Delightful December

I wasn't sure if it was going to happen but because Amy is the best, she offered to host our annual (3 years running lol) traditional Ekblad-Denja holiday gathering on Paulina's 11th birthday!

Of course we also celebrated at Grandma Paula's too! Noah was able to get some time off and come visit for the long weekend when we had our annual Redmond holiday gathering which I think we refer to as Thanks-sis-mas since it involves sisters and is in between Thanksgiving & Christmas :)

While at the Ekblad holiday gathering, Carmen invited Katie to be one of her bridesmaids :)

We were also able to visit with Aunt Elisa and Missy earlier in the day on Paulina's birthday as they came to visit the Monroe relatives and are always so good to come up and visit with us too!

We had a pretty acclimate December, so on one of the sunny days the girls and I walked downtown to see the trees and park and holiday decorations.

The girls got a box of goodies from Aunt Erin/Houghtens that had mud masks in them and Katie gave Lucy this "make your own water bottle" kit. Below are pics from presents at grandma's and a beautiful Christmas arrangement that Nate brought for us!

I knew getting the whole family in a picture at church would just annoy everyone so I found the two willing participants who will still smile and pose with me (or sometimes smile LOL)

Paulina did the polar plunge at grandma's house and went completely in the lake. I was so impressed!

Annual Denja Sibling Gift Exchange!

I was hoping for two engagements instead of the traditional two front teeth this Christmas. 

Nate & Noah did not disappoint!

One week apart: one major difference ~ the ring!

While Carmen was with Nate at Greenfield Village Holiday Nights I was out with my friend Jen for some holiday cheer! Ironically it was at our shared birthday dinner when Mike told us Noah had asked to propose to Isabel and then when I was dropping her off after this, I got the text from Carmen!

Usually Jen and I go out with another friend, Lydia, but she couldn't make it. Lo and behold, her dad showed up at the same bar for his own holiday get-together so Jen and I had to send this to Lyd!

Some baby quilts for the new Kendzicky grandkids entering the clan!!

Goodbye dinner with grandma Rose and grandpa Bob at Red Robin!

Mike cracks me up. The 8th grade went out to dinner and to see a Christmas Carol at Meadowbrook.

HVCS had a euchre tournament over the Redmond holiday get-together. The theme was 90s, of course my mom and dad rocked these amazing TJ Maxx find tracksuits!

My sister is the best. She's been funding a cousin game with prizes in lieu of other gifts for the last few years, usually it's saran wrap balls but this year we opted for a bow game we saw on social media.

To kick off Advent, I was able to score three tickets to the Matt Maher and Sara Kroger "Cathedrals Tour" - I haven't been back to Blessed Sacrament since my confirmation I don't think, what a blessing!

EMU hosts a Winter Wonderland luncheon and tickets are just $5 so I bought a table and had a great time with some coworkers! They even had cool themed mocktails :)

Caroline Gabowitz had a birthday pool party at a local Rec Center. We love their family. The boys are good friends with Peter and Mateo and the entire 1st grade class are just delightful kids! It was (more than) a little stressful because a younger sibling almost drown at the party but thanks be to God he was okay and his dad was able to accompany him to the hospital via ambulance while the rest of us finished the party. The kids were mostly oblivious (I think) but the parents were counting all our extra blessings!