[narrator] Previously on Sister Wives...
Here we are, having Thanksgiving!
Alone.
[Kody] You know, the experience that I've had during COVID
has been such a strain on the family.
To our family, to the current apocalypse,
which has made us appreciate family more.
The contrast made me aware
of those who are loyal to me,
and those who are not.
[Christine] Now we've got the rules in order to get back together,
and I really feel like we have to make a choice -
do we see Kody, or do we do it - everything else.
Basically then, Kody, I don't think it's going to ever work for us all to get together.
[Robyn] Here it is, he's written it down.
Wipe off your packages. Clean your groceries.
You know, whatever it is so we can see each other.
My opinion is, that I think some of this is way over-the-top,
but I'll do it for Christmas.
It's a sad reality for me, about where I'm at in some of my marriages.
Dad wants to play stupid games, we can play along.
It's been eight months since I've been able to hang out
with my dad, of course I'm going to rebel a little.
Like, I'm tired of it. I'm freaking tired of it.
We're getting very close to Christmas, and the whole family's been
you know, sort of hashing out the COVID protocols
so that we can actually spend time at Christmas
without having to socially distance from each other.
Okay. You guys want to grab these tools here?
Or wait. I guess we'll use those over here.
[Kody] Because Garrison and Gabriel, for a very long time,
have been resistant to the COVID protocols that were
just so that I could be in Janelle's house,
I just need to get them on the same page with me, so
I've invited them to come help me
peel some logs out on the property.
[Kody] It's a lot of wood, and if we can salvage it,
it's better than firewood, you know. It makes it so we can build something with it.
[Kody] We're going to have to roll it over
in order to get the other side.
[Gabriel] Hey Dad, what are we doing for Christmas?
[Kody sighs]
So we're trying to limit exposure,
-we're trying to bring the exposure down -Yeah, that's why...
That's why we're quarantining.
[Kody] The original agreement amongst me and the moms
was that I would be the only one travelling from house to house, right?
[Gabriel] I think with regards to like, social distancing and stuff,
Dad kind of expects every other person in the family
to just drop what they're doing,
and to just allow him to mosey wherever he wants.
And I don't think any of us are really down for that.
We're all just ignoring it, and having a life anyway.
The only holiday we've got together is Christmas.
The plan is, when Hunter gets here, we start our quarantine.
Okay. So, do you guys understand what quarantine means though?
[Gabriel] Every single parent is telling me a different thing.
- That's what it feels like. - That should not be the case.
Because I gave all the moms a slip of paper.
-Let me- -You gotta talk to them.
You can't give them a slip of paper.
Dad keeps telling me that they
got together and formulated an exact plan for Christmas.
And it just doesn't feel like they did.
Everyone's got their own thing that they're doing,
and I just don't know what's really going on.
You got rules and regulations for work,
why can't we have that for a family staying healthy?
Because we're a family!
Why don't we just verbalize it and trust each other?
Oh, therein lies the problem.
Right there.
When we get together for Christmas, I'm like 89% sure that
there's going to be a fight about all the COVID [bleep] that's been going on.
The first time we're together, we're going to want to discuss
what we haven't been able to discuss for the past eight months.
- And that is COVID. - No no no no, that's a phone call.
You call every one of your siblings and you get all that griping out of your system.
We're not discussing COVID over Christmas.
I think Dad can say what he wants, but I think
COVID's going to be discussed over Christmas.
Oh, I know they want to. They want to pick a fight with everybody.
If this Christmas doesn't play out really well,
I'm not having Christmas as a family anymore after this.
But what I am asking you to do is abide by the rules
of like, literally almost quarantine.
- Which we've agreed to. - And I know you've got to go to work.
But, I mean, a mom goes and gets a massage?
That's not going to work.
Christine was right in the middle of COVID,
she was supposed to be quarantining, I wanted to see the kids,
and she went and got a massage.
It was almost like a psychological circumvention of my ability to go see the kids.
Garrison, I-
-Gabriel- -Zap. That's all I'm hearing.
[sighs] Okay. I might have passed the buck.
I should have explained this better to you in the very beginning.
So let me give you the big picture then.
If mom gets sick,
- who's going to take care of her? - Us.
Uh, no. You both are busy with school.
