Christmas Eve & Christmas Day - 2023

Christmas Eve - one of my favorite days of the year. I love the time that we spend together as a family. We attend the Christmas Eve service at church - usually getting a family picture before the service. 

The candlelight service is a beautiful, peaceful service. 

After church, we head to Texas Roadhouse for a late lunch/early dinner. 

Once back home, the kids opened their "secret santa" gifts.

This year, Will bought Kaitee a Friends Little People set (so cute!)

Maddie got Will - she purchased a knife set and plastic compartments for his Legos (but he is currently using them for all of his Christmas candy, lol).

Kaitee picked Maddie's name. She found 2 pins from the movie Up (Grape Soda and Wilderness Explorers Club) and a National Parks scratch off poster. 

We ended our evening watching a few Christmas movies with the kids then prepped for Christmas morning (breakfast items and stockings ready). It was wonderful to end our evening with the lights turned down, Christmas music in the background and the glow of the lights throughout the house. 

Christmas morning - I woke up around 8:00 and woke up the rest of the family. 

We opened our stockings and then I started the gift opening by finding the first raffle ticket (envelope) on the tree. The ticket was for Will. LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!

Lego sets (old Ninjago sets that he didn't have, they were released before he started collecting them. Ebay is wonderful!)

Maddie loves Pioneer Woman!

My turn to find the matching raffle ticket on the gift...It's harder than you would think! We had gifts under 3 different trees!

Found my gift! Check out the wrap job! LOL

Kaitee's turn! She said "I'm officially an adult! I'm so excited to get new (purple) bath towels!

Matt got his first gift too (new slippers)!

The Iowa Hawkeye ornament came in this box...with a used Hardee's bag...um, okay!

My name was on the raffle ticket I pulled from the tree...luckily, I found the matching gift right away!

National Parks puzzle

Maddie purchased a candle from Walmart a while ago. She fell in love the scent but then they didn't carry that one anymore! I was able to find some online and surprise her!

At this point in time, our breakfast was ready so we stopped opening the gifts and enjoyed the yummy monkey bread and egg casserole.

Full Tummies and ready to go for round #2 of gift opening!!

Kaitee found a glass of The Great Muppet Caper at Goodwill this year. She loved it and we've been looking at other Goodwills for the rest of the set, with no luck. I found the other 3 on Ebay - I'd say she liked the surprise!

Maddie got a Cubs "Wrigleyville" City Connect pullover.

This picture represents Matt's & my upcoming trip to Arizona for Cubs Spring Training. Every time we say Phoenix, I hear Aunt Edna saying "You're driving me to Phoenix" in my head, LOL. Matt printed a picture of Aunt Edna making her announcement to Clark & Ellen.

Got my own name again! Maddie made sure to hide my gifts under all 3 trees so I'd have to look through ALL of the gifts!

Maddie's wrapping job! She taped the gift card to the bottom of a bowl...

Different presents (notice wrapping) but he had fun taking selfies!

The kids each picked a gift that they were guessing was theirs. They put their name on the box to see if they were right on Christmas morning. Surprisingly, Maddie and Will both guessed correctly! 

One of Kaitee's all time favorite movies is Pete's Dragon. I found this wooden block ornament "P" for Pete. 

Ellie & Carl from Up - Maddie's favorite movie. Sadly, Ellie lost her head in transit - I am thankful that Matt was able to repair her!

This is a painting done by our friend David (he also made the white ornament tree on the mantle). Maddie fell in love with it when she saw it so Matt bought it for her as a surprise.

Will - starting to feel left out since his name wasn't being pulled

Troy & Abed in the Morning - coffee mug (from the TV show Community)

This is an olive wood stable (made in Israel) to match Matt's nativity set that he purchased in Israel many years ago. I checked the measurements and felt that it would be a good fit for the set (at least Mary, Joseph and Jesus)...I was very wrong! Jesus and the manger fit well at least, lol.

Kaitee watched (and fell in love with) Cheers and Frasier this year. I found all of the Funko Pop characters to add to her collection.

Will & Maddie are anxious for nice weather so they can go out to try their hand at pickleball, disc golf and flying his drone (I've banned him from trying it in the house - see below video).

Maddie had way too much fun wrapping Matt's gifts! Here is a gift card, wrapped in packing tape!

Luckily, she was nice to me with the wrapping!

I bought a Cribbage board for Will and I to play cribbage together. I used to play with my grandad, many years ago (and my cousins whenever our families got together for Easter and Thanksgiving). Hopefully a few YouTube videos will clear out the cobwebs and I'll remember how to play!

Typically, you save the "big" gift for last...however, with the randomness of the raffle tickets hidden on the tree, there is no guarantee that a larger gift will be opened before/after a smaller gift. I am glad that Will & Matt both opened their "big" gift last. It was a good way to end our time of opening gifts!

Will got a new Chromebook. Bigger and faster than his school Chromebook and with touchscreen. He should find it easier to play online with his friends.

Matt's turn for his final gift!

Matt has been using the same letterboxing backpack for 16 years and it has shown its age in the last couple of years. The bottom of the bag is starting to fall apart, causing holes and the fear of losing or damaging his logbook/markers/stamps/etc. This bag was made for the Boy Scouts and the only way you could purchase it was through the Boy Scouts. Unfortunately, they stopped making them several years ago and we can't find them anywhere. Believe me, we've looked. 

Periodically, I look online to see if there are any listed on Ebay or some online store - always with no luck. In October, I FOUND ONE! It was used but in excellent condition! I bought it and put it aside for Christmas morning. I figured Matt would figure out what the gift was due to the odd shape...but (judging from his reaction in the video) I am guessing he was shocked and surprised! BINGO!!!

The old backpack (left) compared to the new one (right). 

What a fun morning (and early afternoon!) of opening gifts. I truly love our new way of opening gifts. I take so much time and energy shopping and wrapping gifts - this really makes Christmas morning very random, fun and extended. I love that it took us almost 6 hours to open our gifts - not necessarily because we had a lot to open but because we had to hunt for the raffle tickets hidden in the tree and then hunt for the gifts, hidden under 3 trees. It has become a special time for me...and hopefully the rest of the family. 

We got dressed and ready to head over to my parents house to celebrate Christmas with my family. We had a great dinner of mashed potatoes, fruit salad, lots of yummy treats and Chick-fil-A nuggets. 

My mom continues to put on a Christmas pageant every year. This year it was VERY simple but still meaningful to all of us. I am thankful that the kids still do this without complaint.

The Christmas box game - now it is tradition! You grab a box, roll the dice and follow the directions...

I'd forgotten this little fact...but Grammy had placed a pickle in one of the boxes last year. AND, that box was the big prize! I think it had $20 in it. This is why Will is smelling the box, to see if the pickle is in his box. However, Mom outsmarted him and placed a few baggies with pickle juice in boxes to throw us off the scent, so to speak! LOL

The other boxes have hodge podge cash (dollar bills, coins, etc) and/or candy, nuts, etc. This year, I got lucky and ended up with the pickle box!!

Us girls gave Mom & Dad a few gift cards to their favorite eating spots. I also found some block ornaments online and made one for each family to hang on their tree (ours is pictured below). 

Another wonderful Christmas in the books! The older I get, the more I cherish the memories and the time spent together with family and friends. We are truly blessed.