Christmas Day 2025

We got to Ga-Ga & Pa's condo around noon. 

Right when we walked in I saw all the shoes lined up and it just made me smile! Of course all the shoes are neatly lined up with the exception of Jack's Nike's. 

Papa sitting by the tree and all those presents. This was the first time Ga-Ga & Pa had hosted a holiday since moving into the condo back in July. There were 16 people there on Christmas day! 

The dining room table was able to be extended Pa just had to put it at an angle. 

I don't know if I've shown pictures of Ga-Ga & Pa's new place yet. I need to take pictures of each room and blog about it. They have a gorgeous view of the Puget Sound as you can see out the dining room window. 

Merry Christmas from the two lovebirds! 

Since there was so many people and the tree and all the presents it was quite crowded. In order to open up presents Pa had two chairs set up in the middle so whoever was opening presents would sit in those chairs. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but I took a few. 

Ella and Anna opened gifts together. Ella discovered these yummy candies that don't have any food dye and she loves them. Ga-Ga and Pa hooked her up with so many bags of them! 

Caleb and Justine opened gifts together. 

Pa made Justine his very own cabin....and it even included Charlie. Justine was very happy! 

Owen and Jack opened gifts together. 

Jack got an adjustable weight set. 

Owen wanted a new mattress, but that wasn't in Ga-Ga's price range so she got Owen the same memory foam for his mattress that we got Jack. Ga-Ga was so cute she had a price range and some of the kids' gifts didn't come up to that price range so to make it fair she gave them money.  

Ga-Ga & Pa opened up their calendar. 

Ruth showing off her calendar too! 

Papa and Ruth opening up their gift from Ga-Ga & Pa. They always get each family one of those cool gift containers that has all sorts of treats in it. 

My sweet man!

After the gifts were all opened the kids disappeared to Ga-Ga & Pa's bedroom to play games. 

Our kids brought the Who's Most Likely To game so they were playing that. 

The kids were having a great time! 

One of my goals during the Christmas season was for us to play more games and we definitely did that. 

When it was time to eat we gathered in the dining room to hold hands so Pa could pray for the meal. 

Ga-Ga made lasagna for dinner....I love Ga-Ga's lasagna!!! 

Since there were so many people we had a table in the living room for 6 of the kids. 

Owen and Caleb got to sit at the adult table. 

Pa had us sit differently this year. We usually sit next to our spouse, but this year he had the ladies on one end and the guys on the other. It wasn't my favorite because it felt like the conversation was more localized. Instead of having talks with the whole table us ladies were chatting and then the guys were chatting and it was very separated. 

After lots of time visiting with each other and eating dessert, Papa gathered us in the living room to singing some Christmas songs while him and Jack played guitar. 

Years and years of staircase pictures and in all honesty this is my favorite Christmas picture ever!! 

Another holiday surrounded by people that I love. So thankful for the Lord and His provision in our lives. 

Christmas Morning 2025

Christmas Morning at the Martin's! 

I love it when the tree is surrounded by presents. 

The annual Christmas Morning stair pictures!

This time Justine joined us. He actually spent the night at Ga-Ga & Pa's so he could be there early. Pa drove him over and they were outside our house at 6:50am and then they had to wait until we woke up at 7am. I bought all of us matching jammies from Old Navy. Michael had to tell Owen to go change into his matching jammies...it's not really his thing. 

Of course right after the stair picture he went back into his room and changed into his normal lounging clothes. Silly guy! 

Owen and I sat on one of the love seats together. 

Justine and Ella sat on the one across from us. Ella got the biggest gift this year....from Owen!

Jack sat on the floor. 

Michael got a whole couch to himself. 

Zeke was on the floor right next to me. 

Every year I have the kids pick out their own wrapping paper at The Dollar Tree. Zeke usually chooses something fun like this Minecraft paper. 

We always pass out all the presents and then we start opening them up. You would have thought that all those big presents under the tree were for the kids, but you'd be wrong. Michael got me a lot of gifts this year! 

When I went to go take a picture of Owen will all his presents that when we noticed that he was missing one. Ella was buying a gift for Owen this year and we completely forgot about his gift being stored up on top of the refrigerator in the garage. So Ella and I went out into the garage and quickly wrapped it up. That is now officially the latest we've ever finished wrapping Christmas presents! 

We always go youngest to oldest for opening gifts. Zeke opened his gifts from Jack. Jack got him light up basketball. 

He also got him this big Garfield stuffed animal. 

Zeke bought Jack the 30th Anniversary Edition of Buzz Lightyear. 

It was right after this that I remembered instead of taking pictures while we were opening gifts I was just going to have the kids set up all their gifts after the fact that way I could just be present while they were opening them. 

On top of the gifts that Zeke got from Jack he also got the following from us...

 

- Lego Cars

- NIV Application Bible

- 2 Garfield Books (One was delayed)

- 2 T-shirts

Owen got the following from us...

- D&D Suitcase 

- 1 T-shirt 

- 1 sweater

- 1 card game

- 1 board game

- Wallet

He also opened a gift from a couple at church that was a book of Dad Jokes since Owen's always telling corny jokes. He also has one of the family gifts that he opened which is Who's More Likely To....

Ella got him a comforter and sheets set.

Jackson got the following from us....

- Cooling Memory Foam for his mattress

- Wool lined Jean Jacket

- T-Shirt

- Hoodie that turns into a bag

- 2 Mission Impossible Movies

He also opened one of the family gifts I got...7 Wonders. That game turned out to be the best gift...we love it! 

From us Justine got...

- 2 pairs of sweatpants

- A blanket with pictures of him and Ella on it that says...The Snuggle Is Real! 

- NIV Application Bible

- Phone case 

- Waterproof Watch

- Green Sweatshirt

- 2026 Wall Calendar

From Ella he got....