[Gabriel] Nope. I don't have any in-person classes anymore.
If Mom got sick, I'd freaking quit my job to help her.
Well normally It'd be me okay, that wasn't the right answer.
This is such bull [bleep].
He's missing the point -
Let's avoid getting Mom sick.
It would primarily be
the people who are in her house right now, taking care of her.
And that's not Dad.
But if I get-I go take care of her and I get sick,
and then one of the other moms gets sick,
then she doesn't have somebody helping with her kids.
- Okay? - That's fair.
Listen, I have a much bigger picture than
anybody else in this family to worry about.
Listen, the ignorance led us to blame Robyn.
- We were blaming Robyn. - We were literally blaming Robyn for this.
Because we thought Robyn was in your ear telling you
- to stay away from everyone. - Because she's the obedient wife!
Whatever poison put that in their mind,
I don't know if it's polygamy poison,
I don't know if it's their mother
poisoning them. Because frankly,
that kind of attitude is [bleep] up.
I don't know why they think she's the one to blame,
just because she's the one keeping the rules.
[Kody] They think it's all about Robyn.
Guess what it's really about.
It's about them not giving a [bleep]
About everybody else.
Robyn and all of her kids
have been keeping the rules, the COVID protocols.
Christine has been travelling,
and these two have been socializing.
But her kids are prisoners.
Now they're all compliant.
-They've been, you know, doing their- -They've been teammates.
And that's what we want.
We've been just trying to operate as a family here.
We assumed it was Robyn this whole time, but
we're starting to pit ourselves against Dad, because it's on Dad.
Who is making up these rules, or lacking communication, other than Dad?
It is all him.
[Kody] Keep going, Gabe.
- Roll in, roll in, okay. - Alright, I got to get going.
Alright, thanks Garrison.
[Gabriel] I'm tired of arguing.
We'll just agree on it, and we'll play this game.
We'll quarantine. You can trust us if you want,
if not - that's your problem to figure out.
I'm working full-time,
I've got school, I've got to get going.
[Kody] What's important about having Garrison here
was that he committed,
in every way, that he was going to be compliant
so we can get together for Christmas.
- Thanks for helping, Gabe. - Yeah.
Thanks for coming. So, now that you guys get it-
Ah, I can't believe it. I am so sorry. But I...
Dad, you don't even need to apologize, because
you thought communication was getting passed down.
I'll be honest with you.
You really want to know the truth?
I think it's been hard, really hard,
- for Christine. - Christine, as far as our family goes,
not as a diss to any of the other moms, is our primary caregiver.
- What do you mean? - From our youngest age,
Christine has been the one to provide for
seven kids at a time, all the time.
It hasn't been that way since we moved to Las Vegas.
I understand, but people have been always coming over.
I used to go visit her two times a week.
And so, what are you...
-So, Christine has- -I just think that I can understand why this would have
a, like, she would have a harder time with this than the other moms.
I love Janelle's kids. Janelle worked a lot.
And I just kind of raised them all as a bunch.
It has been really hard not having them over all the time.
[Kody] Okay, now roll this way.
During COVID, Kody put a restriction
that he was the only one that was supposed to go from house to house when COVID hit.
Janelle and I just thought, 'You know what, we just can't do this anymore,
our kids need to get together'.
Because I always had to pick between Janelle and her kids,
or just Kody.
Can you steady it there, just for a second?
[Janelle] Christine and I interact a lot.
Our kids interact a lot. We've all been very careful.
We're following all the rules. Like, we're quarantining,
and if we've both been home for a couple of weeks,
and the kids want to get together, then we go somewhere
and especially if it's outdoors, and we get together.
We follow the CDC Guidelines.
They're not enough for Kody.
Gosh, come on.
[grunting] Got it.
[Kody] Some of the family has come together in a little clique,
that has literally excluded some of the other family members in the family.
Like, the clique-iness, the bullying, the exclusion, and stuff like that,
Gabriel sees it one way. I see it negatively.
It's just, we're not talking about it like we are right here.
- Okay. Gabe. - Like, actually.
This is the first time we've sat down in eight months
and talked about why we're doing what we're doing, you and me.
Not me and Mom.
- Or, you me and the family. - Gabe, I thought I had called you before and
told you why I was doing this.
