New Year/Christmas Celebration!!

 First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!🎊2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣🎊 We had a very blessed and full Dec. 31 - Jan. 5. All the times with family and friends were priceless and we made every minute count! 

I made some cookies one evening in preparation for all the festivities that week!

We kids celebrated NYE by staying up till midnight watching a movie.😁 It was about a 3 hour movie and we started it at 9pm, so the timing was perfect and we finished it shortly before the clock struck 12am. We did a count down of the last 10 seconds of 2025!

Anybody recognize the movie?😁 The Great Escape(or, as Jared likes to call it...The Great Capture.🙄😄). One of my favorite WWII movies!

On NYD, we went over to our friends, the Harbours, and enjoyed spending the day with them. We had just taken a walk when this picture was taken.

Playing "The Circle Game."😁 Everyone sits in age order in a circle and then random questions are asked and everybody goes around and gives an answer. There were some really good questions!

We also ate some really tasty food(thank you Hannah!!😋😱), played more games like Dutch Blitz, Rook, we sang some, and talked a lot.😉 It was a fantastic day!

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Will, Brittany, and the kids came in Friday afternoon and stayed through Monday morning. 

We got up Saturday morning and had a time of reading the Christmas story and then giving and receiving gifts.

Then we had a very delicious brunch!

We use our trampoline more for sitting and talking on as opposed to jumping on.😂 But hey, we've had lots of good conversations out there!😁 Funny Jack story: We were going around and asking random questions in this particular conversation and one question was, "Where would you go on your honeymoon?" We were all answering and then all of a sudden Jack piped in and said, "I'd go to Walmart!"🤣🤣🤣

😄

I don't think this picture needs a caption(and I wouldn't even know what to caption it).

Later that day we went over to Pap and Nana's for a Christmas meal with family.

Playing a game we got for Christmas, Taboo. I had played it once before but it had been awhile. We all LOVE it!

The annual Rook game!

The winners...and the losers.

This picture proves we can lose with a happy face.😉 Uncle Mike and Jared are our normal champs, but this win was a bit unusual because they never won the bid during the game. They just stayed under the radar and quietly brought in small but steady points each round while the rest of us won the bids and frequently got negative points.😄

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A couple months ago, Jacob made the decision to go into the Arkansas National Guard. He was headed off to basic training on January 5, so we had a going away party for him after church on the 4th. It was a really special time filled with tears and smiles.🥲❤️

Dad said a few things, we sang "My Country Tis Of Thee", and then Jacob said a few words to everybody.

A prayer for Jacob.

Amanda made his cake!

❤️

So proud of you, bro!❤️☺️🇺🇸🫡

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Chronology!

Clue!

It was so sad to say goodbyes.🥹 God has blessed our family abundantly and we are so grateful.❤️ 

I don't know about you all, but I cannot believe we are already 10 days into January...1/3 of the way through the first month of 2026.🙊 Y'all, I have a feeling this year is going to be crazy. Life is an adventure every day, so we'll see where God takes us in 2026! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations and that this new year will be filled with the Lord's blessing and guidance.❤️

~Grace