Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 17-23 post!
Big Family Food and Fun: December 17-23, 2023
As you can imagine, Sunday mornings are a bit hectic at our house as we try to get out the door to church with so many little ones. I’d get more done ahead of time on Saturday night if I wasn’t already just trying to survive the regular needs of Saturday night. Phew.
At one point in the morning this Sunday, I was able to run to our laundry room to gather outfits for our five littlest. I laid them on the back of our living room couch like this so that Matt and I could work together to get everyone dressed.
Our Sunday lunch that day included 23 lovely people and it was marvelous! I set up a big Baked Potato Bar and our friends brought salads and desserts.
I usually bake potatoes like this in a crock pot. But I needed my crock pots for other things, plus 10 pounds of potatoes don’t fit into one crock pot. So I “baked” them in our large roaster, hoping it would work well to do the job I needed it to do while we were at church. Phew, it worked!
Our potato bar included Chili, white queso, bacon, shredded cheese, butter, sour cream, salsa, ranch, guacamole, and olives. At the last minute, before leaving for church, I also threw 24 hotdogs into a crock pot to cook all morning. I knew we’d have a large crowd and I wanted to make sure we had enough food. AND I realized that a lot of baked potato toppings can double as hot dog toppings (chili dog, anyone??).
We went through all 24 hotdogs plus almost 10 pounds of potatoes this meal. It was awesome!
Here’s our drink station filled with coffee options, hot cocoa, and tea:
The selection of desserts our friends brought was so good. Those frosted bars there look like brownies but take one bite and you realize they are a delightful Ginger Snap bar. Wow. So good. I’m not going to tell you how many I ate with my coffee that afternoon. And the next day. :)
Our friends trickled away for the afternoon and our family pulled up the Husker volleyball final match to enjoy together. This photo is a peek into why we love living in Lincoln. Being able to enjoy time with our adult kids is a gift I can’t put words to. (Even if the Huskers did choke and forget how to play their sport, bless ’em.)
After the game, we got the kitchen cleaned up from lunch and I decided that there would be no more cooking or dishes that day. Anna finished off the can of our lunch olives while I put five frozen pizzas into the oven for dinner.
I only burned one of them. Ack.
Some friends of ours had been sick all week so we decided to put together a surprise package for them and deliver it to their porch. Brayden, Kiya, and Keith made cards…
And we put together a box filled with treats and crafts. Look at these adorable ornaments from Delight Design! I have a stash of them for our kids to color or paint so I put some in for our friends to color.
I had a couple of frozen Lasagnas in our freezer so I put one in a large gift box to go along with our surprise box along with the cards our kids had made. Then we loaded everyone up to go make our delivery.
We had some disposable cups with lids leftover from our Christmas party the night before, so we put some hot cocoa into them and told the kids they could have one for the road after they buckled in. This was a GREAT idea that we will probably not do again any time soon because giving kids sugar while confining them to car seats made for an extra-crazy van ride home, oy!
Someone gave us the gift of this delicious loaf of cinnamon-y bread at church on Sunday so Monday morning we enjoyed it with our breakfast.
Eva came over and helped Matt with the littles while Keith and I headed to our Food Distribution set up to help get food ready to give away on Tuesday. Mid-morning, Eva sent me this “Mini-Laura” photo of Acacia. :)
There was a Sam’s close-by so after Keith and I finished helping at Food Distribution, he and I headed to Sam’s to pick up a few necessary food items as we get ready for Christmas.
That afternoon, I browned 4-pounds of sausage and 6-pounds of hamburger meat to get meals ready for the upcoming days.
I used a combination of cooked hamburger and cooked sausage to make a huge Lasagna for Friday night. My dad and his wife were coming for a visit and we were planning a fun evening with all of our big kids coming to see them.
I then used some of the cooked sausage to make four pans of Quiche for our dinner that night. Brayden was happy to mix up a big bowl of Caesar salad to go with them, plus we had some strawberries.
I had planned for us to make these Reindeer Cookies for a couple of weeks and we finally made it happen Monday night!