No, you called me - and I really like it, I like when
you call me, because I finally get to talk to you.
And I talked to you for a little bit, we talk about
what our interests are,
and what we think about the current political climate, and a little bit about COVID,
but we never discussed it like this,
- Why I was away? - Yeah, we never. Never.
And that - that was literally my only issue.
Like, I'm your teammate in this.
We're not doing enough to keep us all together.
Dad is right, that we need a little bit of coherence,
but I don't think that Dad's way of...
gaining that coherence is healthy in a family dynamic.
[Kody] I'm angry.
And I should be reinforcing my love for him.
The problem is, is I'm so pissed off.
That he's sitting here - as an adult -
not being accountable,
and coming at me at all these angles,
it's just made me defensive.
There's a lot of frustrations going around.
In relation to COVID, but also in relation to
you know, our family dynamic
and how things are not going smoothly for us right now.
[Kody] Gabriel, the real issue here is you had to
choose between me coming over or seeing your girlfriend.
Why?
I think the problem here, is whether I'm being respected in my home or not.
I wanna take some responsibility here.
- Okay. - If I had been [sighs] [bleep]
Gabe, listen, why are you upset?
Are we done?
[Gabriel] I feel like everyone in my family is so focused on being right, or doing right,
that nobody is willing to just kind of take a step back,
and say, "This is ruining our family".
Do you want to put the gloves back on and give it a lift, and I'll give it a shove?
[Kody] So while I'm talking to Gabriel here,
I'm not laying down the law.
Because I can't get the support of Janelle to lay down the law.
I-It's weird.
In the time that COVID has been going on,
I've felt more and more and more like that was Janelle's house
and it wasn't my house.
And the irony of this situation,
which is not good for relationships,
is that Robyn's house, as I've been there more,
has made me feel like that's my house, and my rules,
and my family.
[Kody] Okay, now roll this way.
Makes me mad at myself,
all these years, that I haven't been what I would call more 'patriarchal'.
More in charge.
My kids look forward to their dad being home, my kids adore their dad.
This has all been very hard for them,
that he's all of a sudden being so...
dictatorial about his rules.
The only guideline I got at the very beginning was
"Maybe it's not a good idea to hang out with friends anymore, but your girlfriend is okay."
Did I say that?
That's what I heard. I heard, "Your girlfriend is okay because she's isolated."
Gabriel, but I-
And I understand, you're going to come around and say,
- "You don't know what Payton's doing." - Right.
[Janelle] Gabriel met a girl, her name is Payton,
I like her, she's been around a lot, and Gabriel seems to be happy.
My Dad doesn't even know what my girlfriend looks like,
how's she, or what's she like.
He's never talked to her, never interacted with her,
I think it's pretty revealing to how,
how COVID has kind of screwed over the family.
I can't, I can't take Payton out of the equation.
Okay, I understand that, Gabe.
I mean, Gabriel the real issue here is you had to choose
between me coming over or seeing your girlfriend.
Why?
Why was I made to make that decision?
It's a decision that all of us have had to make.
I've had to be away from Mom, I've had to be away from...
- Christine and her kids. - Why are you doing that?
Why?
You have to be able to ask Payton if she understands
the big picture the way I understand the big picture.
She does.
[Gabriel] She's on your level of COVID.
She's worried about it.
I've done two-week quarantines from Payton.
- Why? - So I could see you!
So I could come over to Mom's house.
- When did-I don't remember you doing that. - During the summer.
- Oh. - She's being really careful.
I didn't, I had no idea that she... [sighs]
You gotta understand, I've been told by a lot of people
that they were being careful when I know that they weren't.
And I can understand that. You're being lied to, I can understand that.
I think the problem here,
honestly, is whether I'm being respected in my home or not.
I'll tell you something that Robyn has done
from the very beginning of coming into our family.
She sat her children down,
and she said, "We're going into this family,
you will be kind to this family,
you will accept this family,
and you will respect the parents,
and you will respect Kody as your father.
I have other households who have never established those rules.
I used to be super, like,
"Anything you want, anything you say whatever you want,"
I used to be that wife.
And I'm not anymore.
I'm head of my house. I am.
I'm the one who's present, I'm the one who's around.
