from the top floor of the cabin we rented.

The game room was the boys favorite place to hang out!

It ended up to be perfect weather and there were enough ski runs open to entertain everyone for 3 days as planned.  Mason was timid on the first day but by the second day he was doing nearly everything that the older kids were doing.  The black diamond runs were closed but that ended up being nice because we ran into our kids frequently and they all stayed safe!  An answer to prayer!

Brady, Jacob, Levi and Dorian.  The boys would do a lot of racing to see who could get down first.

Love my beautiful family.

Me, Dorian, and Levi nearly all covered up!

So thankful for friendships!  Matt's 40th birthday was on Christmas Day so we celebrated that a little early.

Christmas Eve

We went to Dad and Mom's house to play games together.  It was the first Christmas without Grandma Bolkema so we played Bingo to carry on that tradition.  Uncle Dave and Aunt Judy were there too.

When I went into Mason's room to say goodnight to him on Christmas Eve, this is what he had written on his little white board!  So much excitement!

Merry Christmas!

By the light of the Christmas tree and in their pajamas, the boys opened up their stocking presents!

We traded names this year and each person really had fun picking out their gifts.  Mason had Dorian's name and he picked out fishing lures for him. Mason said "I know Dorian will love them."

Levi had my name and he spent many hours writing 100 notes in tiny capsules for me to open up.  What a thoughtful and sweet gift that I'll always cherish.

Dorian had Nathan's name and he also spent hours on his gift.  He picked out a bagel slicer and a mug for him and also cross-stitched the Giants and the Yankees logo!  What a thoughtful gift! 

Nathan picked out a hunting hat, calendar and camo face paint for Levi!

I had Mason's name and picked out a remote controlled stunt car for him.

Molly even got to open a present and enjoyed her new dental chews!

For the boys ornaments this year I thought it was fitting to be reminded of the Global Pandemic and how that changed so many things this past year!

Waffles were on the menu for breakfast along with some fun toppings!

We were thankful to be able to go to church with the boys and we were thankful for the snow that had fallen to make it feel more like Christmas! (We are currently switching between attending church in person and watching online about every other week.)

We made a facetime call with Grandpa and Grandma Tintle and opened the gifts that they sent to us.  We are excited to use the gift cards to go skiing at Great Bear this winter!

Mason made us a special gift at school!

The boys were surprised and super excited that we got them an X Box.  

We celebrated with the Bolkema family in the late afternoon and evening.  We ate a delicious meal, sang Christmas songs and opened gifts together.  The boys each got a new ice fishing pole.  Mason got a Lego set.  Levi got arrows for his bow and a Seahawks hat.  Dorian got a Packers wallet and a whittling set.  And our family got a small pinball game.

Mason just started taking piano lessons and he learned how to play Jingle Bells.  It was sweet to hear him play it over and over again!

Dad's birthday was on Sunday, the 27th, so we had Dad and Mom over for a prime rib dinner to celebrate.

One of the gifts we gave to the boys was a gift certificate to Great Shots in Sioux Falls.  On New Years Eve we played golf there for a couple of hours.  We also ate lunch at Johnny Carino's, made a stop at Scheels and Nathan and Levi got COVID tests to make sure they could fly to NY the following day.

It was a busy month with getting ready for our trip and Christmas celebrations.  What a joy to have friends and family who fill our lives with so many good things.  Thank you Lord for all of the blessings from this past month.  

And what a year it's been!  2020 will be a year that won't be forgotten.  There were days of fear and sadness with all of the changes and the unknowns.  But there were also days of peace and joy with being able to spend more time at home with our family.

Nathan:  It's hard to believe that you haven't had any work related travel since COVID started in mid march, but I'm thankful for all the meals that we've had together as a family.  I love having you home with us.  I love you.

Dorian, Levi and Mason:  Dad and I love you dearly and we love being with you.

I'm looking forward to spending the year 2021 with each of you!