Christmas Break

 Well, I think we've accomplished just about everything that we set out to get done on our Christmas Vacation 2020 Bucket List. I did have scrapbooking down on the list which I haven't done yet. And we did do a morning movie, but I didn't take any pics to document. I was out running errands for most of it, but the rest of the gang watched the new movie out on Disney+ called 'Soul.' Dad and the girls said it was really good.

So, here's the recap! I actually spent quite a bit of time outside playing. Boo. Haha. At least it was nice out most of the time.

One of our bucket list activities was a reading afternoon. I had gotten some hot cocoa bombs from Sonder Bakehouse who is actually a girl from my hometown. I thought they would go great for our bookpalooza. 

Between helping Clara with her book and not having much time before I needed to start dinner, I didn't get very far in my own book. But I did stay up too late a couple of nights later and finished it. (If you're an interested reader, I read 'I'm Watching You" by Teresa Driscoll.) It wasn't my favorite book ever, but it was a pretty decent, quick read.

Brynn loved the book she chose (which surprisingly was NOT Harry Potter!) It was one she had borrowed from Reagan and Elise. When she finished, she asked me..."have you ever read a book and never wanted it to end?" Only every good one I've ever read. 😊

One of the other bucket list to-do's that we checked off was a slumber party. Clara bunked up with Dad in the spare bedroom. And Brynn and I in our room.

Brynn and I did some reading before bed.

She opted for a blow-up mattress, but I can't remember why.

One of the other things we had planned on doing was to visit the new skating rink they put in downtown. I love downtown Fargo around Christmastime because everything is decorated with tons of lights and just this year, they had lit up a big tree near the rink as well. Part of the trouble with this plan was that none of us knew how to skate and, of course then we didn't own any skates either. They weren't offering rentals down there yet either due to COVID.

So, Dana had the idea to see if we could fool around out on the frozen ponds south of our house. I took the girls to Play It Again Sports to see if we could find some used skates to try. Brynn was determined she was going to teach herself how to skate.

We chose the second most miserable days and packed up a sled with the skates, a chair to use as a trainer and a shovel. It was really blustery and overcast. Dad made a nice patch to skate on. 

Clara wasn't interested in staying out there and didn't try the skates at that time, so I stayed back with Brynn while she started her self-lessons. 

I was so proud of her. She was really determined and stuck it out there in the cold for quite a while and was really improving quickly. 

We had always wanted to check out this art supply store that we saw on University, but had never made it in there before. After we decided to add that to our bucket list, we hit it up yesterday to see what they had to offer. They had a lot of fun educational toys and books as well as the arts and crafts supplies that we had expected. The store seemed to be an outlet for teachers as it had a lot of educational stickers and paper decor type products for classrooms. 

Anyhow, Clara found a microscope and some moldable clay while Brynn also got a different type of putty...and I think one or two other things that I can't recall now.

I was startled by this jackrabbit that we see running around the cul-de-sac from time to time. And by running, I mean galloping. He is so huge. I spied him outside our office window yesterday.

The weather was much nicer yesterday afternoon when the girls were ready to head out for some more skating. We had gotten a few inches of snow since the previous day, so I brought the shovel again and had to redo all of Dana's work. Aside from the typical squabbles with each other over the chair and space on the ice, etc., I think they had a good time. By the time we packed up to trek home, the sun was starting to lower with the temperature, so we were rather chilled when we got into the house.

We decided to grab some Chic-fil-a for dinner which was a first for us girls. Dana was already a fan. It was pretty tasty!

Relaxing after our dinner with some Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on TV.

Today we got around to doing our Oreo house decorating contest. Clara and Dad teamed up again. We enlisted the good help of some family and friends to vote on the best one. 

Dad's and Clara's house was #1 for voters following along.

Brynn's was #2.

And mine was #3.

And the winner was...Brynn. The reigning champion for the second year in a row and recipient of a chocolate chip cookie from nearby Jen's Bakery.

It's been a great week of not only knocking stuff off of our bucket list, but getting errands and things done around the house, too, which is always a good feeling. 

The girls have been enjoying their gifts and have had screen time to the max on their iPads. We have screen time limits set up on each of them and Dana is continually fielding requests for more screen time from Clara. And here is my blanket formal apology to all those who Clara has been incessantly messaging and FaceTiming from her iPad. 😑 

We're having a pretty lowkey New Year's Eve here at home tonight which I'll do a separate post on.

Happy New Year!