Christmas 2025

Things were very stressful leading into Christmas for me this year.  I'm  usually done with my shopping in mid-November. This year, I kept hoping and waiting that Gerrit would have a job so I kept putting off all my shopping.  Eventually, I had to realize that it wasn't going to happen in time and just go shopping.  I did need to cut back on presents a little, but we had so much kindness aimed at us from family and friends and it was in many ways, an even more special Christmas.

 

Molly made these two very cute gift bows!

We had to do all the gift wrapping on Christmas Eve.  Like I said, everything was so delayed. I would not push things back this late again. I had the older two help me wrap everything because we decided that presents would (mostly) not be surprises because I needed to make sure they would love everything they got.

Elliott had a few more surprises and he was made when he wouldn't let us see them, so he sent all of his stuffies to spy on us and report back to him.

                                                

Gerrit and I mostly used our Christmas money to buy things that we needed or small things we would normally have bought without thinking about, and I honestly loved it. My sister gave our family a gift card to Kneaders and I am so excited to use it! We also got some family treats from Hawaii from the Risks. Yum and some family sodas to try from Brooke. Delicious!

Miles got a cooking class from Santa, a rain/snow car cover and slippers from us, a puzzle book from siblings, an escape room trip and Fiiz card from the Stuarts, a trip to a restaurant he's wanted to try from the Larsens, some money he used to eat out from the Risks, and snowshoes from Brooke.

Molly got two sweaters from Santa, earrings and Woobles from us, nail polish from her brothers, new sneakers from the Stuarts, an Ulta spree from the Larsens, some money she's still deciding on from the Risks, and two darling miniatures kits from Brooke.

Elliott got a robot kit from Santa, a fidget toy and a pinball kit from us (the boys are putting it together above), a computer game from his siblings, the 5th illustrated Harry Potter and a Foxtrot book from the Stuarts, a family trip to the Zone Funplex from the Larsens, an adorable stuffed megalodon from the Risks, and a hammock from Brooke.

It really was a great Christmas (even though I will never put anything off that late ever, ever, ever again).

Light the World

Two things I loved this December:

We had a week of really gorgeous sunrises and sunsets the week before the solstice.  They were so peaceful and beautiful!

I love that we live near a Giving Machine!  We set a careful budget and we all got to pick something, and it's one of my very favorite family traditions at this point.

End of the School Year

The end of December is always a little frantic with tests and homework before the semester ends!  Not pictured: the days spent studying for a very late-semester calculus exam.  That was BRUTAL.

Elliott made an ornament as part of his December homework grid.

Molly got to make this very fun glass straw in science!

Elliott does not love the Christmas Sing but I'm still not going to miss the chance to see him in it.

Miles took a 3D printing class this semester and one of their last assignments was a derby race.  He made this very cool tank, and I wish I got better pictures before the activity because it got a little beaten up afterwards.

Christmas Cookie Extravaganza 2025

Here's all of this year's Christmas cookies!

Gingerbread crinkles are a kind of combination between two different cookies that I like so I was excited to try this recipe.

I love shortbread so I also lived this version that had mini chocolate chips, coconut, pecans, and pretzel pieces.

I got an embossed rolling pin on clearance a while back and was SO excited to try it, but the dough I chose (that claimed to be perfect for this rolling pin, by the way), was just too soft and it didn't hold the picture.  This is one of the best ones.

I ended up doing this green marble glaze so they weren't just sad plain cookies.

Orange roll break!  Our ward Christmas party was this same weekend.  You might wonder why I was doing this the same weekend, but I couldn't do the week before because of Gerrit's birthday and I couldn't do the week after because of finals.

Molly got to help read a Christmas poem at the breakfast.

And now, back to cookies!

These are lebkuchen bars and they had a very tasty flavor/texture combo.

Elliott helped me make these M & M cookies and also wrote down all of the physical and chemical changes involved in making them for his homework.

I've made these peppermint-bark dipped chocolate cookies before and when I didn't have something minty planned, I jumped on the chance to make these again.

These are Swedish chokladsnittar and they're kind of like a brownie.  We already had pearl sugar at home so this was a great chance to use what I already had.

For the last batch, I made these Ritz chocolate crack cookies.  First, I made Christmas crack candy using Ritz crackers, and then chopped that up and put it in cookies.  The candy itself was delicious and was actually Gerrit and Miles's favorite thing of the whole set!

Christmas All the Time

Molly had not one, but two, choir concerts at the end of December!  The first concert was just for the choir, and the second concert combined her choir and the advanced mixed choir with the advanced orchestra and band.

Molly and her friend Whitney sang a beautiful duet of Where Are You, Christmas between groups in the choir concert, and then her choir performed three songs.

The combined choir was mostly repeats, but they also did a combined number with everyone.

The Thanksgiving Long Weekend

We kept the fun going over the rest of Thanksgiving weekend!

We started out our Friday with a morning showing of Wicked: For Good.  Many of the family members were extremely excited for this movie!

We had a tasty lunch after the movie at Chubby's, and then we all went home for a little while to get ready for Luminaria.  Brooke very kindly had gotten tickets for the entire extended family to go and it was so fun to go all together!

This was a new experience with bubbles and snow!  I didn't realize that I was standing right next to the bubble machine and my glasses got completely covered to the point where I couldn't see, but it was still fun!

We were also excited to have Emily's family come to sacrament meeting with us on Sunday.  They lived in our basement for a few months so they know some ward members already and it's always fun to sit with cousins :)

Thanksgiving Day

We had Thanksgiving at my mom's house with my parents, siblings, nieces and nephew, and Brooke this year!  After dinner, it was very warm so we went to play on the playground.

My mom also made a fun Thanksgiving-style Family Feud game!

I only made four pies this year and Joel made the other four.

This cookie butter and cranberry cheesecake was delicious!

Brown bag apple pie

Peanut butter pie with candied peanuts

A classic pumpkin pie

Miles spent most of the day turning my parents' sauna into a giant laser maze and all of the cousins were so excited to go through it! I was so impressed and thought it turned out very, very cool.

Elliott was also excited to hide in the shelving.

Joel and Gerrit also went in, which was impressive because it was not sized for adult men.