Escape Christmas 2023

As much as I'd like to escape all the hustle and bustle of the commercialized Christmas holiday, I'm glad we got to enjoy some of the simple traditions that always bring us good cheer. Like driving around to see Christmas lights...

...decorating the tree...

...dressing up like Santa Claus...

...and eating a ridiculous amount of sugar.

We usually spend Christmas Eve with Grandma Jody and Grandpa Stephan, but they went down to Arizona to spend Christmas with the rest of the clan, so we made our own big turkey dinner and celebrated with a Martinelli's toast.

We ended the night with Christmas pajamas and a short nativity play.

On Christmas morning the kids were surprised to find a letter under the tree explaining that their presents had been locked up in a secret location!

Shaelyn put a lot of work into searching online and creating some "escape room" puzzles for the other kids to solve so they could find the rest of their gifts.

Once they figured out all the clues and got the numbers for the combination lock, they discovered where the secret hiding place was.

"Another combination lock!"

FINALLY!

Leah got a GigaPet from Santa.

Chelsea saw a TON of mini backpacks while we were walking around Disneyland, so she asked Santa to bring her one and he did!

Jacob got a cool RC car.

Shaelyn got a pair of REAL Converse sneakers.

And a movie projector for all her "big screen" productions.

Leah and Chelsea both got some toy phones that have fun apps, games, and a camera.

Leah gave Chelsea a toy Corgi.

Chelsea gave Jacob a copy of the newest Dog Man book.

Then Dad had another surprise for Jacob up his sleeve...

"Your last present is trapped in a block of ICE! Good luck getting it out!"

Jacob did some quick thinking and grabbed a pair of gloves so he could carry the ice block outside and smash it on the patio. 

What was inside?

A big bag of Airhead candies!

Jacob wasn't the only one who got a surprise gift from Dad this year.

Shaelyn's present was trapped inside a wooden box with about 12-15 screws that she needed to remove in order to open the lid.

What was inside?

Two big bags of white chocolate covered pretzels!

Dad even went a step further and made a love note for mom, with over 120 paper punched circles that had to be glued in the correct order (luckily they were numbered).

The day after Christmas Dad took the kids ice skating while mom got some laundry done.

Then we packed up our bags and went to Cascade for a few days to play in the snow.

Check out the ice crystals on the frozen lake!

Watch out! Human zamboni coming through!

Check out the girls with the crafty fingers.

We managed to play a game or two without arguing (miraculously), and of course the kids had plenty of time to play Golden Eye 007 on the N64 with Dad.

We decided it would be fun to invite Uncle Jason and Aunt Christina's family to join us for some Brazilian food and board games on New Years Eve.

Rosie beat Dad at the game of LIFE by $1000 to win!

After Jason's family went home the kids wanted to stay up until midnight, so they kept themselves awake by busting out some YouTube Karaoke energy! 

It was fun to watch them dance and sing together for almost a full hour! And it has also been fun spending time together as a family. We're glad Dad got to take time off from work to be with us the whole week!

Merry Christmas!