Christmas 2025

Well - it wasn't my intention to just up and abandon my blog last week but then I got hit with some sort of virus that took me down HARD and then it was NYE and then I just decided to give myself a few days ;) 

That said - I'm not sure anyone cares about Christmas content at this point but I love looking back on these posts so I wanted to document it anyway ;) 

We celebrated our first Christmas on 12/23 with Dave's parents, brother, sister-in-law and niece and I LOVE having younger kids around because it means my kids dive in to the toy bins right along with them ;)

I made a giant pot of meat sauce and then served that over pasta with LOTS of bread and Caesar salad. I think this is one of the easiest meals to serve if you're hosting and is always a crowd-pleaser.

Our niece is SUPER into Hello Kitty and I was happy to oblige that whim ;) I got her a ton of Hello Kitty lip glosses, pens, stickers, etc. along with this purse which is DARLING!!!

Dave's parents found this old camera while they were moving and gave it to Mason...

... along with this book which cracked us all up.

We had smooth operator pie from Emporium...

... and the kids all had to work for their cash gifts ;) hahaha

I'm only sharing this pic because LOOK HOW CUTE the back of G's shirt is!

Christmas Eve morning we cleaned and prepped a few things including our Christmas eve games.

And then in the afternoon we headed to my brother's house to celebrate with his family and my parents. 

We brought dessert....

.... and my SIL had the most gorgeous charcuterie spread out.  

We opened presents...

... took 0.5 pics (as you do if you have a pre-teen in your party)...

... made them line up shortest to tallest (6, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 17)...

... and then headed to church. There's always a "children's story" portion on Christmas Eve and I was smiling so big because one of G's friends was there and so they went down with her younger sister.  Didn't think I'd see her on these stairs again ;) 

I turned to snap a photo during the candlelight portion and when I got home and looked at it I immediately thought of this picture of G when she was little...

When we got home we had a snacky sort of dinner...

... just a bunch of my kids pics that are quick and easy. 

... and then it was time for PJs and Christmas Eve games. 

I'll share the details of what we play and how I run the prizes in another post.   

... but it always ends with scratch off lottery tickets because nothing says "Happy Birthday, Jesus" like scratch offs ;) hahahaha

My parents left, we cleaned up and then we settled in to watch the Best Christmas Pageant Ever which always makes me SOB.  I refuse to watch it any other time than Christmas Eve and it's my absolute FAVORITE way to end the night.

We're no longer up at the crack of dawn so it was probably 8:30-ish before we were up and opening presents.  Luke was actually pet-sitting for friends of ours and so he was out the door by about 7:00 a.m. and then back by about 8:00 and THEN we could start.  I hide the Christmas pickle ornament in the tree before they get downstairs and the person who finds it gets to open the first present so we did that...

... and then got settled in on the couch for gifts. 

I always swear that I'm going to take tons of pics and then I get so wrapped up in watching them open stuff and just hanging out that I forget.

Frank with Mason's Frank socks ;) 

My view ;)

We kept breakfast simple...

... and then spent the rest of the day pretty much just laying around, playing games, etc. 

I'm not going to lie - I was SO EXCITED to make this incredible braised short rib recipe. Everyone was playing outside (Mason got Bucket Golf) and I started prepping and then realized that I didn't buy the right short ribs (I had bought these super thin cut korean style ribs).  I was SO MAD at myself (because dumb dumb mistake) and after I cried about it for a minute (ridiculous but I felt like I ruined the day) I rallied and then we literally had leftovers and grilled cheese sandwiches for Christmas dinner ;)

It made me laugh so hard because as Mason was eating reheated pigs in a blanket and queso he goes "maybe we dodged a bullet" and it was then that I realized that the meal itself means absolutely nothing to my kids ;) 

We ended the day on the couch with Frank swaddled and it was such a fun day!

Merry (late) Christmas, friends!