Our little Josie-girl had fun trying to put antlers and a nose on her cookie. Turned out pretty good, don’t you think?
Anna was very proud of her cookie creation!
While the cookies were baking, the kids watched part of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer since it matched the theme of the evening.
And then they ate their cookies before getting ready for bed!
Tuesday morning Keith decided that pancakes sounded really good. :) I had a Kodiak mix from Costco so he helped me mix it up and I made a huge batch of pancakes on our griddle for breakfast.
A dear lady at church had told us on Sunday that she had the week off and to “go out for some time to yourselves before Christmas!” while she came to babysit. Ohhhhh such a sweet offer!
So Tuesday mid-morning we left the youngest five with Kathi, Elias, and Malachi while Matt and I had an early lunch at Cheddar’s. I took this picture to send to another friend who had given us a gift card to use on a date sometime. Great food and uninterrupted conversation!
I wrapped presents all afternoon during naptime, then picked up Brayden and Kiya to head to the Food Distribution to give out food. This service opportunity really stretches them and is teaching them so much about seeing others and showing love. It also sometimes triggers some tough emotions as sometimes they see someone that reminds them of a person from their past. We tend to have a few things to work through as we drive home on these days.
This particular day, they had been given an excess of donations from various grocery stores so we brought home two bags of food like potatoes, salad kits, canned soup, buns, rolls, and bread.
I had put White Chicken Chili into the crock pot earlier in the day so that dinner would be ready to serve without me being there to make it. I forgot to take a picture that evening but here are the lovely leftovers in the fridge. ;)
Wednesday morning after we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, Matt and I loaded up the youngest five to run final errands before Christmas. We went to Aldi because butter and cream cheese were on sale. I got a case of both – woot!
Then we headed to Costco, putting two kids in my cart and three in Matt’s.
I felt a little bit like a crazy woman, but that afternoon I also went to Sam’s. I’d gone to a different Sam’s with Keith earlier in the week but they didn’t have the bacon I wanted and we must have our bacon, mustn’t we? This Sam’s had it and it was still hugely discounted! I got two boxes, which equals 20 pounds. I feel no regret. :) :) :) I am now FULLY stocked up on groceries and ready for Christmas!
When Anna got off the bus from preschool that afternoon she was excited to open a gift from her teacher. It was so sweet to watch her delight as she pulled the little items out of her package!
Have I mentioned that we have not one but FOUR birthdays in our family in December? This particular day, we were celebrating Malachi turning 19! Per his request, we had a junk food buffet, ha. I couldn’t handle only serving pizza rolls and corndogs so I included grapes, berries, and carrots in the food line.
Several off his friends came to Lincoln to celebrate with him plus his cousin from Kansas. SO special! Asa and Eva came too (Justus and Kelsey weren’t able to join). It was a great evening!
I could only scrounge up 10 candles for our 19-year-old. I need to put candles on my Walmart list. :)
We had “present time” in the living room, giving Malachi some very adulty gifts like dishes and boxes of mac-and-cheese. He and his cousin are planning to get an apartment together soon so he’s starting to collect needed items.
Somewhere in there, I managed to get Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Anna to join me in putting together little gifts for their teachers. Phew, what a busy (but great!) time of year.
Acacia wanted to get in on the action, the little sweetheart. She put together a teacher gift for the teacher she doesn’t have, haha.
Thursday morning I made our daily smoothie, then put a roast and carrots into the crock pot to slow cook all day for that night’s dinner. (Note to self: Put the carrots on the bottom next time so that they can cook in the juices and turn out to be more tender.)
My dad and his wife, Tacy, arrived early in the afternoon – such a treat to see them! (We hadn’t seen them since Adoption Day in May.) We visited all afternoon, then for dinner enjoyed the Roast and Carrots plus Buttered Corn and Rolls.
Our nephew, Troy, was still here visiting too – so much fun to have family in town!
We finished off dinner with Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs, which we’d made like this. So I gave each kid a cookie with some frosting and sprinkles so that they could decorate their treat before eating it.