- Socks & Underwear

- 2 T-shirts

- Pajamas 

The big gift that Owen got Ella was her new guitar. It came with the cutest mini amp. He also got her a set of fake eyelashes. 

From us Ella got...

- 2 Sweatshirts 

- Phone Case

- A blanket with pictures of her and Justine on it that says...The Snuggle Is Real!

- Ear Buds

From Justine she got a pair of Uggs...which ended up being too small and not as comfortable as she thought they'd be. After returning those they both spent a good bit of time finding jammies on Amazon so he bought 4 pairs of matching jammies for them. 

I got SPOILED! 

Michael got me...

- A ski chalet for my Christmas Village

- An Instapot

- Cookbook for the Instapot

- 2 sets of Rubbermaid Brilliance Storage Containers

- A Wife Tumbler

- Huge bag of Mike & Ike Sours

The kids got me....

- 2 different spoon rests

- Mama Bear Slippers

- Set of 4 different tongs 

- Ghirardelli Salted Caramel Chocolates

- Root The Board Game

I also had another family game that we got which was called Our Family Is So Weird. 

 

Michael put some of his stuff away before I could get a picture. From me he got...

- 3 Untuck-it shirts

- 3 or 4 pairs of pants

- Electrical Plyers

- Snake Camera

 

From the kids he got...

- Golf Balls

- Starbucks Coffee Drinks

- Candy

- Putter 

Another wonderful Christmas morning with my best friend! Can't believe this was our 27th Christmas together. 

And even with getting all those gifts we still all ended up on electronics! 

The funny thing was Ga-Ga & Pa are now only 2 minutes from our house, but we ended being the last ones there. In fact Pa had to call us and see if we were on our way. I guess everyone else was in a hurry to get on with the rest of the day. 

And just because Charlie is the cutest Christmas Kitty ever! 

Christmas Day 2024!

We got to Ga-Ga's house around 11:30am and it wasn't long before the Kuch's joined us. 

Ella had texted Christina the day before to find out what the girls were wearing. She wanted to wear a dress, but she didn't want to be the only one. She was so happy to hear that Anna was going to wear one and even though Addison didn't wear a dress she looked super snazzy in those sequined pants! 

I just noticed that we matched! I had to wear my heated vest to show it off! 

The table all festively decorated! 

We had so many treats there was no way we could eat them all. 

The tree that's so tall you have to take a panoramic picture to get all in one shot! 

Miss Ruth & Ga-Ga

Cousin Bill and Papa

Pa and Bill 

Boys played a fun game called Ransom Notes. Everyone got a certain number of magnetic words and then there was a category that you had to try to come up with the best answer for using your random words. Everyone has a little magnet board so the boards end up looking like ransom notes that they show in the movies that are cut out of words from magazines. The phrases ended up being really funny!  

Such lovely ladies! 

Everyone piles in the living room to open presents. 

We go youngest to oldest and only have the kids open presents and then we have them go off and then us adults open presents. 

Miss Ruth found the coolest things that fit the kids' personalities. Ella loves the sea and shells so she got this glass ball that has sand and shells inside it. It's amazing! 

It's hard to tell in this picture, but it's a metal art guy that's playing the guitar and the bucket next to him can hold pens or I guess your toothbrush. Jack loves the guitar and drawing so this was a double win! 

She also got Owen and I these cute little naked statue people that have words all over their bodies. They are so funny! I love it because Owen and I are such readers it was perfect!

Ga-Ga & Pa got each of the kids ornaments that represented their personality. Addison's was this fun cowgirl hat...so appropriate! They of course got the kids their snack bags and other stuff too. 

Jackson is trying to get all of the really nice Toy Story characters...yes he still plays with them with Zeke and they have a blast together. I love it! Ga-Ga got him Rex and his tail even comes off just like in the movie. 

After a while it was time for the adults to open gifts. I got Papa & Ruth and Ga-Ga & Pa their calendar like I always do.

Ga-Ga & Pa got each of the guys these metal nutcrackers with chocolates in them and us ladies these awesome Washington State shaped cutting boards. Bill & Christina got our family a bunch of yummy snacks and we got them a couple family games. 

Bill got a nice gift basket with yummy goodies in it! 

Time for dinner! 

Girls were at the table in the family room. 

Boys were at the pub table in the breakfast nook! 

Yum Yum! 

Although I wasn't really happy with my green bean casserole. It wanted to make it with fresh green beans instead of canned but I didn't check to see if the beans were done enough so they were a little on the crisp side. They still tasted okay, but not my best work. That's what I get for being exhausted after being in the kitchen making 4 different types of cookies. 

Love this time with family, but missing my man! 

When Pa had to take Cousin Bill home he had the kids set out on a task. They had to go around the house and find all the nativity scenes. Whoever found the most would will a prize. Well he did have a participation prize for all the kids...it was hilarious every time he would call out someone's name he would say, "Owen gts a Par-ticipation award!" Ultimately Jack ended up winning by finding all 13 nativity scenes in the fastest amount of time. That just meant he got even more candy as candy was the prize for everyone. 

After that Jack lead us in a few Christmas Carols. He did this all on his own...he printed out the chord sheets for himself that morning and he even played his new guitar. 

Getting nice and cozy on Christmas! 

Pa rewrote the Christmas Carol Winter Wonderland with his own words and so we had to sing that song. 

After that it was time for some piano music too. 

The girls sang for us. 

We even figured out the piano had this feature where it would play a beat for us and the girls were dancing. Such fun! 

Owen doesn't know any Christmas songs, but he still played for us. I love it when music fills the house. I just noticed Christina in the lower left corner. She's in the middle of a yawn, but it looks like she might be in pain from the music. Hahahaha! 

It was a beautiful day celebrating with family!