Well...this crazy year is finally coming to a close! We don't have any New Years plans...just going to hang out at home and watch some movies and enjoy the fact that Johnny doesn't have to get up for work tomorrow!
Johnny has been on the ODL (Overtime Desired List) throughout the year except for December when they typically mandate overtime for everyone. Well this year, Johnny decided to go ahead and stay on the ODL through December. So he was working a lot of hours this month including Saturday and Sunday. It's a busy time for the United States Postal Service...especially this year when so many more people have done their Christmas shopping online. Interestingly enough, this is the first year that I did NOT do my Christmas shopping online (except for Johnny's present). Johnny wanted to do the shopping together after he got his paycheck the Tuesday before Christmas...so after he got off work (after 9pm) we headed to Kohls Tuesday and Target on Wednesday. Thank goodness for extended shopping hours before Christmas...luckily they were both open until midnight. And as a bonus...there were far less people shopping that late at night.
Christmas looked a lot different this year. My whole life, we've spent Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family and then Christmas Day we'd spent it with my mom's side of the family. So it was weird staying [mostly] at home for the entire holiday. It was still a very good Christmas, though.
The Saturday before Christmas, my mom's paternal side of the family had a Zoom meeting. We happened to have half a dozen small earthquakes in Kansas that day...which meant I was sick with vertigo and orthostatic hypotension issues all day. But Ashlyn was able to join in and she had a great time. I could hear her laughing all the way from upstairs. :) And then a few days later, my grandparents stopped by to drop off gifts and to see Bozley. He's grown so much since they last saw him in August! We had a lovely visit (with masks, of course!) and it was so great to be able to spend that time with them.
And then on Christmas Eve, my grandpa decided to have one last Christmas Eve get-together...which was one of my Grandma's final wishes. However with the pandemic and Johnny being high risk plus the Covid-related job leave and protection expiring, we decided it would be best for us not to go to the gathering. Johnny had to work on Christmas Eve, but I drove Ashlyn (and the dogs) over so she could go and chatted with my grandpa for awhile before everyone else got there. I also stopped by to see my parents and Bozley really enjoyed seeing them. The chihuahuas are not a fan of my dad (they really don't like any guys except for Johnny...no idea why) but Bozley ran up to dad as soon as we walked in the door. So that was cute. :) He also went and sat by my mom's back door when he needed to go outside...so that was good! He does it all the time at home, but it was the first time he'd done it at someone else's house (mostly because when he was younger I would just take him out every hour or two just in case). He's a smart boy, though, and catches on quick. :) I wasn't looking forward to the drive home without Ashlyn...because Bozley still hates riding in the car unless he's in my lap...but he did much better than I anticipated and actually fell asleep in the passenger seat for part of the 20 minute drive. It was still easier when he was in Ashlyn's lap on the way there, of course. :P
When I got home, I got all the presents wrapped while Johnny was still working. Then that evening, Aubry brought Ashlyn home and they stayed (with their masks!) so we could open presents here at home. We'd bought them each a body pillow, plush blanket, and plush body pillow covers. Then Aubry got a new vinyl record (Blink182 Greatest Hits) and Ashlyn got the pore extractor that she'd been asking for and some flexible foam no-heat spiral curler things (she got two things because Aubry's record was more expensive and I try to be fair with their Christmas gifts). And then they each got an Amazon gift card. We also opened the gifts from my grandparents and were spoiled as always! I got a neat Instant Pot Bible that I'm really excited about. There are several recipes that I'm already wanting to try soon. They have a "Not-Really Panda Express Orange Chicken" that I think Ashlyn will like. And there were several others that Johnny thought sounded good. My other grandpa had also put together a cookbook of my Grandma's recipes and gave to everyone as a gift this year. It's really neat and has pictures of Grandma throughout the years as well. There's also a picture of my Aunt on the back cover who died this year as well. I really love both my new cookbooks. :)
After we opened gifts, the girls went to XH's parents house for the weekend. They celebrated Christmas day over there since we didn't have plans this year. Johnny and I hung out at home watching movies. I'd made a turkey breast in the pressure cooker again so we'd have turkey sandwiches. So it was just a nice, relaxing holiday at home. :) With the vaccines rolling out, hopefully the holidays will be a little more "normal" next year.
Bozley will be 7 months old tomorrow! His fur has continued to get longer and he's still getting bigger. He's less "calm" now than he used to be. He has started to get excited when he sees people he knows. One thing about getting a puppy during 2020 is that we've spent most of our time at home. It seems that now when we leave, he has a lot of separation anxiety. He's gotten used to having us home so he never really got used to us not being home. He's also picked up the habit of waking up during the night the last few nights. He'll climb down off the bed and bark at the bedroom door. He doesn't even want to go outside...we'll let him out and he'll just go outside and lay down. I don't know if he's just getting too hot or what. I think tonight I'm going to put his bed in our room at bedtime and then maybe he'll just get off the bed and lay down in his bed instead of wanting to come out in the living room. He LOVES going outside though. Most of my day is spent getting up and letting him outside at least every half hour (often more) unless he lays down to take a nap. He'll just go out there for about 15 minutes or so and run back and forth, toss things around, lay in the dirt...then come back in to get a drink of water and see what I'm doing. Then he wants to do it all over again. :P Oh and he LOVES snow, rain, and mud. :P Plus...it seems to rain or snow within 2 days of every bath or groomer appointment. He's a mess...but he's such a cute mess. It's still hard to believe how much he's grown from the little 5lb puppy that we brought home in July. Oh and he loves the new fox and duck toys he got for Christmas (and his new, bigger and better dog bed!).
We are getting a new TV for Christmas! The TV in the living room is...dumb. I mean, Johnny's had the TV since 2011 or something so it's had a lot of good years. But, in the last few months it's been going downhill and now we can't turn it off because it won't turn back on. So...we decided that we're going to "gift" ourselves with a new TV for Christmas. And hopefully it'll help with the electric bill so we don't have to keep the current TV turned on all the time. :P
Meanwhile, I still haven't been able to claim any transcription files for work. Hopefully things will pick back up again in 2021.
Now I need to get working on my year in review post! :)