Merry Christmas 2025

We kind of like to ramp up things up the days leading to Christmas. The treats get better, the movies more favorited. music more carol-y. Peak night is Christmas Eve Eve.

Short ribs, risotto, pretzel jello, vegetables, sparkling cider. Dress code: no t-shirts, pants with no holes.

After dinner we decorated the sugar cookies we baked earlier that day.

My kids don't like eating sugar cookies but they do like frosting them. 

Then we opened new pajamas.

Then we watched the Peanuts Christmas Special and went to bed.

Christmas Eve I made divinity. I wanted to try to put the divinity into a bag and pipe it, to see if it would improve the texture. It did not. It was really hard to pipe and Justin had to do most of it. They looked pretty but they turned out drier than normal. (I could have over cooked or over mixed it and that's why it was dry but we'll never know). I don't think I would bag it again.

We went to Justin's parents' house for the day. We started with Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes for lunch. This was my suggestion so of course I was thrilled. It was so delicious. I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as me. 

Justin's dad demonstrating roll forming like a pro.

Justin was paying rapt attention. I hope that means he's going to become the roll maker at home.

We played games and did crafts.

 

Then we took a home videos from 1993 break while the kids got ready for the nativity.

Then we opened presents! 

Our gift to Nadine. It's funny because it's true.

Once we got home, the kids went straight to bed and we made sure all was ready for Santa.

 

Santa came!

Christmas morning Henry woke us up at 7 like he always does. Erica admitted she got up at 2:30 and didn't go back to sleep until 5:30. 

Then we got started on breakfast. Ebelskivers, bacon, sausage, eggs, chocolate milk, orange juice, jams, whipped cream.

My parents came over later that morning and then we spent the rest of the day playing games and lounging around and playing with new stuff. 

Are We Ready?

The last week or so has been going full throttle doing all the Christmas time things. I volunteered to help in James's class party. I really missed helping at class parties last year so I'm helping this year if I can. I waited a few days before signing up to give other parents a chance but was happy to see that they still needed help so here I am.  We did a round of cookie face and then a round of Christmas charades and then a marshmallow stacking contest. It was a full 7 minutes but these kids have short attention spans so we had to keep it moving.  Then I checked James out a few minutes early and there was just one more half day of school between him and Christmas break.

James made these little paper Christmas people in class.

He's not sure what they are for but I love them. I put little votive candles inside during dinner a couple of nights.

Here's the card he wrote his teacher to go along with a giftcard. He's so sweet and funny.

Since I've walked every street of my town, it's a rare thing for me to discover something new near my home where I walk every day. I saw someone going down the dirt road near our house and then turn abruptly behind a concrete fence. I continued down the dirt road but watched them continue walking along the concrete ditch past a few fields and then to a dead end street on the far side. You better believe I came home that day, reversing their route. 

I had to walk over some planks but that was fun. I sure hope some home/field owner isn''t annoyed by people walking along this fence. It's pretty fun to have different way home.

The kids quietly playing games under the tree one morning. Christmas break is the best.

A lot. Like a lot a lot of Christmas cookies. Peanut butter and red and green M&Ms. Lots of these went to neighbors and friends. A lot we kept.

Dipping chocolates

We did a lot of caramels, pretzels, and Oreos. We dipped whole cookies in chocolate too and that's the way to go.

The kids did a great job of sticking with it for a good length of time. Although I'm sad that Christmas isn't as spazzy energetically magical for them as they get older, it is nice to have more help.

Having a warm Christmas does have it's upsides. They rode in the bed of the truck on their beanbags to see the Festival of Lights because I think it was like 56 degrees. They chatted and cheered and mildly argued the entire time. It was nice to listen to them from the warmth of the cab.

Some new lights this year. Christmas tulips.

Then there are the perennial favorites like the Christmas castle,

The Christmas cowboys

Christmas dinosaurs, or maybe they are Christmasauruses.

And I guess if you have any animal ice fishing, it is Christmas too. So many things fishing.

It's still a good time and they will never get too old for it.