Holiday on the Hill Tournament Champs!

 

Ella's basketball team participated in the Holiday on the Hill basketball tournament last weekend and came out victorious 🏆. Undefeated after three games, they earned a spot in the Championship game and won that too.  Awesome group of girls and coaches!

Way to go Broadneck Bays! 

Wicked

 

One of Lacey's Christmas gifts was tickets to see the Broadway musical production of Wicked, which is playing here in Baltimore at the Hippodrome theatre.  She's never seen it (but saw the movies and thought it would be cool to see the musical) and I've only seen it once 20 years ago - Dave took me to see it at the Kennedy Center on our first NYE together as a married couple in 2005) so it was fun to go see it together the day after Christmas. 

Lacey snapped this cool shot from our 2nd row seats.

Bravo! 👏

Christmas Day!

 

Merry Christmas!

Another tradition..... lining up on the stairs youngest to oldest as they wait for us to say it's ok to come down.

Santa left a thank you note for the yummy cookies!

Taking turns opening gifts.... youngest to oldest. 

Extra cheesy Cheez-its and Salt and Vinegar Pringles - her favorite!

Then we took a little break to have breakfast - homemade breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, bacon and Martinelli's. 

Back to the tree!

Another fun tradition we have is that the kids all pick names of one sibling to buy a gift for and they keep it secret until Christmas Day.  And they always get a big hug when they open their gift.  Here is Ella thanking Tanner for the X-box controller. 

Thanks Hammy and Papa Mitchell!

Tanner's gift to me.... a custom-made pillow with his face on it 🤣

Books for my little reader!

Lacey's gift to Riley....a Lola blanket - so thick and soft!!

Sporting our 2025 matching Christmas PJ's!

Then we headed over to Heidi's house where we played Left, Right, Center.

And I won!

And enjoyed a nice Christmas dinner.

The boys.

Then we made our way back home and sent the kids on a Scavenger Hunt to find one last family gift.... the announcement that we are going on a Mitchell Family Reunion in June to Cancun, Mexico!

It's been so nice to have Lacey home for the holidays and so nice to have a break from work and school and sports and enjoy the holiday season together.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

 

Christmas Eve traditions!

We went to the 3:50pm showing of Zootopia 2 at the Marley Station Mall (it's never crowded there and we all love the heated recliner seats!).

Zootopia 2

Fifteen of us in all - the only one we were missing was Tyler. 

Then the six of us went out for our traditional pizza dinner at Pats

Then we went out to see lights.  Our favorite tree was one of our first stops. 

Kissing under the mistletoe 😘

One of our favorite decorations - Santa in the port-a-pot 🚽🤣

Then we came home and lit our German nativity.

And watched part of Home Alone 2 before getting the kids to bed. 

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

My Jerusalem Nativity which I have treasured ever since I got it during my study abroad in 1997

Our fancy foyer tree which I love to see every time I walk through our front door.

My Lenox nativity.

Then we got the kids to bed - as per tradition, they opened their matching PJ's then had a sleepover in Riley's room.  Since Tanner is planning on going on a 2- year church mission this Summer/Fall, we realized this might be their very last sibling sleepover..... sigh 😢

Then Dave and I got to work

And Santa supplemented a few things as well.

I love Christmas Eve. It's my favorite day of the year!  I love the anticipation of the next morning....

Pre-Christmas Festivities

 

On Christmas Eve Eve, Ella's Lax team got together downtown Annapolis for a fun-filled Christmas get together with a scavenger hunt down Main Street, photo opps, pizza and treats.

We had a box of amazing homemade Grinch cookies dropped off by one of my Seminary student's families.  His mother made these. Can you believe it?? 

And then, as per tradition, we made some of our own!  Although, obviously not as fancy 😜

Dave makes everything from scratch - the dough, the icing, etc. 

A sampling of their creations.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!