This was our first Christmas in the new house and honestly I’m amazed we had it up and running enough to host! But we did and we were so excited to have Mom, Kris, Cara, Kyla, and Lacey in town for the holiday. Mom arrived mid-day on the 21st and met us at the girls’ basketballs games, along with Mema. The girls loved having both grandmas there to cheer them on! We headed back to the house after to anticipate the arrival of the rest of the crew, who arrived later that night after a surprise ER visit for my youngest niece for stitches. She was such a trooper!
We eased into the morning of the 22nd with breakfast and a Finley sniffari before heading into Greenville for the day. Downtown was bustling and felt all kinds of festive. We ate lunch at Juniper, which was a hoot! They had performers singing and making the rounds to each table, which our crew found to be hilarious. Afterwards we explored the Christmas Market outside The Grand Bohemian and wandered the stores downtown before heading home later afternoon for chili by the fire.
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Christmas Adam (because Adam came before Eve, of course) is one of my favorite days for family because there is no agenda or expectation. It started with prolonged coffee sipping and chatting in the living room before hiking a couple miles around the neighborhood. We searched for the elves, decorated sugar cookies, made Mexican dip and Grandma Betty’s onion dip, played Spades, and simply enjoyed each others’ company.
In the evening we played a new (to us) game- the Saran wrap ball game! A quick google will give you all the details if you’re unfamiliar, but essentially you wrap small prizes in Saran wrap, then a person tries to unroll the Saran wrap ball with oven mitts on until the person in front of them rolls doubles with the dice and then the unwrapping shifts to the next person.
Mom and I had found some silly a fun small gifts like roasted crickets, a rubber snake, gum, lottery tickets, lip glosses, hot sauces, etc to wrap and I think the kids got a kick out of it! It probably took 15 minutes to play and there was a lot of laughter.
Afterwards we ate Shepherd’s pie and cheered the Packers on to a victory, completely decked out and showing off the Stathas Super Bowl ring picture on Kris’ phone. Go, Pack, Go!
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One challenge for Christmas Eve was finding a service to attend. A top 2025 goal for us in finding a church, but we haven’t had the opportunity to church hop much yet. Fortunately there are so many that surround us, so we chose a church that was close by and attended a very spirited children’s service that was sweet and had wonderful live music with classic Christmas songs. I’m so glad we went; something about singing those classic Christmas songs in a church gives me chills every time. And hopefully we’ll have a home church to celebrate with next year.
The day was gorgeous, so we spent the afternoon playing outside, enjoying the sunshine, and smoking chicken wings, which might be our favorite food we’ve made thus far on the Kamado Joe. In the late afternoon Kris took on the task and tradition of making the seafood gumbo and he knocked it out of the park. We modify Emeril’s recipe a bit and it was DELICIOUS.
The girls had been working all afternoon of a performance for us and as the sun went down they treated us all to the most amazing compilation of pajama-clad piano playing, singing, and readings from the bible I’ve ever experienced. I definitely had tears coming down my face by the end of it; it was so precious.
Christmas Eve wrapped up with Kaitlyn making reindeer food and us all watching Christmas Vacation before the kids set out cookies and milk and took off to bed.
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Christmas morning dawned in a crisp and beautiful fashion. The kids knew they were allowed to come down at 7:30 so the adults made sure we were up by 7:00 to grab a cup of coffee. We were all thrilled to see Santa had come! I’ve been trying to on my phone less and in the moment more, but I’ll admit I was a little sad I didn’t get to record Kaitlyn bursting out of the stairwell all lit up and exclaiming Merry Christmas; it’s Christmas! with all childlike joy one could hope to experience!
The kids gave morning hugs then beelined it for their stockings and Santa gifts. We’re in a funny phase where the girls are just as thrilled to receive drum sets and nerf guns as they are fancy body scrubs and eyeshadow palettes.
After the initial Santa blitz, we’re an open-one-gift-at-a-time kind of family, which stretches the morning out and allows us all to admire the heartfelt, homemade gifts that the girls all make for us and each other. It makes for some really sweet moments, to be briefly interrupted by breakfast casseroles and French toast for sustenance.
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While we were all not-so-secretly hoping to wake up to a freak blizzard, a beautiful, clear day probably worked out better. There was ample opportunity to get outside and play with new gifts, which included a gymnastic bar for my niece, scooters and footballs, nerf guns and bubble guns, and a brand new softball for Kaitlyn, who has recently decided she’d like to try playing this new to her sport. Color me excited; as I’m now having flashbacks to my days at shortstop.
Inside the house we spent the afternoon flipping Christmas potatoes, trimming Brussels, making rolls, and David prepping the tenderloins. Per tradition, the Christmas dinner main course fell on his shoulders and since we had two (from Butcher Box, which were delicious), he decided to smoke one and roast one.
Once the sun had set, we set the tables- main dining for adults and a nearby decked out card table for the kids. Everyone sipped out of fancy glasses and had candles lit; it was very cozy. And the food was delicious! Smoked tenderloin won out over roasted if you’re curious. After dinner we torched our own creme Brulés, washed up the kitchen, and retired to the couch with full hearts and possibly even fuller bellies.
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I think everyone slept pretty darn well that night, and woke in the morning to a last fireside, coffee-sipping experience before packing up and heading out. I always refer to Christmas as a whirlwind, but I’m not sure that’s accurate. Instead it’s a time I love to step away from all the whirlwind demands and distractions and immerse myself fully in the family Christmas experience. Every year that passes I appreciate these moments more and know they are not to be taken for granted.
And that’s a wrap on Christmas 2024! At this point the whole house has been de-decorated and now looks completely empty and sterile, but it only adds to the good energy I have about going into a new year, finally settled in our home, and ready to personalize and make it our own. And now to enjoy these final few days of the best week of the year when none of us know which day it is and have nothing expected of us; ahhh bliss 😉 And may you have a blessed end to 2024! <3
