We celebrated our annual Family Christmas this past Saturday, a tradition we started six years ago (I think?), since we usually go out of town the week of Christmas to visit extended family. It’s one of our family’s favorite parts of the season!
We start with breakfast that our kids help make. This year we had pancakes, eggs, bacon, Brown Sugar Biscuit Twists, fruit, tater tots, and orange juice.
Then it’s opening gifts — which we do one at a time in order of age. Micah and Kierstyn were thrilled about their gifts (they each got four gifts), especially their bows and arrows!!
One of the big highlights of the day was David getting SO excited about opening a gift, actually opening it, and then carrying it around for the next hour and playing with it. He’s never shown much interest in opening gifts before so this was such a big milestone!
After presents, we hung out for the rest of day — doing a puzzle that Kathrynne got me, the kids playing with their gifts, eating snacks, watching football and some shows, and just being together! I decided to not even think about cleaning up anything until the next day and was just in the moment.
We loved having Will (Kathrynne’s boyfriend), Emma (Kathrynne’s roommate and good friend), RJ (Kaitlynn’s boyfriend), and Isabel (our long-time friend) join us for the special morning!
Jesse and the three older kids got me the BEST gifts for Christmas (I didn’t make a list so their gifts were a total surprise and they did such an amazing job picking things I absolutely love!!)
Silas got me this pair of Adidas — my first ever, I think? He buys me a pair of nice shoes every Christmas and has the most amazing taste in shoes!! He was really concerned I might not know how to style these but so far has approved how I’ve worn them. I LOVE these and have already worn them multiple times!
Kaitlynn got me this fancy bread cutting knife called a Bread Bow! It has taken my homemade bread game to a new level!! Seriously, if you make homemade bread, get one of these!! It is SO fun to use and cuts the perfect slices of bread.
Kathrynne got me this vintage puzzle that she has and I adore it (already started it! because it combines two things I am a big fan of – puzzles and traveling!! Plus, it’s brightly colored so it’s really fun to put together!
Jesse got me this bread box which I was SO excited about as it will keep our bread fresher and help our kitchen look more organized!!
He also got me a handmade bread bag from an Etsy seller (if you know me, you know love supporting small businesses!) to store my sourdough loaves in!
And finally, Jesse got me this sweatshirt from Etsy, too, which I could not love any more than I do!!! I guess you can say I’m fully in my Sourdough Era.
I have big plans for some different sourdough things I hope to perfect this coming year because it brings me so much joy AND my family gets to eat the fruit of my hobby – which is a win-win!
We are in Kansas this week celebrating Christmas with both of our extended families! I’m looking forward to making lots of special memories with them!
I hope you have a really special Christmas this year. If you are struggling this Christmas, read this post I wrote last year at Christmas. I hope it really encourages your heart.
Christmas reminds us that Hope entered the world quietly and changed everything.
Not for one day.
Not for one season.
But for everyday life.
May that truth shape how we live, love, and show up all year long.
