New Years Eve!

How did we end up at the end of another year?

We got to spend the evening together again!  Ben had an agenda for the entire evening so that we were sure to get through all the fun things we wanted to do.

And all the fried food we wanted to eat!

 

Donuts!!

We watched the Martian with the subwoofer, of course. And when the evening got late, we played pit and poker to keep ourselves awake.

 And you wouldn't believe it, but Ben got a ROYAL FLUSH. Seriously. And it played all the way out, and when he got called on the river he could barely contain his excitement. A celebratory shot was not well received :)

We headed out to the hot tub for a bit, and it was a gorgeous perfect night! We popped back in to catch the last 15 minutes of the ball dropping ceremony, bleh! But...
WE MADE IT TO MIDNIGHT!!

17th Anniversary!

We had a staycation! We had dinner at Black Cypress, watched a really great movie with all the sound and took a soak in the tub. We got to sleep in, and had brunch at Bloom! It was perfection!

So glad this is the ONE!

Grandma Annie retires!

And SEL threw her a party! It was so sweet! Family and friends and coworkers!

The family all headed out to Southfork for a quick celebratory happy hour!

Boxing Day...

...means LEGOS!

Christmas DAY!

Ah, it was the best ever, as usual! We ripped through the gifts and then headed to the Casebolts for more celebrating with the family.

Sara saved up her allowance again this year to buy gifts for all of her grandparents and family and Jemma and Brooklyn. She had such fun giving them out :)  

 We hurried home to open all our toys, and I cozied up in the bedroom by the fire with some good books. But ended up falling asleep, because Christmas!

Late afternoon we had dinner at the Casebolts....and some champagne!  So beautiful! Such a lovely day!
Happy Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Morning actually landed on a Sunday, which was super-convenient. We loved going to church that morning! We spent the entire afternoon wrapping gifts and then it was back to church for the Christmas Eve service. So beautiful!

Then over to the Casebolts for food and carols, and a mini-talent show from the cousins. We lost the Newlywed game to Ben and Jessa, again. 

We had time to cozy up by the fire, just Joe and I, and enjoy the tree, and the fact that we were ready for another super-amazing Christmas morning!

Christmas Eve Eve

So, in the end, we had an extra day with the kids. We got some of our final errands done, had a little nap and then we busted out the Sister's Cookies for the annual cookie decorating party. The kids outdid themselves, for sure.

 Ben, waiting for the cookies to be finished. He loved this contraption thing he got from Gma and Gpa. He's played with it for hours on end!

 Being a goofball, per the usual.

 This is just one of our very favorite traditions!!

Sometimes you need a little leverage.

AND, they're yummy!