South Bend Christmas

A bit unusual to be down in South Bend on Christmas morning, but it's been an unusual season. We did Christmas with my family and our Christmas a bit early this year because we wanted to make sure we had as much time as possible with Diana's family. David's daughter Alanna and her son Tavish were visiting for the week from Boston, so we wanted to make the most of it. We drove down the afternoon before Christmas to see everyone. Staying in Mom and David's place along with Alanna and Tavish made for a really packed house, but that's part of the fun!

Ledger and Tavish get along really well together and were both pumped to see each other! They have been best buddies ever since they were toddlers, and this visit was no exception. Minute one, and they are already laughing, smiling, and talking a mile a minute! We took it a bit easy that first night, getting everyone settled in and catching up. By Christmas afternoon Barbara, James, and Dad all stopped over for the gift giving festivities. We, as always, had a great time giving and receiving gifts, filling our tummies with delicious food, and then chatting the afternoon away. After all the guests left, everyone found a little cozy spot to take a short nap. When we woke up, it was time for ice cream and pie- perfect! We were able to stay another day and a half, which was a lot of relaxing fun!

(more pics)

Night Before Christmas

We decided to throw tradition out the window this year! Usually, we have our family gift giving on Christmas morning after eating cinnamon rolls. But with our plans to go to South Bend to be with Diana's family, we are not going to be at home on Christmas morning. So, we had some options: either bring all the gifts with us or wait until we got back. Neither of those sounded very good, so instead we made the decision to have a Christmas night!

This was a little weird for Ledger, opening all his gifts before Christmas- and at night! But for me, this was pretty normal. Growing up we never opened gifts on Christmas day, and usually we would do it in the evening. After a little bit of adjusting our plans, we began our night of prizes! Fortunately, I had been on top of it this year and already had all the gifts wrapped. Normally I do that on Christmas Eve but got lucky this time. We popped some Christmas cookies in the oven, turned on the fireplace channel on the TV, and gathered around for a special evening!

As always, almost all the gifts were for Ledger, but I did manage to get a few goodies for Diana, and she got me some as well. Ledge was quite pleased with the little gifts and toys we got for him, but of course he didn't make it easy on us. He never actually gives us a Christmas list, he just says we can just get him 'whatever'. Ugh. That makes it much more challenging to find things that he will actually like! I think we did pretty good, there were some big winners and a few 'meh' gifts, but overall, he was very pleased. Diana loved her prizes and so did I! Finally, the last gift to open was the biggie: this year we got Ledger a new queen-sized bed! He had been complaining for months that his twin bed was too small, and his feet were hanging off the end, so we fixed that with a huge queen-sized foam mattress and frame. At first, he was a little disappointed because he just saw the box, but once we opened it up and the foam started to expand, he saw how huge and comfy it was going to be and then he was all on board! We had to let it sit overnight to firm up, but he was filled with excitement about getting it set up in his room.

Overall, another successful family Christmas!

(more pics: 1, 2)

Brinkmas '24

For the past several years we have had Christmas with my family on Christmas day itself, but this year we bumped it up a bit and got together several days earlier. We still had all the usual fun- games, gifts, and fantastic food!

Chad and his family came down early and stayed with Mema and Papa for a week or two. The rest of us arrived late afternoon. Once everyone was there, the festivities began. We start with a little gift game for the kids. My mom always comes up with something different each year. One year it involved a ball of saran wrap and mittens, another year it was a dice game. She always finds something creative and silly! This year there were a bunch of upside-down bowls that the kids had to pick. As always, everyone had a blast with lots of laughs and lots of candy and gift cards by the end!

Now with that out of the way, we all headed downstairs, each taking a bowl or plate filled to the brim with tasty food. Everyone filled up their plates and drinks, found a seat to settle into, and chowed down and chatted. After we each got a second (or third) helping, it was time for the main event: presents! The kids are always thrilled with all the amazing prizes from ol' Mema and Papa, and we get to spoil the nieces and nephews as well.