Friday morning it was fun to make several pans of bacon with the big box I’d picked up on sale earlier in the week. We had it with Cheesy Scrambled Eggs and Grandma Tacy’s Banana Muffins that she’d made and brought for us.
Papa walked to school with Matt, Brayden, and Kiya. Then he and Grandma Tacy were excited to walk Keith and Anna to their bus when it came to pick them up at noon. :)
We set out a fun Sub Sandwich bar for lunch with a variety of breads, meats, and cheeses plus avocado, spinach, and condiments. We had chips and carrots on the side and we were nice and full afterward.
Acacia and Josie ate their lunch at a little table Papa and Grandma Tacy had brought for them. It’s soooo cute.
When Keith and Anna got home from preschool that day, they were excited to pull everything out of their backpacks and tell us about their Pajama Day – Gingerbread Party. :)
Kiya and Brayden made crafts at the table with Grandma.
We ate a huge Lasagna for dinner with Caesar Salad and Green Beans.
Plus we enjoyed Christmas Cut Out Cookies and Frosted Brownies.
All of the older kids were able to be there to enjoy some Papa and Grandma Tacy time. :)
I happened upon this scene in the kitchen and while I had to keep up with littles and couldn’t hang out with them, it was delightful to me to see all of our Bigs enjoying each other in our kitchen. :)
We gathered in the living room after dinner for a little bit of Christmas gift exchange time.
And then we attempted to put some VERY HYPER CHILDREN to bed. They are all a little bit extra-emotional because of the holidays. Having extras at our house is so exciting – but makes it hard for them to regulate. Which makes it hard for me to regulate as I work with Matt to settle everyone. This was the third night in a row of crazy bedtime behavior (it started on Malachi’s birthday evening) and I was in tears by the time we finally got them calm and into their beds.
Ugh. This life is so, so good. And also very much hard. It is everything all at once. God led me to read Psalm 18 on Saturday morning and the Truth from it is so good and was so needed. He is our strength. He is our rock. He delights in me and loves me. This is how we can walk through these days. Breathing all this in changed Saturday for me.
My dad loves to buy donuts for us when he comes to visit so we enjoyed those with an Easy Egg Casserole and fruit.
We had gifted my dad a Big Boggle game for Christmas and I reallllllly wanted to play it with him. So we decided to let the kids open a gift from their CASA that she’d delivered that week. I knew that the gift was a huge set of Magnatiles and thought the kids might spend some timing enjoying them so that I could have some good grown-up game-playing time. This plan worked out about as good as it could work, haha. Dad, Tacy, and I played several rounds of Big Boggle even while there was a bit of chaos behind and around us. :)
I had started a full crock pot of Ham and Potato Soup that morning and it was ready for us to eat at 12:30. I buttered and warmed up some rolls we’d been given at the Food Distribution to help stretch the meal. We had a few additional friends hanging out that morning and Justus and Kelsey stopped by too. So altogether there were 20 of us and we finished the entire pot plus all the rolls! (And some clementines and cookies.)
I rested that afternoon after Dad and Tacy headed home. Then I went to the kitchen, turned on Christmas music, and did some baking as the girls were waking up. I mixed up my Peppernut recipe but made them into regular cookies instead of a billion tiny bites like my grandma used to make. They taste delicious like this and of course take much less time.
I also made Fudge and Shortbread.
After all of that, I didn’t feel like making dinner, ha. So we made popcorn and got out fruit, cottage cheese, peanut butter pretzels, and yogurt.
While Matt and I started our Saturday night bath process, Malachi and the boys set up our new Corn Hole game that Papa and Grandma Tacy had gifted us. :)
Then the best thing happened! We settled all of our clean, jammied kids into the living room for Singing and Prayer time. Just before time to head upstairs, the doorbell rang. Who could it be??
The kids were AMAZED by this special visitor and each one of us received a beautiful handmade (by Mrs. Claus) gift. It was incredible and sweet and well, we have some pretty great neighbors. ;)
And that was our week! Merry Christmas!