December flew by.  The holiday season kicked off with a walk down the streets of our downtown for our annual Lighting of the Tree festival.  It was unseasonably warm and pleasant to prime us for our Christmas Tree hunt the next morning which we found the perfectly huggable tree right away.

Heath got to put the topper on the tree this year and for the first year didn't need an extra boost from Steven.  The boy is growing like crazy.

Sir Reghan had their 15th birthday.  

Ashlyn and Reghan had their art show and to our prideful surprise, Ashlyn was awarded 1st place in her age group!  

A night at the Nutcracker to see our niece perform for her first time.

Christmas Eve brought us to the bowling alley in style.

And Christmas morning was agonizing as usual for the kids who had to wait at the top of the stairs waiting to come down.  Once they did, they opened their stockings and then we headed to the kitchen to make some fried bread for breakfast.

Soon after the presents came.  Surprisingly we didn't break a thing with some of the flying toys and while Christmas was a bit different this year, the same laughter and joy filled the kids eyes and hearts which shined a warm light on the day.

Heath developed a series of "Christmas Games" which were thought out and pretty funny as they unrolled.

We visited the Color Factory and a cold and overcast winter day to bring some color into our day.

Heath and Ashlyn took their first stab at making Flan for New Years Eve.

And here comes 2023 with midnight bangs!