About an hour or so later, all the boxes have been unwrapped, and all the adults are exhausted while the kids try out their newest toys. There is, of course, the required wadding up of the wrapping paper and throwing it at each other, as well as helping the youngest ones assemble their colorful loot. After another visit or two to the table full of sweets, we clean up, pack away our newest acquisitions, say our thank you's and goodbyes.

Another successful Brinkmas in the books!

(more pics)

Oh, Christmas Tree

Winter is here, and so are our Christmas decorations! We've been a bit delinquent lately with decorating, waiting until mid-December to finally put them up... Better late than never, huh? I pulled out the dusty old boxes from the garage and basement and we opened them up and went about transforming our humble abode into a lovely winter wonderland!

First, in order to get the house in the right mood, we baked up some Christmas cookies- get that delicious smell wafting through the house. Next, we fire up the soundtrack to the Muppet Christmas Carol, and then we get to work! The tree goes first, then the lights, tinsel, and ornaments. Ledge, as always, has to hop into the Christmas tree box. Something he's been doing since he was 1 year old! It's still cute, but in a 5'10'' way... 

As we sing along with the Muppets, we get the place looking good! With a few well-placed seasonal knick knacks, we finish up the transformation. Now we are ready for Christmas!

(more pics)

A Big Thanksgiving

After having put in our time with my folks, we headed down to spend the rest of the weekend with Diana's family! We stayed with Mom and David, but made our way to Barbara and James' house for the big meal. James is quite the cook, so he whipped up some really great food for everyone. The weekend was filled with visiting family, catching up, and lots of laughs. The biggest challenge of going down there to visit is always convincing Ledge that he has to come home with us when it all over!

(more pics)

Father's Day

Back to Mom and Papa's place for a family get-together! We don't usually get together for Father's Day, but it had been a little while since we all had Sunday dinner, so Mom invited everyone over for a grill out.

It was good to see everyone and to get some good ol' fashioned summer grillin' out food! We all got to slap Papa on the back and wish him a happy day. Tim and I got a few slaps as well so we didn't feel left out or anything.

Keenan Christmas '23

 After a fun evening of decorating gingerbread houses, we were ready the next day for a great meal and some more present giving! Barbara, James, and Dad came by around 1pm. After the boys showed off their fully decorated houses, we gathered up in the living room and got busy with the gift giving.

Barbara always loves to play the role of Christmas elf and hand out the gifts to be opened. Most of the prizes were for Ledger and Tavish, as it should be. The rest of us had exchanged names and each got a gift. I got another good book I wanted, and Ledger got a bunch more toys and clothes! After the gifts were done, we gathered around the table for a delicious Christmas meal together. 

Mom and David offered to keep Ledger or the rest of the week since he was off school, that way he could spend more time with his beloved cousin! We gladly accepted the offer and Diana and I headed home, just the two of us (and pup).
(more pics: 1, 2) 

Gingerbread Houses

On Christmas day, after we opened all our prizes at home and had a nice relaxing half of the day, we packed up and spend the rest of the weekend with Diana's family! Tavish and Alanna were visiting, which always makes the holidays more fun. One of the best traditions they recently started with that side of the family is decorating gingerbread houses! Diana's mom and David get a bunch of gingerbread house kits and make them up for everyone earlier. We then pull out a bunch of different candies and frosting and go to town, each with our own house! The results are always awesome and everyone has a blast decorating together! Barbara and James are going to be so mad they missed out on all the fun!

(more pics: 1, 2)

Family Christmas

 Let the gift giving begin! All three of us took our spots in the living room, fired up the TV so we could have the 'fireplace' roaring, and now we are ready for the Christmas morning fun!

Ledger sat on the big footstool so he could be closer to the tree and grab all the gifts. There were a lot of gifts this year, and even a few that weren't for him, which is a bit unusual. We struggled again this year to find gifts because, as usual, Ledger didn't tell us what he actually wanted, we just had to guess. Even after last year's mild disappointment in his haul, he had promised that he would tell us what he wanted this year. He didn't. That left me with a lot of guess work! As the morning went on, he and Diana took turns opening the prizes picked out for them. Each unwrapping was met with delight and excitement!

