We had a lot of fun this December leading up to Christmas. In addition to our annual Christmas countdown, we bought this GIANT Lindt chocolate advent calendar. It was so cool! It has multiple full size packs and bars of chocolate as well as large chocolate characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this.
We took our time exchanging and opening gifts. There were lots of laughs. We paused to eat some cinnamon rolls too. It was truly such a wonderful morning together. I did take a picture of a gift that I was so very excited to give to Ryan: a commissioned portrait of our pups!
Of course, the dogs had their Trader Joe's advent calendar too. Needless to say, they were excited to get this little treat each day.
Speaking of the dogs, look how cute they are!
Mia's class had fun getting ready for Christmas. All the girls dressed up as the nativity scene; Mia was one of the wise men.
We enjoyed hosting the 11th grade dessert portion of Yule Fest. There was an Italian theme to food this year, so we made a fruit with mascarpone parfait, Talenti raspberry sorbet, mini cannoli, and Italian cookies. These were all delicious options.
The kids had fun eating together and then having a white elephant gift exchange.
We usually have quite a few new ornaments on our tree each year to commemorate our travels. We actually didn't take any big trips this year, so there weren't too many new ones. We did buy some from shows we saw in NYC and Knoxville which I like, but I also love these.
I love our tree; it makes me so happy!
The finishing touches were put out on Christmas Eve. We knew the girls would be excited to see gift card trees greeting them in the morning. Their big gift this year is an upcoming trip to New York City. We had originally planned to surprise them with the trip on Christmas, but a Delta email ruined that plan a few months. We still put out the names of the shows we'd see as a reminder of what was coming. All stockings seemed to be overly stuffed and ready too!
Christmas morning arrived, and I decided I wasn't interested in taking pictures. I just wanted to enjoy the morning with my people. I did however take a picture of the dogs getting their new toys (when did I become such a dog person?).
We took a little break after opening all the gifts to enjoy them and clean up a bit, and then we made a fantastic lunch of wagyu steak, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, pineapple casserole, pears, sourdough bread, and sparkling grape juice. It was delicious!
Mom and Dad came over for a few minutes early afternoon, and then we had a quiet, enjoyable afternoon and evening. This was nice because we knew we had a busy upcoming few days!
On the 26th, we got up early and headed up to Jefferson City. We haven't been able to go for several years. We were glad it worked out to go this year though and catch up with everyone. Deanna, Matt, Hailey, and Jackson had flown in from Washington for the first time in 9 years. Jason, Erin, John Patton, Fletcher, and Georgia all live in Knoxville; we hadn't even met their kids before! We appreciated Johnny Wayne and Nancy hosting all of us as well as Erin's parents for the day. We had the cherry pork which is what Granny made for us each year; that was a fun flashback. It was a great time of catching up with everyone in person. I'm very thankful we had this time together. We had to leave around 4 though to get on back so we could get packed up.
Early on the 27th, we headed down to the airport to fly down to Tampa, so we could spend a few days with David and Jan. I've never seen it so busy before; it was crazy! We were all glad when finally made it to our gate and then had a safe flight down. It was so great to see David and Jan and spend time with them! We were all able to relax and simply enjoy time with one another. Jan and I had fun doing some post-Christmas shopping together, and we all enjoyed lots of good food together. We spent a couple of afternoons out on the boat too; the weather was gorgeous.
Apparently I took my "stay in the moment, no pictures" theme quite seriously because I didn't get any other pictures of our time here either (no Christmas morning, no TN, and no other FL...yeesh). We had a great time though and were giving lots of big hugs as we left to fly back home on the 30th.
We spent new year's eve just hanging around the house. It was a nice quiet day. We then enjoyed a fantastic charcuterie for dinner with my new huge board. It was great! We then rang in the new year and headed to bed.
I always enjoy putting together a 9-best of the year collage. This was a wonderful year with many memories that I'll always be grateful for. I am thankful for the people and pups who made 2025 special.
Bring on 2026 - we're ready!