It's hard for the girls to respect their dad,
when they see he has favorites.
And they...
They struggle with how apparent it is
that he's more comfortable at some houses than others.
At this point, we have one group of the family who is
willing to risk getting COVID so that we can be together as a family.
And we have one group of the family that is not.
Willing to risk getting COVID?
Yeah, Mom, if you asked her, I'd bet you 100% that Mom would be like,
"Yeah, I would risk getting COVID so that
the whole family could be together and we could hug each other again."
I would do it. Garrison would do it. We're young.
And Mom's different. And,
Mom is literally-Mom is overweight and old
and she would probably still say yes.
This is just fundamentally a problem in plural marriage.
I mean, we literally have two households behaving very different.
I'm the head of one of them.
- So you understand that we have different values about... - Yeah, and...
- It's perspective. - No it's not!
It's your mother made choices, and Christine made choices.
-Mom- -And that caused the families to be separated.
Basically it's a blame game.
Yes, and your mother is the Teflon Queen.
It bounces off of her, onto everybody else.
"Oh, I'm going to make so many sacrifices for everybody else"
-Yeah, I- -I'm sorry Gabe, but she screwed me this summer.
- Dad. - She screwed me, and she screwed you.
And then every time I bring up the rules,
she would walk out of the meeting.
I was vulnerable with you. I revealed my emotions.
You can reveal yours without getting angry.
- No, but I-- Listen. - I can understand that your emotion is anger.
I don't wanna throw your mom under the bus,
but Christine and Mom both made choices
all summer long to continue vacationing.
Or to continue whatever they were doing.
I think Gabriel is just trying so hard
to get his Dad to have a relationship with him again.
I honestly think it's sad that Kody is not
honoring the fact that Janelle is trying.
Janelle doesn't deserve that.
She's actually super loyal to Kody.
- All the blame has come to me, hasn't it? - Yeah, it has.
Every bit of it.
You guys were blaming Robyn, because Robyn-- was she defending me?
No, we were blaming Robyn because you were spending most time with Robyn.
- That's why. - That's because the other wives were choosing to travel.
It's cause we were jealous.
It's on Janelle and Christine.
And the narrative that they've created with their kids
is "Oh, Dad is like this".
"Dad doesn't care about us. Dad doesn't care about you."
And now that we're on the same page,
I can move Mom to be on your team.
I can move Christine to be on your team.
- [Kody laughs] - I can say, "Hey, don't go to
- Mexico because I'll miss you. - Listen, Gabriel,
- you're not the head of this family, okay? - I understand that.
-And I'm not s- -I should have been listened to from the beginning.
And they made the choices that separated the family. Not me.
Mom made those choices for me and Garr.
-You guys have- -But at the same time,
Gabriel, don't just blame Mom.
I'm not! No, I'm not. No.
No, I want to take some responsibility here.
-Okay. -If I had been... Ah, [bleep].
Gabe, listen.
Why are you upset?
I am upset, because...
if I had known...
in March,
I would have been able...
to understand.
And to operate as a member.
Or a team mate.
Well, from now on, we'll operate that way, then.
Alright. Let's go home, okay.
At this point,
I've put so much effort into
uh, maintaining a relationship with my Dad through all this.
That...
I don't know, it's... really hard when you dedicate several months of your life
to...
trying to, uh... to reach out
to someone
and to just not have that reciprocated, you know, like...
any chance that I had
went to maintaining a relationship with Dad
and...
and I didn't get
I didn't get a lick of anything back, I didn't get...
effort back. I didn't even get...
[sighing sadly]
Are we done?
Here is the special frosting.
That needs to go in the...
When the kids were small,
I brought one of the traditions that I was raised with
into the family. It's a German Christmas.
And December 5th, you put your shoes outside the door.
And then, "Father Christmas" which was me,
puts candy in the kid's shoes.
So, every year on December 6th, the kids
would get the candy in their shoes.
And then, we would make Gingerbread Houses with the candy.
So, this is powdered sugar.
I am doing the...
Every other year that I have done this,
we all get together and make Gingerbread Houses.
And this year, we just have to do it separate.
Just so everyone can still quarantine.
So we can get together for Christmas day.
-Why are you doing this? -Alright, I'm done. What'd you guys think?
