What really starts the Holiday season? Is it Halloween or Thanksgiving? I guess for the purpose of this post we will say it is Halloween. So, here is a summary of our 2021 "Holiday Season."
I started out with Grandma Molly visiting before Halloween. She treated us to a day trip to Mount Vernon, but before that we took her to Knox Farm. She also babysat while Josh and I went to the movies one night (while Trex screamed most of the time), and then the basketball game the next night. (We brought Trex with us for our 2nd date, so the kids could have fun with Grandma).
Halloween was fun. We had Chris Housley (Josh's cousin) and family come to our place and we had dinner, then went trick-or-treating at the townhouses around our apartment building with them and some other friends.
In between Halloween and Thanksgiving we went to Gettysburg Battlefield and Philadelphia to go to the Temple. It was pretty cold, but we still had a good time.
For Thanksgiving we went to Cracker Barrel with the Housley's and one of Josh's A-100 Classmates who would have otherwise been alone. We played games at our apartment afterword, and it was a really fun day!
Just a note in November- the two older kids entered in the PTA Reflections contest for school. Payson did a beautiful painting of a tree, and Avenly did a painting and wrote a song. There was a lot of competition in the visual arts category. However, Avenly won in her age group for the song competition. 
December was full of Christmas fun. We did everything from going to the Stake drive through Nativity, going to the ward party to see Santa Clause, Christmas themed Primary activities, singing in church, going to the Christmas market in DC, having a Bosen family Zoom party with talents, going to the National Harbor to see the Christmas light show on the tree and fireworks, gingerbread graham cracker houses, Christmas movies, holiday cookies, etc. 
We bought a big fancy tree after Christmas last year, but didn't get to use it this year since it is in storage with all of our other Christmas decor. I bought a $35 Walmart tree and about 100 wood ornaments. The kids decorated the ornaments to put on the tree. We also had a growing paper chain. The kids received a letter from Santa at the beginning of the month giving them a special challenge. They had to make the paper chain as long as they could before he came on Christmas Eve. They earned links for the chain by doing their chores and being nice, etc. 
Christmas morning was fun! The 3 older kids didn't wake up until around 8. Trexton had just fallen back asleep from waking up early, but they waited for him to wake back up before we opened presents. Here's a preview video of Christmas morning in under 1 minute:
The rest of the day was fun talking with family and playing with new Christmas presents. The kids are excited for their new trampoline we will put up in Brasilia. Avenly is equally as excited to start violin lessons with her new violin.
One thing I didn't mention was our brief, cold stop at Fort Foote Park where the largest weaponry was used during the Civil War. Trexton was asleep in the van, so Josh and I took turns- that is why there are only pictures of Zaylee, Payson, and I below.
Also, since it is a blog for the holidays- here's a little update on each person in our family:
Josh- passed his language test for Portuguese, so he can officially go to Brazil for his job.
Mellissa- Besides being the mom during Christmas time, I have been learning my own Portuguese and working hard on making decisions for our cabin.
Payson- has been learning the flute this year in school, and he is doing so well.
Avenly- Continues to work on her piano skills and LOVES singing loudly. She is excited to add violin to the mix.
Zaylee- likes to shine with music, as well, but is super shy. She is right on with her tune even as a 4 year old, but won't even say hi or thank you to someone she doesn't know very well.
Trexton- is 2... need I say more! ha ha Cute and Crazy at the same time!
And just for fun since it is still a pandemic...
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and has a Happy New Year!!
