Our Family-Filled Christmas

Plus the best games to play with a group and the four new books I got for Christmas

Happy holidays, loves!

We are deep in the middle of the holiday season, spending the last four days at home in our comfiest clothes with nothing but family close by our side. It’s been exactly what I’ve needed as we close out the year.

Our Christmas officially began on December 23rd when my sister and her wife got in. We spent the previous two days cleaning our entire house from top to bottom, dusting and sweeping and changing sheets and washing every slipcovered couch we have to get ready for our guests. We host Christmas every year (it’s just easier with the kids) and everyone comes to stay with us so we can all wake up together on Christmas morning.

I don’t remember the last time our house was this clean.

That night, we ordered in pizza from the local place down the street and watched Home Alone. The kids went to their aunt’s and grandma’s house to spend the night so they could have their Christmas together, so it was an adults-only night. My brother and his wife were spending the evening with her family an hour away, and they didn’t get in until around midnight.

After pizza, we all gathered in the living room to play The Chameleon, a new game we found at Target. As we were looking at it in the store, a woman passed by and said, “That game is SO much fun. You should get it.” We were sold. And once we played it, we were hooked. It’s thrilling, funny, and so addicting. It was only supposed to last five rounds, but we lost track of time and played 12.

Once it started getting late and we couldn’t play any more, we began to wind down and say our good nights. We made up the pull out couch in the office for our late-arriving guests and headed to bed.

When we woke up on Christmas Eve, everyone was home (minus the kids) and gathering in the kitchen for coffee and breakfast. It felt so good and comforting to have my siblings (minus my older sister who lives in Georgia) all together under one roof, which only happens a few times a year. We all grew up in this house celebrating Christmas here, and what do you know? We’re still celebrating it here all these years later.

Around noon, the kids got home and everything felt right in the world. Our house was filled with children once again, along with Taylor and Mariah’s (my brother and his wife) dog Coco, Sydney and Elana’s dogs Winston and Teddy, and of course, our two dogs and cats. It was a full house. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

By the afternoon we were baking and cooking and getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner. I made a vanilla cake with peppermint cream cheese frosting because it felt holiday-ish. The kids were watching Christmas movies all day as we all cooked and lounged and hung out. I can’t tell you how much moments like these mean to me.

By evening, it was all hands on deck. Smooth jazz Christmas radio was playing on Pandora as the the wine was being poured.

I was making the Alfredo sauce and potatoes while Taylor tended to the prime rib and my mom made the brussel sprouts. PJ threw in the rolls and Mariah made the prime rib sauce just as my sister was finishing up the salad. As we were all in the kitchen cooking up a storm, I started to realize how small our kitchen suddenly felt. It normally feels just right for the five of us, but that day it felt like it was closing in on us. Still, it also felt warm and safe, and for that, I am grateful.

And then, just like that, dinner was ready, and we all sat down around the table to eat. My sister’s friend Sylvia came over for dinner and games and it was nice to see her for a bit. We all played a round of Keep and Delete, but for the year instead of the day. I think we’ll make that a new tradition!

When dinner was over we all pitched in to clean up the kitchen, which is A DREAM COME TRUE. It was cleaned up in 10 minutes, and I’m pretty sure that is a record of some kind. We set out some cookies and milk for Santa on the set that a dear reader sent to us a few years back. How darling is this?

When the kids were tucked in and wished a Merry Christmas, we made our way downstairs to play some more games. PJ’s mom and younger sister Montana stopped by, which was the icing on the cake. We all piled in the living room for more games, and we also did a special family edition of our Sunday live chat show, Vino & Vent! It was so sweet to read everyone saying hi to our moms and the family. You can watch it below!

After we went live, we landed in the living room to play The Chameleon again, and a new game that our friend Matt introduced us to: Celebrity. It was SO much fun. Here’s how you play:

We each wrote five names of people we all would know on little pieces of paper. Most of them were famous, but a few weren’t: One was Mallory’s daughter and one was Dixie, our best friend who lives and works on our farm.

We put all the papers in a bowl and split into two teams. Then, we went around in a circle and whoever was “it” would get in front of their group and try to get their team to guess it.

In round one, you can say whatever words you want to describe the person, just no proper nouns. This is definitely the easiest round and really sets the ton for the entire game.

In round two, which occurs when you go through every name in round one, you can only use one word to describe the name you drew, which gets very interesting and is so much harder than we all thought, because you have to choose your word so carefully (you only get one!).

In round three, there are no words, only actions to describe the person whose name you drew.

Sounds like crazy fun, right? It’s a blast to play with a big group of people.

After games, we said our goodbyes to Lori and Montana for the night as they drove two streets over to go home. Then, it was time for our annual holiday tradition of watching my favorite movie of all time: The Family Stone.

