But let’s back up a bit to Christmas!
The boys have been out of school since the weekend before Christmas and we’ve filled our days with so much holiday fun! We kicked off winter break with gingerbread decorating with Ryder’s class on Friday followed by a cookie-decorating party at our house for 25 kids. I am pretty sure I’ll be finding sprinkles on the ground for the next three years.
It was worth it a million times over.
During the cookie decorating party we also did a holiday book exchange where every family wrapped up their favorite holiday book to bring and the kids drew numbers to pick one book for each family to bring home. (We eliminated any steals due to the ages and high emotions of the kids but some families swapped on the side if their children opened a book they already owned.) We wrapped up Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree and walked away with Christmas at Hogwarts which was the perfect fit for our Harry Potter-loving crew.
Chase and Ryan also ran in an Elf Run 5K while Rhett and Ryder participated in a Tot Trot 100 yard dash the same morning. All three boys loved the festive race day atmosphere.
We were all especially proud of Chase for accomplishing a big goal — a 5K PR (26:08!) and a first-place finish in his age group!
After placing fourth in the same 5K last year and missing an age group award by one place, he was determined to place this year, so it was wonderful to see him accomplish a goal that felt very important to him.
Christmas Eve + Christmas Day
We spent Christmas Eve as a family and went to the afternoon service at our church before spending the evening driving around looking at Christmas lights. Looking at twinkling lights on Christmas Eve will forever be one of my favorite family activities during the holiday season. Every single year, as we drive around bundled up in a packed car, I find myself feeling a swirl of the most intensely wonderful emotions — so, so much gratitude, poignant awareness that this time with our young children goes by so fast, nostalgia thinking about Christmases past and anticipation for the magic of Christmas morning the next day. It’s one of those “this is the good stuff” moments for me every year where my heart feels so full.
Christmas morning began very dark and very early when Chase and Ryder were wide awake at 3:30 a.m., ready to rush downstairs and fly through their Christmas stockings. We managed to hold them off until 6 a.m. which felt a little more reasonable. They woke up a still-sleeping Rhett who immediately said he was ready to be awake and listening to the boys yell out the presents they spotted from the upstairs balcony with so much anticipatory excitement in their voices is something I wish I could relive over and over again. Christmas with kids is pure magic.
The major hits of Christmas for our kids included dirt bikes, remote-control monster trucks and oversized Pokemon stuffed animals. Stocking stuffers they absolutely loved included flat-to-fast cars (the biggest hit for all 3 boys), a calculator and stop watch for Chase, Hot Wheels cars, DigiPets (a Target $5 find for the win), FlipSlide (perfect for our Christmas Day road trip) and new StickerWOWs for Rhett.
For the past few years, we’ve made the drive to Florida on Christmas around lunchtime and, as long as our boy are still begging to head south, we’ll continue the tradition. They love their time in Florida with Mae and Pop and my sister’s family and the drive on Christmas Day is so incredibly smooth. The boys watched Rudolph on the drive down and Ryan and I used their distracted time to play The Couples Game I put in his stocking which honestly made the drive feel fun!
We arrived in Jacksonville before dinnertime which gave the boys time to open one present (magician costumes + magic trick kits from Mae and Pop) before dinner. Christmas Day ended with a plethora of magic shows, chili and family time when my sister and her family came over to spend the evening with our crew, too!
The next few days in Florida were good but dreary ones, as the weather was rather gray and drizzly during most of our visit. We still managed to get outside for some park playtime, Zoo Lights at the Jacksonville Zoo (so cool!) and walks to a local coffee shop for peppermint mocha lattes and pup cups for Pepper.
And Chase and Ryan had some seriously good luck fishing despite the rain on Sunday!
They arrived home with enough fish to feed our crew and then some for dinner on Sunday night!
My mom and dad do so much to make our time in Florida feel easy and relaxing and I told my parents that at one point in the days leading up to Christmas, when craziness kicked into full gear, I told myself that the moment we arrived in Florida was the moment I knew I’d be able to fully relax. What a gift that felt like to me this holiday season. I absolutely LOVE being a mom to young kids during Christmas (truly, it’s my very favorite) but even the FUN can feel like a lot when it’s so jam-packed so the deep exhale we all felt during our time in Florida over the past six days was something we cherished.
We arrived back home in North Carolina yesterday, just in time for Chase to make his best friend Maddie’s ice skating birthday party. Since the boys are still out of school, we have plans to spend the next few days getting organized, packing up our Christmas decorations and sneaking in some family fun, too. We have zeroooo plans for New Years’ Eve tonight which was intentional as we’re heading out at 7 a.m. to spend New Years Day snow tubing in the mountains!
I hope to snap some pictures to share with all of you soon but, until then, I hope your holiday season continues to be filled with magic and relaxation and that your 2025 is your very best year yet!
