Christmas 2025

For the first time ever, my family decided to get together on Christmas Eve Eve so that we could spend the evening with Chris and his family (since they were spending Christmas Eve with Natalee's family).  This made for a really quick turn around since school had just gotten out three days earlier.  Never the less, we made the drive up to Issaquah and spent a wonderful evening with my family and enjoyed a delicious dinner and participating in the Christmas program.  Since we have never spent Christmas Eve at home before, we had fun coming up with some new activities for the day and evening.  The kids and I went and saw Moana II in the movie theater before coming back home to decorate our gingerbread houses.  Ron then went and picked up Panda Express for dinner so that I didn't have to cook two big meals two nights in a row and then we watched A Christmas Story in the evening.  We then celebrated another quiet and pleasant day at home on Christmas with gift opening, my parent's visit, and our traditional, Filipino dinner in the dining room.  It was a wonderful three days and a great way to kick off our winter break.

December 23rd:

Our annual family photo taken in front of my parents' tree on Christmas Eve Eve.

We enjoyed a delicious, dinner turkey with all of the fixings.  My parents were kind enough to sit in the kitchen with all of the younger children so that he adults and teenagers could eat dinner together in the dining room.

After dinner was over, we begun our traditional Christmas program.  We started off with the retelling of the nativity story.  Lia and Riley starred as Mary and Joseph again this year.

The entire group posing for a picture after the story was over.  Ella and Emmett were shepherds and Logan was one of the wise men.  This is always one of my favorite parts of the evening.

After the nativity story, we enjoyed several musical numbers.  Since Ella is in her school orchestra this year, she played two Christmas songs for us.

We then rang bells to several Christmas songs with Natalee leading us.  Here is Emmett ringing his bells.

And Ella and Brynn.

And Lia and Vivi.

The Weekend Before Christmas...

 After working seven school days in a row, I was able to take the last two days of school off to try to get caught up on everything and to be ready for the holidays.  We managed to squeeze several fun activities into the first weekend of break before celebrating Christmas a few days later.  Here is a quick run down of the weekend...

December 20th:

Lia's friend, Jared, came over for dinner on Friday night and to help decorate Christmas cookies with all four of the children before watching Home Alone.  The kids all had a great time frosting the cookies while I dipped our favorite chocolate balls at the stove.

December 21st:

After taking the three younger kids to my parents' house for dinner, we drove into Bellevue to watch the Christmas parade called Snowflake Lane.  This is only the second time we have done this and we all enjoyed watching the parade and then playing in the amazing play area in Bellevue Square afterwards.

The kids posing with a giant nutcracker along the side of the road.

December 22nd:

The kids all dressed up and ready to go to church for the annual, Christmas program.

The kids and me in front of our tree.

Ella and Emmett were asked to sing a duet for the song, "Little Lord Jesus," with the primary for the Christmas program.  I sat on the front row and loved seeing them sing so close to me.  They did such a great job!

On Sunday evening, NWTL hosted their annual, holiday ball.  Just like last year, I volunteered to be in charge of the food, so the girls and I arrived early and stayed late.  We spent a fun evening eating, talking, and playing an epic White Elephant game.  Here is Lia sitting next to her friend, Alex, after stealing a darling blanket and stuffed animal (that she ended up losing).

Ella opening up her gift.

The girls and me posing for a picture during the party.

Lia's Winter Choir Concert

 After a very busy day of working, shuttling children around, baking brownies for Ella's Market Day the next day, and feeding the family dinner, I raced off to attend Lia's winter concert at her high school.  Since she now sings in the Concert Choir, her group always sings last in the program.  They sang six songs, starting out with my all-time favorite, "Carol of the Bells," that I also sang in my high school choir.  After a hectic day, it was as lovely way to spend the last part of the evening and enjoy the holiday spirit.

Lia singing in the Alto section with her director in the foreground.

Lia posing after the concert with her friend, Jared, who sings in the Vocal Ensemble choir (that has a tradition of wearing pajamas every year to the holiday concert).

Ella's Award Assembly

A few days ago, Ron and I received emails stating that Ella would be recognized in the upcoming awards assembly at her school.  I was luckily able to find a half-day job at her school that started right after the assembly was over so that I could attend her assembly before hand.  Ron came rushing in from work to join me in the gym right as Ella's grade was receiving their awards.  Ella received one for empathy from her teacher and her certificate said, "Ella has a remarkable ability to understand and connect with others' feelings, showing empathy and kindness in everything she does."  I thought this was such a compliment to Ella and the wonderful girl she is.  Way to go, Ella!  We are so proud of you!

Ella standing next to some other 5th graders after walking up to receive her award at the front of the gym.

All of the 5th and 6th grade students who received an award for empathy today.

My cute girls posing with her certificate after the assembly was over.

Journey to Bethlehem 2024

Our family headed out this evening to attend the Journey to Bethlehem experience at a the large Adventist church in Auburn.  This has been a family tradition ever since Lia and Logan were little and we have enjoyed attending it every year since then, with the exception of the few years that it was closed due to Covid.  It is one of the few Christ-centered activities that I can find in the area and it really helps to bring the birth story of Jesus alive for all of us.  We enjoyed a wonderful hour following our tour guides around the different stages of the nativity story and finished up with hot cider and cookies back in the church afterwards.

Lia feeding the live camel a carrot after meeting the three wise men.

Waiting for the Roman soldiers to open the gate before entering the town of Bethlehem.

Although this picture is kind of blurry, I had to include it as it shows Lia dancing with Emmett in the town of Bethlehem after walking through the market.  It was so cute to see them dancing with several of the actors.

Singing "Oh Come Let Us Adore Him" with the actors at the nativity scene.

All four kiddos posing for a quick photo after our journey to Bethlehem was over.