christmas fun

On Christmas morning, the kids all have to stay upstairs until everyone is awake and ready which means that we don't usually make it downstairs until a little after 8am.  I love seeing the look of excitement on their faces when they finally come down the stairs!

We always go through our stockings first...

... and then open the presents from Santa.  This year he used the most delicious sugar cookies to label the packages!  After stockings and Santa presents, we take a break for breakfast-- our traditional Eggs Benedict casserole and orange juice.

And then it's time for presents!!  We always go one at a time, youngest to oldest, that way everyone can see each gift and enjoy the surprises.

Every year, the kids do Secret Santa and draw names and then get to pick out something for their sibling.

This year, Christopher picked out a Sofia doll for Ellie, Nick got Christopher a new band for his Apple watch, Ellie got Nick a Google Home Mini and Ben and Lexie picked out Lego sets for each other.  Nick also got Ellie some silly putty (with his own money!) and she was so excited!

Ellie was really excited about her new Belle jewelry box and necklace from Grandma and Grandpa!

We surprised Christopher with a PS4 this year and boy, was he surprised!!  And excited!!

Since there are so many of us, it usually takes several hours to get through all of the presents.  Ben had quite the Lego tower built by the time we were done!

One of Ellie's favorite gifts was her Luvabella baby-- she played with her all afternoon!

Such a good little mommy!

christmas eve

Since Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year, our church decided to do a morning Christmas Eve service which worked perfectly with our plans for the day!

We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast before church...

...And went to see The Star at the movie theater after church.  That evening, we enjoyed our traditional pizza for dinner while watching classic Christmas cartoons.  Poor Ellie fell asleep after dinner-- our busy day wore her out!

We made reindeer food to sprinkle all over the front yard so that Santa didn't miss our house. 

- the Albaeck sweethearts -

- the littlest sweetheart -

Right before bed, the kids each opened one present (they each got a new book!) from under the tree.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there...

christmas traditions

Ellie is the little helper in our house and loves to help with anything and everything!  She helped decorate our Christmas card envelopes and put all of the stamps on, she helps make dinner, and this year, she helped wrap Christmas presents.

Both Lexie and Ellie love to help out in the kitchen and anytime I need to bake something, I know that they're going to want to pour and scoop and mix.

Christmas cookies are their absolute favorite thing to help with-- especially the Hershey Kiss unwrapping, the rolling and the eating!

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is getting Chick-fil-A peppermint shakes and driving around to look at Christmas lights.  This year, we did it after Christopher's first official day of work at Chick-fil-A!

christmas movie traditions

One of my absolute favorite Christmas traditions is our dinner/movie combos that we enjoy from Thanksgiving until Christmas.  Before Thanksgiving, and usually in October, I start a list of the different dinner/movie combos that we want to do and then start plugging them into our calendar so that we have time to do them all.  Then, I have another list of Christmas movies that we don't watch with the kids so that we can make sure to watch as many as possible.

(1) Christmas with the Kranks and Peruvian (from Viva Chicken) for dinner (since the daughter in the movie travels to Peru).  (2) Die Hard, also known as the best Christmas movie ever, which we watch while wrapping presents. (3) A Christmas Story with takeout Chinese (which has evolved into takeout Thai...) for dinner since they have Chinese food for Christmas dinner.

(4) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with green jello and eggnog.

(5) White Christmas is another one we watch while wrapping presents. (6) Miracle on 34th Street (new or old) is always my Christmas card addressing movie with a cup of hot chocolate.  (7) Home Alone and Home Alone 2 is always pizza with the first one and build your own ice cream sundaes with the second.

(8) We always watch Elf on the longest night of the year (Winter Solstice) and eat by candlelight and it's a night full of sugar since that's what elves like to eat!  It all started because the kids thought it would be hilarious to eat noodles with syrup so we added pop tarts, donuts, and pancakes to the meal, along with some bacon to make it more of a complete meal and topped the whole thing with whipped cream, syrup and sprinkles!

