Holbrook Christmas Traditions

This Christmas Matt and I got

to spend with my family. 

I loved every second of it

and we were both sad when it was over.

But thankfully, family never leaves.

Ever :)

Christmas was a ton of fun and 

I got to show him all of our family traditions.

I forget just how much they mean to me,

and I can't wait to carry them forward

when we have a family of our own!

Our traditions start on Christmas Eve.

We have the most amazing meal,

Which includes stuffing,

cream corn,

punch (ginger ale and cranberry juice),

and the famous

cranberry chicken!

It's so yummy

 and I look forward to it every year.

(I apologize for my stinky camera.

Wish I had a better one,

so bear with me!) 

Our beautifully set table

Mom and Sarah in the kitchen cooking

Family all together!

My delicious Christmas Eve dinner plate

Christmas Eve then continues with 

watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas

and the Nativity story.

Then we act out the nativity

and we read along in the scriptures.

This year Caleb got to help our nativity :)

Yes, that is a fire on our TV. (another tradition! hehe)

We then get to give our gifts to Jesus for the year.

We do this by writing down

on small pieces of paper

what we want to give Him for the upcoming year.

They are usually personal goals

of something we want to be better at.

We get to review what we gave Him last year,

and then put our new one in His stocking.

Then we open His stocking first thing in the morning

before any of us open our stockings.

It's a great reminder of what Christmas is really about.

It's just small enough to hold slips of tiny paper.

After we put our gifts in Jesus' stocking,

I then read "The Christmas Story"

to my family.

In case you don't know what it is,

It's a cute story 

that shows the meaning of the little things

of Christmas.

It's just a page long and describes

why the tree is green,

 what the wreath, candles, and bows mean, etc.

It's all in a bag and you take out each item

as it is being described. 

I love reading it to my family,

and I'll definitely read it to my children!

After we finish our program for the evening,

all of us "kids" get to sleep together in the same room.

My sisters and I even wear

matching foot pjs! 

It's a blast and Matt got to experience it 

for the first time.

Not quite sure what he thought of it ;)

Once we all wake up on Christmas morning,

it's also tradition that we wait

until dad gets up to 

"check if Santa Clause is still there"

when he really is getting the video camera ready :)

Then we all walk down the stairs 

to see our Tree with all our presents.

We all get our stockings

but before we open them,

we review Jesus' stocking first.

Then it's unwrapping time!

Even my cat Motor got some goodies this year!

Our first gift exchange being married :)

After all the presents are opened

and everyone is excited about what they got,

it's breakfast time!

Our tradition is to eat aebleskivers.

My dad served his mission in Denmark,

so he brought this tradition to us.

They are pretty much pancake balls 

that you can dip in anything you like!

As one of my presents this year,

I got my very own aebleskiver pan

to carry on the tradition!

I was so excited that I wanted to try it out.

My mom also gave me all our our recipes

that we use in our traditions,

so I have no excuse to not make them.

My aebleskiver pan!

Mine and my mom's. Twins!

Christmas was a blast

and so much fun to soak up our traditions :)

For New Years we have a few traditions too.

We watch the ball drop

and run outside to make a lot of noise.

Caleb and I have our pop-it war

and we all go crazy :)

We also love to play games.

My Grandma and Grandpa were with us this year

and so we played a ton of rockband.

SO fun :)

We also make toasts every year,

and they get crazier and crazier

as they go ;)

Our crazy bunch

Matt and I were so grateful 

to be able to visit home for 2 whole weeks.

We got to see each of our families

and get a good dose of relaxation.

We love you all!

Our Big Day! -August 18th

So our wedding pictures are all on Facebook,

but I wanted to post about my wedding

on my blog too :)

I recorded parts in my journal

so it helps make this a little easier.

My day started off by getting up at 5:00AM.

My lovely cousin Katie was there to help me with my hair,

and we all got bagels (my favorite strawberry!).

I had so much fun getting my hair done

and talking with my family and bridesmaids.

It was probably a good thing I was so tired,

or else I probably would have freaked out

that it was my wedding day!

My future husband Matt came to pick me up

and we drove to the temple.

I was so nervous

that I ended up only eating a piece of my bagel.

We met my parents at the temple 

and Matts parents came a little later.

We met with the temple people

and had a few things we had to figure out,

but after a little panic everything was set and ready to go!

Unfortunately, I can't tell every special thing

that we experienced while in the temple,

but it was the most amazing thing EVER!

All of our family and closest friends 

were there to support us.

It was a very loving and overwhelming feeling

and I had a hard time keeping my emotions in!

We had the most beautiful sealing 

where I was to be with Matt

for time and all eternity :)

I wouldn't have it any other way!

I got ready in my beautiful wedding dress

that my Aunt Missy was so kind to let me borrow.

Once again, Katie and my mom were lifesavers

in helping me get ready.

Then it was time to let Matt see me in my dress!

I was so nervous

and I wish I could have taken a picture

of his reaction!

But once I turned to corner to see him,

nothing else mattered and I could handle anything!

We got our flowers ready and then we walked outside

to all our family and friends once again :)

It was a beautiful and hot day for pictures,

but I believe we got the best ones ;)
There were 18 weddings happening
on that same day!
Luckily we were the first ones out
and got to the best spots first :)
But we were rushed along quite a few times ;)

 Our group!

My new family :)

And my old original one ;) 

We had some really fun pictures,

but there are just too many to post on my blog :)

If you would like to see more,

feel free to take a look on Facebook.

After the temple,

my moms friend put a lunch together 

at the park across the street from my house.

So we dropped by there and then to Matt's house

to relax and take a nap before we rushed to the reception.

So after relaxing, the craziness began again!

Katie helped me get ready and we went to take more pictures :)

Our reception was absolutely stunning!

I was bummed I had to stand in line

while the party was going on inside!

But it was so fun to everyone who came to see us :)

Since we didn't really get to see the details of the reception for ourselves,

we made sure to get lots of pictures!

 

We had some fun dancing

     We had some way yummy food! :)
           


                     

My friend Zach caught it! :)

MMMM....

WE LOVE CAKE!! :)

It was all in my nose,

so I swiped and got it in his hair

...and nose and ear!

My cousin Jenna caught the bouquet! 

Our first dance :)

A Thousand Years

by

Christina Perri

And of course, 

the Daddy Daughter dance.

Luckily most of the tears came out in the temple,

so neither of us made a fool out of ourselves :)

Fun sword sized sparklers

as we were leaving :)

Our wedding day was nothing but perfect :)

I seriously couldn't have asked

for a better day

or to be with better people :)

Thank you to everyone that helped us

make that day possible!