- Those are bushes. - Guys...
- Do you like my house? - Yes.
Around Christmas time, there is this special little buzz in the air.
And it's already here for us.
We don't want anything to ruin it.
I am so excited this year.
We were moving forward with everything that we had in plan
for getting together for Christmas.
Everybody's quarantining, everybody was prepping for Christmas.
And then, we got some really sad news.
So, my mom passed away last night, um...
We're back at her house in Wyoming.
And it's just weird that she's...
not coming back through the door ever.
I am sort of stunned. And I sort of at a loss.
My mom was diagnosed with cancer.
And there just was really no good way...
to operate.
When I was trying to make arrangements to bring her back down to...
to me so that I could take care of her.
But she just at that point was too sick. She couldn't travel.
It went completely downhill.
And, so I rushed there and was able to spend the last
few hours with her that she was alive.
I am currently driving by myself
early in the morning, sun's coming up in the east.
Grandma Sheryl has passed away and I'm headed to her funeral.
She is Janelle's mom.
There is a strange relationship that we have in this.
Meri and Janelle were friends and then, I became friends with Janelle.
Janelle introduced Sheryl, her mother
to my Dad
and, they get married.
My dad ended up marrying Sheryl before I married Janelle.
And so it's weird that Sheryl is both my dad's wife, my mom's sister wife
and my mother-in-law. [chuckles]
It's been basically,
nine months...
since I saw Grandma Sheryl.
The funeral is only a little over a week not even ten days
before we'd be gathering for Christmas.
So I am travelling and stuff like that. But I've asked...
Robyn and Meri to not go to the funeral
cause I just don't want them
getting exposure to the virus.
Robyn is the wife that I can communicate with and say, I don't think
you should go, and she's like, "Okay, I won't."
I am hoping and praying with faith that we'll make it to this
celebration for Christmas in spite of going
and having potential exposure to COVID.
The funeral, however is more important in this case, I feel,
than Christmas.
Because of COVID, it's changing everything.
We'd have the whole family. This would be like,
basically become a family reunion. Grandma Sheryl was 75.
It's one of those things where you're just like, you're at peace.
But you're sad.
Honestly, I was...
a bit shocked.
You know, she was a grandma to all of our kids.
In plural families, they... they separate.
You know, these are my grandkids.
But she was really, truly a grandma to all of the kids.
And she treated them that way,
Sheryl was really great at just being there...
and connecting with people.
She'll definitely be missed.
[Kody] My dad passed away about six years ago.
And grandma Sheryl and my mom, my bio-- biological mom
Grandma Genielle
uh, stayed close after my dad's passing.
You know, Sheryl was a sweetheart.
[sighs wearily] She was always really sweet to me and my kids.
Sheryl was the last wife coming into a family.
We had a lot of things in common.
It was something that...
I appreciated her kindness about.
Sheryl's funeral was hard.
It was sad.
She was conscious enough to make the choice,
cause they said, "Do you want us to resuscitate you?"
She said, "No."
It was her birthday and she decided she wanted to go home to heaven.
And spend her birthday...
[smacks lips]
With her husband.
In our faith, we believe that our earthly life
is just a small part of our existence.
When we die, we're reunited with everybody who we have
lost and who's gone before.
So like I fully expect
that when it's my turn she'll be there waiting for me.
And that gives me a lot of comfort.
I've caught myself in the last few weeks
just kind of reflecting and being like,
"Okay, look.
Do I still choose plural marriage?"
With Kody and I right now, our relationship is pretty strained.
And you know it'd be really easy,
it's easy... to walk away.
I just wanted to visit Janelle.
You know, check on her and see how she's doing as far as her mom passing.
It's very easy to stop talking to each other
unless we need to.
I really don't, uh... have much communication with Robyn right now.
These are... the ornaments.
Oh! Oh, yeah. We can have a chance to do some of that this year.
Our lives just don't really overlap.
It's sad, but it's just the truth.
I wanted to see how you're doing, how the funeral was and
- how you're doing and... - Yeah.
It... it was good, um...
You know, mom's been sick for a while.
And she really did miss when her husband, you know, so...
She was-- I think she was glad to go home.
I am really sorry I wasn't there, I mean...
