A Kentucky Christmas and a New England New Years

Over the last couple of years we have leaned into the matching pajama Christmas trend. This year Reese led the efforts in selecting some very soft winter jammies that were a big hit for the girls. Unfortunately the style did not include something for John and as you will see in a later picture he had to go in a different direction. The Christmas morning photo may be one of our most consistent pictures taken over the years and it never gets old to hear our girls wake up on Christmas morning. The nice thing as they have gotten older is we typically have a cup of coffee and some good conversation before they start to stir.

 

In these days of modern technology the girls have started to create Giftful websites that allow them to make Christmas lists of links to exactly what they want. It is both nice and irritating as it allows us to get what they want but also takes some of surprise/joy out of the process. But we still manage to throw in a few things they aren't expecting. For Callie it was a laptop in preparation for college and some airpods.

 

We should also be clear that both girls are always extremely appreciative of every gift they open and also want to be sure that we are opening our gifts along with them. Reese in particular has always been the most expressive gift opener ever and she is a joy to be with on days like this. In fact the things that she can get the most excited about tend to be items that might not get the same reaction from most. We have a video of Reese opening up a 35oz container of bursting Boba Pearls where she shows the most excitement of the entire morning. Her sweetness knows no bounds. 

 

John has a running joke that the girls are very familiar with - if someone is trying to figure out what a gift is before they open it, John will say, regardless of the size or shape, that it is probably a football. This year Callie was rightfully proud of her gift for John, because in box inside this box, she had wrapped a football just for him. Best. Gift. Ever. 

 

In a surprise twist, John and Sarah abandoned their children for New Years. Really we just abandoned Reese because Callie already had plans. The short story is when John called his buddy Amit to wish him a happy birthday on December 23, Amit talked him into having both of us fly up to Boston to bring in 2026 with his family. After some hesitation and a brief consultation with Reese we decided the 36 hour New England interlude was exactly what we needed. 

 

Amit and Una know how to entertain and they are very good to their friends and family. There were ten folks in total ringing in the new year at the Basak house and we had a great time. The food was tasty, including the caviar appetizer that Una prepared, and the company was even better. We were able to take a cold but wonderful walk with Amit, caught up with Una, learned from Maya what she was up to, gave high fives to Saching, spent time on some car rides with Anjin, and reconnected with Georgia and her family. 

 

You come across a lot of people of the course of your life and when you are lucky the best ones allow you to hang around. John and Amit have a special relationship and we are so fortunate that as the years have gone by the relationship has expanded to include our families. And for those wondering Reese had a wonderful time watching Stranger Things and eating popcorn and M&Ms into the late evening. Thankfully she had a wonderful dinner with the Abrahams as well. We also facetimed with her at midnight all was well. Long story short, we would do this trip again in a heartbeat! Looking forward to a great and eventful 2026!

Chocolate, Carols, Lessons, and Tape Ball

We always have a lot going in the lead up to Christmas but there are three staples that always make the season special for us.

We're not sure how many years this has been going on, but Sarah and Kelly did their chocolate dipping day after last year's cookie baking interlude. We've had a couple of guest stars over the years but the grueling process has limited any return appearances until this year. Brian Begley was there for the second time and he brought magical back patches that made the hours of standing much more tolerable. With all of our kids getting older we are no longer producing batches for teacher gifts, but that doesn't mean we hold back on overall volume. It was a great day that produced a lot of good sweets for the season.

 

Over the years John and the girls have been asked to read at church for various occasions and they are always up for the task. This time John and Callie agreed to what they thought was a reading at the Sunday service. Instead, their reading turned out to be every passage connecting all the carols in the traditional Carols and Lessons service. It meant that the two of them were at the pulpit no fewer than seven times, a bit more of a commitment than they had anticipated. But we are happy to report that John was the only one who made a slight mistake and Callie was quick to cover for him. 

 

Obviously, church services highlight the reason for the season, but we also have grown to believe that Christmas is not the same without tape ball. This has become a special tradition with the Abrahams and it doesn't matter what travel plans people have or anything else, we find a way to make it happen. This year's ball resembled more of a cube, but it didn't stop anyone from ripping it apart when the time came. We had another tear-free experience and it is safe to say that everyone is now old enough where those days are behind us although there is still some irritation from some parties when it comes to gift stealing. It's all part of the Christmas spirit! 

Reese Turns 15

Reese loves her birthday and loves the Christmas holidays. This year's party theme was Christmas movies with a hot chocolate bar. Everyone was invited to wear their Christmas jammies to the festivities. 

Reese's friend Carson has a special talent for banner painting/production, which is all the rage these days. She was very kind and made one especially for Reese's birthday which made the decor that much better. We had a great crew of girls come over and celebrate Reese's milestone and seemed to enjoy each other. You will notice that there were ten girls that slept over. Reese had this group on their best behavior. Honestly, once we went to bed we didn't even know they were there. This was very unlike the previous week when Callie's three friends slept over and it sounded like ten times as many giggling girls were in the house. Not only was Reese's crew well behaved on the noise front but when we woke up the next morning we saw that they had cleaned up the kitchen and living room before going to bed. Very impressive.

 

It was strange that we didn't capture a lot of photos from the evening, but we did get this one since Mary asked her mom to open up a Christmas present early to ensure she would have matching pajamas with Reese. These two are pretty funny and keep us entertained with their shenanigans. And they have only just started their high school adventures.