Christmas photo dump

Christmas really breezed by this year. It felt cozy, but also relatively underwhelming. To top it off, my brother and his wife had to cancel their visit last minute, so it was just my own little cozy crew.

I got sucked into the craft at work and nerded out with a glue gun

We did, however, add more light tours to our schedule this year. I've always wanted to do the fancy downtown neighborhood so this year on a whim we all went. I cannot wait to do it again next year, maybe in a horse carriage or rickshaw.

And our own hometown's cute little street was a hit as always. C wore his Kenough shirt and was thrilled with the addition of the Barbie box. I was thrilled with the reactions he got. Just remember, he is Kenough and so are you!

Averson's new tradition is wearing my mom's fur on our light walks. Two year's running!

I'm just so grateful for our cozy little Christmas house

And big kids who are still willing to pose in matching PJs (not pictured is their favorite shot, where all three are showing their favorite fingers #bigkidlaughs)

I panicked a little, because I never got around to comparing piles to make sure that everyone was equal. BUT, it all worked out! Sydney and Eli had exactly the same number, and Averson came out two ahead only because of creative wrapping. And everyone loved their gifts. Eli just kept saying how much he loved the electric razor, in case you were worried that buying for 17 year olds was hard.

She asked for Legos, and then pretty quickly realized that she didn't have the patience or emotional fortitude for them. She made it through though!

The kids got C the big, big pack of colored pencils that he's been eyeing like Ralphie and the Red Ranger 200. He proclaimed it one of his top 5 gifts ever

My sister posted a picture of her Christmas, and we realized that we bought our families the same matching PJs. I love that even though we're so far apart, we still were sort of together.

 

Averson Paige (for real now!)

 Averson started going by "Averson" in preschool, when multiple kids shared her name and I had some very strong, probably illogical, responses to her being differentiated by her last initial. C had suggested it as a name when we were expecting her, and I was quick to explain that that was not a real name and he didn't know what he was talking about. I really thought he was trying to trick me into naming her after Allen Iverson. I stand corrected (obviously).

She's spent her entire school career explaining to people that her name is "Avery" but she goes by "Averson." We've talked about changing it officially for years, but that's a more complicated process than one would think. Knowing she's headed to middle school next year (OMFG), we decided that it was time to fish or cut bait. We filled out a bunch of court forms in triplicate, wrote a big check, and published our intent to change her name in the most rando newspaper ever. This past Monday, we got notice that our petition had been approved and her name is now, officially, Averson Paige. 

She is SO excited. Like, more than I really anticipated that she would be. Post covid, the hearing was pretty anticlimatic since we didn't have to actually go to the court house. I wanted to memorialize it somehow for her, so I posted this picture to all my socials (as a millennial mom does.) She also has a name necklace coming for her stocking and I really hope she loves it.