I was with you guys in spirit.
And the family was all pretty respectful. Kody and I...
um, you know, tried to...
- wear our masks. - Yeah.
So it was pretty good, and then... I had no idea
that you could take these tests...
like the test that you can take now, like-- you don't have to be sick.
- I guess I thought, you had to be sick. - Oh!
I was talking to somebody, they were like, then you guys
can just do rapid tests, and I was like...
Yes.
Just recently
there started to be this like, saliva based rapid COVID test
that you can do and you don't have to be sick.
Honestly, Christmas wouldn't be happening
through no fault of our own...
if we didn't have this option.
We got back from my mom's funeral
and Kody's been here at the house.
If anybody tests positive,
I mean it would mean separate Christmas's.
And I--I don't think...
I--I don't think I wanna witness that.
I think that would be very, very sad.
Kody can't even go to see Robyn's kids until he know he's...
safe, like no COVID.
So Christmas is about a week away.
They could come back positive and then,
what are we gonna do?
I could be having Christmas with just me my kids and Meri.
You know, I don't think any of us thought this would go as long as it has.
- Oh, no. - And it's changed our culture maybe permanently.
I've actually been going through...
kind of a mourning process.
For what it was like before, the easy way that we just all got together.
Yeah!
[clears throat]
COVID is sort of... pulled this blanket off of some of our issues.
I actually think so too.
These things were there before this.
We have two choices.
To either fixed it, or just let it
completely damage us and change us.
I think COVID has been a little bit rough on our family.
Like... opened up this new platform
for us to... gripe at each other.
COVID has kind of...
exposed some of those things really...
like they are very noticeable now.
I've caught myself in the last weeks, kind of
reflecting and being like, "Okay look.
Do I still choose plural marriage?"
Yeah, I still choose it,
but I have to had that conscious decision with myself.
I've had to really think my children are... almost grown.
And... there's not a huge necessity anymore...
to stay. It was a wonderful way to raise children.
With Kody and I right now,
our relationship is pretty strained.
And you know, it'd be really easy, it's easy... to walk away.
You know, I haven't...
really ever...
thought about, well because Mariah is grown and out of the house.
Now, should I leave the family?
What I hoped polygamy to be when I was younger,
ended up being something very different
from what I actually have lived.
The thing is, as we're heading into Christmas...
and...
I need to be present...
and be grateful for the family that I have.
I am who I am today because of polygamy because I've lived it.
It's given... given me a lot to think about, for sure.
I--I think I've been shocked at how... we've handled
the pandemic.
It's made me think like, "Why would we choose to do it how we've done this?"
- Yeah! - Cause I really wanna work this crap out.
Like I really, really do.
Could be just that
somehow we've lost sight of that we're all in this together.
[scoffs] Anyway, it's freezing.
It's getting colder and colder so...
Thanks for the wreath.
It's gonna remake us on the other side.
We're going to look differently.
- See you soon. - Alright, see ya.
Yay!
And I hope it looks the same, like the adults are all together still.
[Kody] Grandma Sheryl's funeral was four days ago and Janelle and I
just recently had gotten back
So, I'm gonna go take a COVID test and
hopefully, get cleared, so I can go over to Robyn's house.
Here's the thing, you get to a funeral, you get in an environment,
you just have to sort of throw caution to the wind.
Hugging people that that--I don't know where you've been.
So I am just nervous about it.
It's just the--and I feel little hypocritical because I...
broke all my rules.
I promised Robyn that I would be around for Sol and Ari for Christmas.
And I here with urgent care just praying to God
that um... [clears throat] that I test negative for COVID.
I promised Robyn when I was going, I just...
had to give her the confidence
to be okay with me leaving.
And so I am just like, I promise you I'll be back here for Christmas.
If I got a... positive result,
I don't know if I'd ever be forgiven.
So I am...
all excited to know. I am just hoping...
that it's negative.
So here's hoping.
[music playing]
Somebody is at the door, Ari.
How's my sweetie?
Oh my gosh! It's daddy.
[Robyn] Kody testing negative was just such a relief because my kids are just...
really missing their dad.
It's been ten days and Ari barely makes it through two.
And even when he leaves, she...
really struggles and...
like tries to stop him, and like, "Why...
why are you leaving me again?"