(9) We have a Santa Clause marathon every year and watch all three movies in an afternoon/evening. After the first one we get the kids dressed in their Christmas jammies and go to Denny's for dinner because "Everybody likes Denny's, it's an American institution".

oh christmas tree

We usually drive up to the mountains to get our Christmas tree on Black Friday but since we had family in town and we were doing family pictures, we ended up going to Josh's Farmers Market in Mooresville on Saturday after everyone left.  It didn't take long for us to find "the one" and then we just had to wait for it to get loaded up on the van.

The kids wanted to take pictures with random trees while we waited!

When we got home, Jacob unloaded the tree and got it set up under the watchful eye of Ellie (who thought she was in charge).

- the Albaeck sweethearts -

The kids get new ornaments every year from Grandma and Grandpa representing one of their current favorite things or an activity they're involved in.  It's so much fun seeing what they get each year and then being able to look back and see how they've changed over time.

Once their new ornaments were on the tree, we unpacked all of our ornaments and put up as many as we could-- we really need more than one tree!

- the Albaeck sweethearts/sillies -

We wrapped up the evening with a silly photoshoot in front of the tree-- such crazy kiddos!!

thanksgiving

Thanksgiving prep started early in the week at our house and Ellie helped with the cooking and shopping!!  Then, once the Gaubs got into town, she was busy playing with Hannah.

On Thanksgiving we spent the morning playing and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with our traditional Mcdonalds for breakfast. 

And spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the the conversation while the little girls played outside and took naps.

Ellie loaded up the olive tray with two kinds of olives and two kinds of pickles-- and Lexie stopped by to play with the olives.

The yummy turkey waiting to be carved and the sweet little turkeys at the kids' table.

Since everyone was in town for the holiday, we had family pictures done the day after Thanksgiving and then spent one last day together before Grandma and Grandpa and the Gaubs had to leave.  It's so nice having family come into town to celebrate holidays with us!!

christmas in july

One of my favorite summer traditions is our annual Christmas in July celebration.  While we did not bake cookies from scratch this year (we had just returned from a six week trip after all), we did make buttercream frosting!  No matter what we're making, Ellie's favorite part is licking the beaters.

The kids had fun frosting dozens of cookies.

Cookie frosting fun!

I think the sprinkles are the favorite part since every cookie was coated in them.  Ellie made Target logos and people with hers-- as well as some covered in a random assortment of sprinkles!

Cookie decorating is always followed by cookie eating!

We enjoyed our traditional Christmas Eve pizza for dinner and watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" while we ate.  Then it was time for presents!!

The anticipation!!  The excitement!!

Chris and Nick opened their presents (and let Ellie help!) and then everyone headed off to bed to count sugar plums!  I love celebrating Christmas in July because it spreads the Christmas cheer throughout the year and it gets everyone excited for Christmas in a few months.

january randomness

Making our traditional homemade pizza on New Year's Day.  The kids (and especially the girls) love to help!

More photos by Ellie.

She's so big... and silly!

Helping make trail mix for the big kids to take to school for snack.

Pastimes: Ellie LOVES playing Memory!!  Jacob started working on his Disney Castle, Nick's haul from the public library, and Lexie with her take-home laptop.

These two love to snuggle with each other!

Lexie really wanted curly hair so we bought some rollers and tried them out- she sat patiently while I rolled up her hair and in the morning it was CURLY!!

Nick went to the 6th Grade Formal (why do 6th graders need a formal?!?!).  He's getting to be so grown up!

Random January pictures: Mom and Ellie at Target. Jacob got a new computer-- he was excited since he usually gets my old one!  Ellie discovered Nutella and is in love.  Those snuggly girls posing for more pictures!!  Ellie loves watching movies on my bed-- especially if she can do it instead of taking a nap!

Such a silly girl!!!  She sure keeps us entertained!

More basketball fun!