Christmas 2025

We just wrapped up our 2025 Christmas season yesterday after two fun days of celebrating.  As always, we went to my parents' house for Christmas Eve and spent a quiet day at home for Christmas.  We enjoyed spending time with family, eating good food, opening presents, and celebrating the real reason for this special season.  Here is a quick rundown of our two days.

Christmas Eve:

Our traditional family picture in front of my parent's tree.

My parents offered to eat at the "kids' table" in the kitchen which I thought was so cute.  Here are the grandparents with their four youngest grandchildren.

After dinner, we held our traditional, Christmas program.  We started out with re-enacting the nativity story. Lia was Mary, Riley was Joseph, Emmett was the shepherd, and Ella was the angel.

The entire group posed for a picture after the story was told.  I will forever love the "double stars" performed by Callie and Vivi.

Natalee broke out her bells next for the singing of some Christmas songs.

Ella surrounded by some of her cousins.

We ended the evening by singing several Christmas hymns while Natalee played the piano.  We finished off with the traditional lighting of the candles on the Christmas tree and singing "Silent Night" in both German and English.  This is one of my favorite parts of the entire Christmas season.

Christmas:

We started off the morning by waking up Lia at 8 a.m. and dragging her out of bed by 8:15.  I took pictures of all of the children's "Santa Chairs" before they came downstairs.  Here are Emmett's gifts.

Ella's gifts.

Logan's gifts.

Lia's gifts.

After the children ran downstairs, I took a few pictures of them looking over their gifts for the first time.  Here are Ron, Lia, and Ella looking at the photo album I made for Lia of all of her professional photos from the past 17 years of her life.

Emmett showing off his new track sunglasses and his mini, monster truck set.

Ella showing off her newest American Girl Doll, Nicki, the historical doll from 1999.

Logan holding his awesome, R2D2 Lego Set.

Lia holding open her "book" of Anthropologie beauty items.

After looking at all of the Santa gifts, we enjoyed our Christmas morning breakfast in the dining room.

We then went back to the living room to open the gifts from under the tree.  Here are the kiddos and me posing in front of our tree before passing out all of the presents.

Emmett cuddling his new "Palm Pal" stuffed animal from Ella.

Ella showing her AGD Lasagna Dinner set from Logan.

Logan modeling his new Kalles hoodie  from Ron.

Lia holding her Harry Potter socks and Twix bar from Ella.

All four kids holding up their Disneyland tickets which is our big gift to them this year.  Lia's wish for her senior year was to go back to the happiest place on earth one more time as a child.  Needless to say, I was happy to oblige since it has been four years since we last were there.

Emmett sitting in my lap showing off the amazing gift he made for Ron and me at school this month.

Lia and Emmett looking on while Ron opened up one of his presents.

After lunch, my parents came for an hour to open their gifts with us.  This is always a highlight of the day.

After a well-needed nap for me and some screen time for the kids, I made a large Filipino feast for all of us to enjoy for Christmas dinner that evening.  It was a wonderful way to wrap up our quiet Christmas day at home together.

Christmas Children's Photo Shoot

Since I haven't had the kids do a professional photo shoot for Christmas since 2017, I decided that they were way over do for another one, especially since Emmett wasn't even alive the last time I took the kids into JC Penney for some holiday pictures.  I decided that this would be the perfect year to have this done since it is technically Lia's last Christmas as a child.  Sniff.  After putting together some coordinating outfits and scheduling the photo shoot a few weeks ago, I dragged all four children into the photo studio today on their first, official day of Winter Break.  With the exception of some teasing, tickling, and drama over smiling with the third child, the kids did a great job and produced some wonderful replacement pictures for our foyer table.  I can't get over how fast my four children are growing and am so grateful that I will have these Christmas pictures to treasure for life.

Making Gingerbread Houses as a Family

The kids gathered around the table tonight to decorate the two gingerbread houses that I bought a few weeks ago.  It took until three days before Christmas before we finally had the time to sit down as a family and participate in this annual activity.  The girls chose to work together on one of the houses, while the boys worked on the other.  Ron and I assisted a bit, but overall, the kids did a great job completing this activity on their own.  Their houses looked so cute when they finished and now we get to watch the children slowly devour them over the next few weeks.

All four kids smiling for the camera.

The girls decorating their house.

And the boys doing the same.

NWTL Holiday Ball

For the third year in a row, the girls and I went to NWTL to attend their holiday ball.  Since Lia will not be participating in any of their shows in 2026, this is the last party of theirs that we will be attending, which is bitter sweet for me.  As always, I offered to be in charge of the food and spent a portion of the evening helping with set up and clean up.  The girls had a good time reuniting with some of their theater friends while eating dinner and participating in a massive gift exchange.  It was fun to return to this beloved theater that holds so many wonderful memories to celebrate one last time.

My girls and me all dressed up at the beginning of the party.

Lia posing with some of her lab buddies:

Back Row (L to R):  Chileshe, Malaika, Lia, Temweni, Marcus

Front Row (L to R):  Max & James

Lia participating in the massive, gift exchange.

Ella holding a huge gift before she sadly had to pass it on to the next person.

The girls showing off their gifts after the exchange was over.  Ella was so thrilled to receive a 4-pack of Disney, Funko Pop princesses.

A group photo of all of the kids in attendance at the end of the party.