Wait. I got to give mommy a hug. [both laughing]
[Robyn] I'm looking forward to Christmas a lot,
because if we are able to be together,
I'm just gonna have some, such a nice...
time, being able to hang around with everybody
and... feel like normal.
- Nice to see you. - Nice to see you too.
It's Christmas day.
Does everybody see where their stocking is?
We've had a lot of struggles this year, as a result
I am not really feeling that joyful this Christmas.
[festive music playing]
Christmas holiday is here.
And we have been...
staying home and following all the rules. And now we get to get together.
We've been doing everything on the list for quarantining.
I am the only one that leaves the house to go shopping.
And--as much as possible, I get grocery pick-up.
The amount of wipes that we've gone through is astronomical.
The amount of hand sanitizer is disgusting.
When we got back from my mom's funeral, we all tested
to make sure we weren't carrying the virus.
And we really just stayed home.
And we all came back negative on the 20th so...
we were good. We were gonna be able to have Christmas together after all.
Well! We have made it to Christmas.
We are finally... getting together.
[indistinct conversation]
We'll have the blessing.
Dearly father, thank you for all of your blessings.
Thank you for the wonderful year we've had.
[Kody] I am struggling to be excited.
We are gathered together.
I had gotten myself to the place
where I was prepared to not have Christmas together
if they didn't wanna comply,
because... I was tired of the fight.
So I just want a peaceful Christmas.
[All] Amen.
I did text my family.
I said, "Hey!
Let's make certain topics off limits for our kids so we don't have issues."
We're not talking COVID.
We're not talking politics. Nothing.
I am going to kick my boys under the table if they say anything.
- Ever. - Yeah, right.
Who's gonna be my helpers?
[indistinct conversation]
Meri usually does pajamas on Christmas eve.
Instead of Christmas day giving the kids each a gift, this is her gift to the kids.
- Thank you, Meri. - Thank you, Meri.
Apparently, Meri is not doing pajamas this year.
I don't know how else to describe this. It's a wearable teddy bear.
[indistinct shouting]
[indistinct conversation]
[Kody] The little kids are having fun.
You know they are interacting in a way that they haven't for months.
[Robyn] Everything that we've been sitting here worrying about
through this whole year has just kind of...
disappeared right now. And we're just enjoying ourselves.
We are headed over to Robyn's house
to have our traditional Christmas morning.
It's Christmas day.
Today is Christmas day and we're all gathering up to have Christmas together.
Does everybody see where their stocking is?
Generally, the kids draw names.
The adults, all give gifts to each other.
We all take care of our own children.
And then we work on the stockings together.
Thank you.
- Aww. - Is it from her or her?
- Savanah. - Thank you, Savanah.
It's interesting and it's even a little sad
that Ariella is forgetting who her brothers and sisters are.
Thank you. This is awesome.
Come here, bud. It's a Halo.
Thank you.
And it was just really, really fun to actually be together
in each other's face...
and just hanging out with everyone.
Thanks sis. Aw! This is so cute.
Being together for this holiday,
is kind of melting away some of the hurts and stuff that...
um, at least for me, that has happened through COVID.
[Kody] We've had a lot of struggles this year with COVID
with relationships the passing of Grandma Sheryl.
As a result,
I am a little blue. I am not...
really feeling that joyful this Christmas.
Hello... Handsome.
I think we've damaged some relationships.
So I think it's time to get kind of get back
to the normalcy and see if we can...
smooth some of those things out.
This is definitely the quietest Christmas we've ever had.
Overall, I'd say our Christmas's are always really good.
We just kind of put whatever problem and issue, individuals...
we'll be having, we just kind of put those aside and...
just tackle that on another day.
And let's just focus on...
celebrating us together instead.
It was a great Christmas.
[narrator] Next time on Sister Wives
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
I got a call from child care provider. She said that her husband...
and her...
were testing positive for COVID.
We're done.
We're not gonna hang out again.
He said, "I am not interested in having an intimate marriage anymore."
I am not okay with staying in a marriage where there is no intimacy.
I came out to the garage
Why is it Christine's house?
Kody's books.
Kody's clothes.
I guess, I've been moved out of the house.
I don't know what to tell my kids.
[sobbing]