Our Christmas festivities continued when my brother, Steve, his wife, Sheila, and their kids, Meera and Rowan, came to visit during Christmas week!
We loved having them and my parents at our house each day for non-stop fun!
The kids on Christmas morning patiently waiting for the adults to arrive so they could tear into their gifts!
My mom and dad
Dan and I with our stockings
We played several rounds of Rowan's favorite card game, Sleeping Queens
The adults refreshed our memory of how to play Shanghai
We completed one large, difficult puzzle
The girls were writing down Morse Code so they could communicate privately with each other - I never saw it actually happen, but they had fun learning how to spell out their names in code!
Steve made fresh yeast rolls, and Meera stepped in to help him knead the sticky dough.
They kids enjoyed having hot cocoa bombs
And they spent lots of time out on the trampoline, even though it was in the 20s!
Dan pulled out the PlayStation and the kids had a blast playing Crash Team Racing
Because of the very cold weather, we mostly stayed in that week. We did take everyone to our new favorite ice cream parlor, The Sweet Spot, one evening. Everyone enjoyed their gourmet milkshakes and ice cream.
The kids were so sad when Meera and Rowan had to leave, and we hope that we'll get to see them again soon!
We joined some of the Jester family and our family friends, the Kings, at Dan's parents' house for dinner on Christmas Eve. It was so nice to see Pete, Joyce, Christina, Matt, and Kimberly, and meet Christina and Matt's daughter, Kingsley, for the first time!
Robin and her girls invited us to join them at Busch Gardens Christmas Town at the end of December. Dan and the girls met them there in the afternoon, and I caught up with them after work that evening. We had fun riding several rides and the girls played for hours in the Dragon Land climbing structure.
Things got a little bit crazy at the end of the night, though ... I have no words for it, so Emma and Hallie came up with the perfect names to describe what happened below ...
Hallie "The Jaw" vs. Miriam "Angry Popeye"
Naomi "The Scream" vs. Emma "The Creepy Psychopath"
Due to everyone's busy Christmas schedules, we waited to exchange Christmas gifts with the Jester side of the family until New Year's Day, when everyone was on vacation again.
The younger kids love sorting through the mountain of presents under the tree and distributing them.
Hallie got a pile of fun toys and crafts
And Emma got a nice collection of books, Legos, and toys
We helped Grandpa finish his advent calendar. There were 24 small puzzles to do that were numbered for each day of December leading to Christmas day.
While the kids were busy with their new gifts, the adults played games.
The Jester family 2024
One of our family's highlights at Christmastime is our Elf on the Shelf, Holly. She appears in December and creates mischief at night while we're sleeping. The girls love discovering what she was up to when they wake up in the mornings.
Holly was full of jokes on her first night back at our house. She wrote, "Why didn't the toilet paper cross the road? It got stuck in the crack!! (Butt Crack - ha ha ha!!)
A few nights later, she added a new friend to the Elf on the Shelf family - a cute reindeer that the girls named Ginger. They gave us a nice gift - an "Apple Watch."
Holly always gets into trouble when she explores the pantry. "Note to Self: Don't swallow bubblegum!!!"
The poor thing caught the Christmaspox this year.
All her friends took care of her until she felt better. They made her a soft bed and read her a story, gave her tissues, crackers and juice, and "medicine" (Tic Tacs).
One Sunday morning, we woke up to Holly's breakfast of choice: "Sundays are for Sundaes!"
This is Hallie's dream breakfast!
Emma doesn't normally like to change up her routine, but this was an exception!
Dan and I liked Holly's thinking!
Another morning, Holly left the girls some cookie houses to build.
They were tiny and adorable!
The Elf gang ordered a "Dominoes Pizza" one night
And they found some wrinkled potato chips that needed ironing.
I'm not sure how this happened, but we woke up one morning to find them all stuck in "boobie traps"!
Holly tried to make cookies for us one night, which went horribly wrong for her.
We also found this cry for help one day.
The milk had indeed gone bad. He had tied up all the Elf friends and locked them in the fridge all night!
Since we didn't get any snow for Christmas, she taught us how to make a powdered sugar donut snowman.
Holly and her friends also managed to make a sledding hill inside our house!
They made a "shoe-shoe train" using everyone's shoes one night.
Holly has an annual (creepy) tradition of taking a selfie with the girls while they sleep.
This year, she brought the entire Elf crowd to stare at them.
Holly's grossest surprise was when she made "very special" hot chocolate for us.
It makes me want to throw up just looking at it. Those floating toilet marshmallows ... (*barf*)
Oh, Holly ... we just never know what you'll get up to. We're looking forward to seeing you next December!
We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of joy and laughter. We're thankful to God for all his blessings in our lives - especially the hope of salvation we have through His son, Jesus! Merry Christmas!
