December 2024

After coming down from our Nutcracker high, we celebrated the rest of December with most of our usual traditions and finished it up with a trip to Utah- this time with our  beach people! This is a complete photo dump of 131 pictures and a couple of videos. 

I know there was a whole post of Nutcracker pics, but these are the non- professional ones! This was Ellie's table with pictures of all of the characters she has performed in the Nutcracker. 

Crazy Kathryn came to see the show and show out! 

Elle's bow

I was so thankful Kathryn snapped these pictures for me from the audience

Sweet brother and sister hugs

Dubs couldn't wait to see the star

Ellie's sweet little friend group who came to support her and her other friends in the performance. 

Ellie and the other Clara (in cast 2) sweet Charlotte. 

Nadia, Ellie, and Sarah

The Bowers crew for the Friday evening show

We were so incredibly proud of this girl! 

I'm so thankful for Kathryn's friendship. Not too many friends will drive 3 hours round trip to come see your 16 year old dance. 

Auntie Kate even was able to come! 

Such a sweet duo

Sometimes they really do love each other! 

Emma brought a friend to the show with us- Kaelyn Dailey.

Saturday, Millie showed up to support. We got to go "backstage" to see Allison.l 

Saturday, we had a huge crowd! Tee and Joey came from Atlanta to see Ellie perform 

I'm so glad mama was able to make it. It's so hard for her to leave daddy, but we were so thankful to have here there. 

Aunt Telie and Uncle Dale came from Atlanta on their 50th Wedding Anniversary to see the Nutcracker. They were so sweet to do that. 

The Tift crew made their appearance Saturday and Ford and Hardy did great sitting/squirming through the whole show! 

Cindy brought Aunt Joyce from Jacksonville and although Aunt Joyce can't verbalize much, she really seemed to enjoy the show. I was so glad to see her. 

Cast 1

Ford wouldn't talk to Ellie at the show, but he warmed up when she came home to grab some dinner between shows. 

The flowers and gifts were beyond generous from everyone. My house smelled like a florist and was so festive and pretty! 

I'm not even sure I got a picture of the bouquet we bought her for the presentation on stage, but it was beautiful! 

During the final show, Ellie and Charlotte presented Allison and Shannon with flowers

The final day of Nutcracker also happened to be Worth's 45th birthday. He requested Waffle House for dinner. 

As a surprise, I had a lady from church make him a German Chocolate Cake. It was delicious! 

Monday we were back at it on the basketball court for Emma's playoff round

Emma is the blur running with the ball. 

Sadly, Emma's team lost in the first round of playoffs, but it was the only middle school game of hers that Ellie was in attendance. I had to document! 

As basketball ended for Emma, it started up with Mack. 

Mack is fierce on defense

They won their first game and Dubs and Mia were there to see it! 

One of Mack's best friends, Colson, was in Hungary with his family for 6 weeks. They were adopting a child from there. Mack and Colson missed each other so much and with the time differences, communication was trick. We were able to line up a FaceTime between them early one morning though, and Mack was so happy to hear from his buddy. 

Mack was asked to read scripture in the contemporary service. He did so good! 

Mack all dressed up and ready for his school Christmas Music Concert 

Mack did so well! 

Christmas party at school! 

Out of school for Christmas break means a gathering of the neighborhood boys at our house and swimming in the cold pool! 

Ellie had a gathering as well, they just kept it indoors. 

Ellie and her sweet friends doing their white elephant gift exchange

The next day we headed to Mia and Dubs for the Bowers Christmas! 

Grey was a great leader for the group

Emma's too cool for all of it. 

Mack and Bo assume their position in the corner chair. I'm wondering at what point they both won't fit in this chair. 

The gift everyone loved- personalized blankets from Mia and Dubs! 

These blankets were a hit

Emma was festive for the occasion

The reading of Luke by all of the kids is always special 

The obligatory cousin pick

They are getting bigger every year! 

This is how it really went down. 

Family picture at the Park Avenue Christmas Eve service

Riding around to look at Christmas lights after our traditional Christmas Eve Waffle House dinner.Despite how they look in this picture, they really were excited.  

These 2 were fighting for the sunroof as we rode around a neighborhood. 

The famous Wendover House is always a favorite! 

Emma did the annual reading of the Night Before Christmas this year. 

When your 16 year old wants to cuddle on Christmas Eve, you document it. 

Worth and his Santa socks

They had to leave some reindeer food out for Santa! 

The reindeer food throwing has become more of a competition

But thankfully it's Christmas Eve, so they all got along 

Santa came! 

We are in a transition from toys to clothing with the girls

I love that they still all sleep upstairs together on Christmas Eve. 

Even Ellie was albe to wake up for the occasion. 

Checking out their loot. 

Covered in Christmas

I'm so glad Santa thought to bring Mack Old Spice bash wash. 

It's a Christmas miracle, sibling hug! 

Mack explaining his gift to Dad. 

After opening gifts in Valdosta, we headed to Tifton for brunch with Grandma and Papa. 

Mack was proud of his Trump fishing lure. 

Emma scored with a Kendra Scott necklace

Mack and his UGA croc charms. 

Sweet moment between Emma and Grandma

Ellie showing off her new handbag

Grandma got some great gifts too! 

Amos joined us for a bit via FaceTime to share his and Anna's gift with Mama. 

We were all so thrilled about this special gift! 

In true Grandma form, there was a scavenger hunt for the kids to finish up finding their gifts. 

They had to solve riddles to follow the trail. 

Elie was pretty good at this game. 

Back home for the evening for an outside fire and grilled steaks. 

Dad and his mini me. 

They finished the puzzle. I'll have to say I don't think I added one piece this year. They seemed to get it all done when I wasn't at home or when I was cooking.

After Christmas we headed to North GA for Chancey Christmas. We started the weekend with a night at Amos and Anna's though. Mack was so happy to see Dooley 

Ellie and her buddy Ford. 

Tift Cousins in gift opening mode. 

Uncle Courtney giving his spill at Chancey Christmas. 

The gifrs for this white elephant exchange were hilarious! 

Chancey Christmas never disappoints. 

Once Ford warms up to everyone, he is a ham. Also, he looks like such a big boy in this picture! 

Uncle Courtney stole the big underwear. I can't wait to see how he wraps those up to trick someone next year. 

Ginger scored with some Star Wars gear. 

Those that could make it this year! 

The kids love their exchange also

After Chancey Christmas we headed to ATL to spend the night in an airport hotel because we had an early Sunday morning flight to Utah. We made it to Utah, and then had a 1.5 hour wait to get our rental car. These kids were troopers in the airport though. 

Traveling is exhausting. Also, we were crammed into a Genesis which was not our requested rental vehicle, but somehow we all fit with our luggage. 

We had a 1 day of skiing before the rest of the crew arrived. I learned from this trip that a hotel room with 5 people (one night in Atlanta, and one night in Deer Valley) can test all kinds of nerves and doesn't involve much sleeping. 

Thankfully, day 2 we made it to our much larger rental house to meet up with all of our beach people who were just arriving into town. 

Day 1 skiing with our big group! These girls were happy to be together! 

Lunch at the lodge. 

The guys planning the afternoon routes. 

Ellie and Lily on NYE

Eric was sporting some fancy glasses

And Ross served up Champagne for when the clock struck 12:00

We are all East coast or Central Time Zone people, so we celebrated the NYE on East Coast time. None of us old people could stay awake for the Mountain time New Year's Eve. 

There were a few already in bed that couldn't make it up with us. Skiing all day will wear you out!