Christmas 2021 Highlights

This Christmas we were grateful to get to host my mom, Kris (my brother), Cara, my two nieces, and my furry niece, Molly. Molly is a sweet old girl, at age about 14, and we were curious to see how she’d handle Finley’s rowdy puppy energy.

The first hour they spent figuring things out, but before long they had a nice rhythm established of play until Molly said “enough” pretty plainly. Finley loved her and weaseled her way up the ladder to ultimately becoming a snuggle buddy. It was super cute.

The crew arrived on the 22nd, a beautiful afternoon, so we spent it outside by the fire pit sipping white Christmas margaritas. Only when the sun finally set did we come inside for fajitas!

The 23rd was another clear day, perfect for our plans of hitting up the US National White Water Center. It’s a gem for outdoor enthusiasts, just west of the city. In the winter they transform the upper river area into an ice skating rink, and that was our destination.

This was the highlight of the kids’ day, despite them holding on to the railing to scoot themselves along 95% of the time. I got a pretty good rhythm going, catching up to mom and Kris, before ultimately ending in a spectacular slip that mom caught on video. Nothing broken though!

After a couple hours of ice skating we grabbed lunch at their restaurant before making our way over to the kids’ obstacle course. As always, it was a huge hit for the kids as they climbed and clung their way through it.

Late afternoon we arrived home to a special surprise Mom had orchestrated. After our amazing Montana Ranch Experience this past summer, Mom decides to keep the family trip tradition going strong.

She hid clues around the house, leading the kids on a scavenger hunt to discover a word at each hiding place before placing them all on the table to spell out the plans for 2022. After a lot of giggles through the process, the kids finally solved the puzzle: “Let’s take a family trip to Disney World!” …and the sheiks of anticipatory bliss ensued.

After that, it was nothing but talk of theme parks (HARRY POTTER WORLD!), rides, and more. We snacked and chatted while Kris and David made seafood gumbo. We watched old family travel videos and got excited about our summer (send me all the tips for staying cool…) adventure to Disney’s The Beach Club!

Christmas Eve was an all day affair, full of decorating sugar cookies, baking chocolate chip cookies, playing games, and eating snacks. This is a great time for me to give a shoutout to all those that helped make this Christmas come together. Usually I strive to be the hostess with the mostest, but this year I needed help.

I don’t know if it was just life in general, or the extra tasks of managing Bearolina while trying to close on selling our rental in Charlotte, or if I just couldn’t fully get my act together, but this Christmas was 100% a group effort. My friend baked extra sugar cookies and generously offered us plenty to decorate so I didn’t have to spend an extra hour or two in the kitchen at the last minute.

And the Christmas stretch itself was a collaborative affair with Mom in the kitchen, Kris running to the store, David handling everything from puppy chewed Christmas lights to beef tenderloin, and Cara batting clean up. I’m grateful for the low key vibe and for family that steps in so effortlessly. It really made everything come together!

We spent Christmas Eve playing Catan, and right in the middle of it, SANTA CALLED US! He does this every year on Christmas Eve and the kids always look forward to it. After some brief chatting about what the kids have been up to, Santa had to be on his way.

We finished our game, snapped our matching pajamas pic, set out milk, cookies, and carrots, said goodbye to the elves, then sent the kids to bed while we ended the evening watching Christmas Vacation.

Christmas morning arrived in all it’s glory. Santa came and once the clock struck 7:30, the coffee machine grinded the beans and the girls were allowed out of their room, shrieking “we’re FREE” to come downstairs to see what Santa had brought.

From there, organized chaos ensued. Hailey and Kaitlyn got the roller skates they asked for and some new books, too! We then dived into family gifts where it was clearly evident we are all very fortunate. I know I personally felt loved and spoiled, receiving gifts I hadn’t anticipated, and it was great fun watching the girls unwrap the American Girl dolls they have been swooning over for months. With one person opening at a time and breakfast sandwiched in the middle, the fun stretched through the morning.

By noon, the girls were itching to go play with all their new toys, so we spent most the afternoon outside, wishing neighbors a Merry Christmas, adding stripes of (washable!) color to Kaitlyn’s hair, and crossing our fingers no one crashed too hard on the rip stick.

We cooked the stovetop Stathas Christmas potatoes all afternoon, and brought it all together in the evening with tenderloin, a farro salad, sautéed mushrooms, and rolls. I botched the pecan pie, which is hilarious because it’s a fairly simple pie, but we ate the crumbles over vanilla ice cream and whaddya know, it worked out just fine.

We spent Boxing Day morning sipping coffee on the porch and letting the kids play before Kris and crew headed back home. We had another day of games and playing with Nana before she headed home on the 27th. It was such a full, festive few days and I’m so grateful that we got to be together and celebrate Christmas!

I’m writing this now on the morning of the 28th, and looking around at a house completely undecorated and put away. I can’t help it; the new year energy always has me itching for a clean slate! Today I’m considering completely gutting our kitchen contents and reorganizing. I know it’s a bit ambitious, but for as much time as I spend in there, I think it would be a gift to myself.

How was your holiday season? Did you thrive? Survive? A mix of both? Are you savoring it or looking forward to the freshness of the new year? How are you spending this limbo week?