Holidays are pretty magical with kiddos – our favorite parts often are smaller moments that come from seeing old friends, completing our Christmas countdown activities, and celebrating the birth of Jesus. Although presents are fun and exciting, I feel like our little fam does a good job balancing the small joy of those with the BIGGER joy of being together and showing acts of compassion towards others.

I am lucky in that some of my bests come home each year to see THEIR family which gives me some small moments to sneak in visits and dates out of the house. Matching sweaters for the festive win!My littlest niece is the cutest right??? So smiley…..And my oldest niece from my side is pretty darn cute herself…..same size as WonderBOY and just as tough. Love her to pieces!This year, my family served at a Cornwall church service and we got to hand out links as families walked in. What a great practice of social cues for WG (eye contact and facial expressions) and a fun privilege for WB who loves sneaking into “big human” church when he can! Favorite song from our service this year from him included a peppy version of “Go Tell It On the Mountain” in which he sung “go tell it! go go tell it!” all night long.WonderGIRL’s gift from Santa – a new instax camera. Super cute, actually good quality photos and some fun accessories to go with it. Also, check her new Christmas eve HAPPY JAMS – so many emojies, so many selfies, so little time…..WonderBOY’s “something you want” gift from us was this starter BB gun. Scott is big on teaching him appropriate gun safety so safety glasses are a must. I think this pic of him in his new robe and snowboots (a white Christmas for once!) with Scott in shorts and romeo’s behind him are pretty darn cute so I had to include it here!
Our favorite gift this year was surprising the kiddos with a Disney Cruise for NEXT Christmas. Scott and I have been saving all of our overtime (his) and doTerra commissions (me) towards this trip for over a year now and we’re too excited to wait even a year. They had to embark on their annual scavenger hunt for this present which was a surprise at the very end of the morning.
With all of the Hoelzle children together in a household, shenanigans often arise. This year, Mom surprised us with our favorite childhood meal, “red weiners”!!! You can see our excitement below. Along with this meal, there are some strict meal guidelines one must follow: 1. Create an appropriate mashed potato volcano for the gravy to rest in before eating. 2. Enjoy this delicacy made of dollar store ketchup and hot dogs by pretending treating it like the best meal you’ve ever eaten.The family fantasy football league championship game down to me versus my older brother, BJ this year. The deciding game was MNF’s Dallas game. Off to Buffalo Wild Wings with the children in tow we went (tablets to keep them occupied…..boneless wings to keep BJ satisfied). The “Audrey” trophy sat atop our table the entire time, which attracted a large number of waiters coming over to join in on the rivalry. Here I am posing with MY new trophy as I was declared the winner early in the 4th quarter of the game. First time winning for me – woot woot!Safely buckled for the ride home with Mama!

Other fun memories I want to document:
– playing Pie Face and BeanBoozled for the first time with friends and family
– Scott and his lack of rhyming skills for the scavenger hunt
– my experiments with the Instant pot and mini cheesecakes for Christmas dessert
– Christmas extravaganza with Mallory and Travis at Warm Beach with 20 degree weather to see the Lights of Christmas (never again)
– Snow days and late starts to school
– Santa train with the McConkeys out in Blaine (must do if you didn’t get a chance this year)