We watch it every year and every year it gets to me. I love it. I think the reason I am drawn to it so much is because of how relatable all of the characters are; how close to home they all hit. My family and I go over who is who in the movie in relation to us. So, it goes like this: I am a mixture of Ben and Thaddeus (the free spirited brother and the gay brother), my brother is Everett (the oldest sibling and the most buttoned-up), my older sister is Susannah (the first one with kids in our family!), my younger sister is Amy (the youngest of the family who is always angry at the world, said with love of course), and my mom is most definitely Diane Keaton, the matriarch who isn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind.

It’s a wonderful, beautiful movie about the realness and complexities of family, and if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend you do so.

Evan Ross Katz

just wrote a really fun and validating post defending the movie (as if it needs defending!) here, if you want to read it.

Meanwhile, as we watched the movie, PJ wrapped the last of the kids’ presents and we all winded down. We stayed up a bit longer after the movie ended before calling it a night and heading to bed. I was exhausted from the day and was dreading waking up early the next day, but I was so excited to see the kids walk downstairs and see their faces that I knew I had to get to bed so I could wake up even earlier than them.

As usual, I was the first to wake up. I woke up to the smell of coffee and a quiet, still house. It was 7:30 and I couldn’t believe no one else was up. But I was grateful for the calm before the storm. PJ woke up shortly after me and we sipped our coffee on the couch as we watched A Boy Called Christmas.

When the house slowly started to wake up, I made the viral cinnamon rolls with heavy whipping cream that I’ve seen all over social media. They were actually SO good and I’ll post the recipe on the blog soon!

After everyone was awake, we started opening presents. PJ’s mom popped over to give the kids their presents and hang out for a bit, which made me feel so grateful that they live so close to us. Every year my family does a Secret Santa, which has taken so much of the stress of shopping for everyone out of the holidays.

Do you do Secret Santa, too?

I wanted to share the four new (to me) books I received as gifts! I didn’t really ask for anything else on my Secret Santa list other than books, so color me happy when I opened these:

There are a few classics mixed with new ones, and I can’t wait to dive in. I’ve heard good things about all of them, but I was particularly excited about The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, which, as you can see on the front cover, has been called “A warm and witchy hug of a book.” I started it today.

Here they are, if you want to add them to your reading list, too:

1. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

3. Cooking for Mr. Latte

4. In the Night Wood

After we opened the presents, I made a breakfast casserole (that I will also be sharing the recipe for this week) while the kids played with their presents. Also, I love this photo of Riah just being the most Riah version of himself: Alone and away from the crowd, headphones on that are plugged into nothing, and drawing up a storm. Obsessed with him.

We all showered and got ready for the day, and then reconvened in the kitchen to snack on leftovers for lunch, which is almost alway the best part, before settling in the living room to watch The Great British Bakeoff.

After that, we all sadly said our goodbyes as everyone headed home and we got ready to go to PJ’s aunt Lisa’s house to spend Christmas evening with his side of the family.

Before we went, though, we stopped by our farm to check on the animals and feed them. It rained all day and night, so this was less than ideal (and PJ got so muddy!), but it had to be done.

We walked into his aunt’s house and immediately smelled the warm aroma of turkey, ham, stuffing, and rolls. It was so comforting. His whole family was there and it was so much fun to see everyone we only get to see a few times a year.

After we ate, his aunt set up the sweetest, most fun game for the kids in the den, and we all sat around and watched as the kids competed and laughed and had a ball. They read books to them and cheered when they won the game and consoled them when they didn’t.

What would we do without family who love our babies so much?

We took our annual family Christmas photo in front of aunt Lisa’s tree:

And here’s the one from last year:

Once we were all full and tired from the day’s activities, we packed everything up and headed home, where my sister and her wife were there to spend one more night with us. We stayed up way too late watching old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was the show that raised us. It never gets old!

And then Jolie fell asleep in my arms, snoring with her eyes open:

So that was how we spent our 2023 Christmas! It was so, so, so much fun, but if I am being honest, I am looking forward to the next week with no guests and no plans. I just want to stay on the couch and read, watch movies, and play games all day every day. I want as much down time for the next week as we can squeeze in before hitting the ground running when the new year starts.

Speaking of, this will be the last newsletter of the year! I want to thank you all SO much for being here as we launched this new chapter in our lives with Okay McKay. You have been so kind and welcoming, and we love this little community here. We are excited about where we’re going to take this newsletter next year and already have some fun ideas that we think you’re going to love.

We’re sending you SO much love, friends, and hope you have a lovely new year. See you in 2024!!!

xoxo,
PJ & Thomas