A couple hours later, when all the gifts were opened, Ledger was absolutely tickled pink at the huge pile of loot he got. No disappointment this year- he absolutely loved his gifts! Diana was pretty pleased with hers as well. I got a lovely book, so I was pleased too. Ledge gathered his gifts up for his annual gift drawing as Diana and I began the clean up process. With all the fun and excitement concluded, Ledger spend the rest of the morning playing with his new toys while Diana and I snuck back into bed for a little nap. Another successful Christmas in the books!
(More pics: 1, 2, 3)

How We Cinnamon Roll

The morning has finally arrived: it's Christmas! We all slept in a bit, but finally gathered in the living room for the big event. We started, of course, with making cinnamon rolls- a Christmas tradition. And what also seems like a tradition, I burned them... Hey, give me a break, we only make them one day a year so I don't really get much practice.

As the smell of the cinnamon rolls began to fill the house, Ledger got to open one gift before we ate. It was a bit of a joke gift: a Cat-apult. A little catapult that shoots little cat figures! As we sat down to eat, he flung a few felines across the table, resulting in some good laughs from all of us! A great way to start the gift giving bonanza! 

Brinkmas '23

Time for some family Christmas fun! This year we got together at Mema and Papa's house on Christmas Eve. Everyone was there this year- including Chad, Miyuki, and their lil baby! When we got there everyone was hanging out in the living room, ready for the good times to start. We gathered around the table for the kids to play a fun game to win a huge pile of different candy, gift cards, and other fun stuff. Soon after, filled our plates with Mema's delicious food, and headed downstairs. 

When our bellies were full, we started opening gifts. As always, Mema and Papa spoil all the kids with too many gifts! Ledger got a few really cool toys- like a Sphero ball, which he was pumped about! Diana and I were spoiled as well, which we didn't really mind that much...

(More pics: 1, 2, 3)

Puttin' Up the Tree

It's feeling a lot like Christmas, so now it's time to make it look like Christmas too! We got a Christmas tree when we first moved to Allegan 8 years ago. We were thrilled to have such a lovely tree and decorations. They worked great in the apartment we lived in, but since we moved into our house about 4 years ago, we've been wanting to update the ornaments and some of the seasonal decor. This year we finally did it- we went to the store and got a whole new set of lights and ornaments for our tree! Diana was really drawn to the silver and blue decor, but was a little nervous, afraid it might look too 'cold'. We decided to go for it anyway and loaded up with new tree decorations.

The next evening it was time to try the new look! We turned on some Christmas tunes, out came the tree, and we got busy making it jolly! After we got it all set up and turned on the lights, we were all quite pleased with the final product! We all love our newly designed tree! Now we are ready for the Christmas season!
(more pics)

Santa Parade

Santa Clause is coming to town! Every year my lovely little town has a Christmas parade, ending with Santa! The high school band plays, and at the end Santa has a seat in the pavilion, they light the town Christmas tree, and Santa visits with each of the children. We've been going to the parade for years, but last year we decided to invite the rest of my family. We all had a great time, so we invited them again this year, and everyone quickly agreed.

When Ledger was little, he loved to go because he got to see Santa and let him know what he wanted for Christmas, but that motivation came to and end a few years ago... We've continued to go each year because it's always great to gather as a town and celebrate, and Ledger loves it because he gets to see a bunch of friends from school and hang out. The parade itself is filled with fire trucks, vehicles decorated from the different local businesses, the high school band, and more. We met up with my parents, Jill & Tim, and Noah. We watched the parade from my favorite place in town: right in front of the Regent Theater!

After waving as the parade went buy (and collecting the thrown candy, of course), we gathered in the downtown park to get a photo op with the jolly man himself!

A fun cold time was had by all!

(more pics)

Thanksgiving

Lets give some thanks! With all three of us having a few days off for Thanksgiving, we headed down to South Bend to spend some time with family. As an added bonus, Lissa joined us for the weekend.

Diana was pretty pleased, all she wanted for Thanksgiving was a good ol' fashioned traditional meal with turkey and all the fixin's. David and Mom accommodated and we had a delicious meal with the whole family! The whole visit was nice and lazy, which is exactly what we needed!

(more pics)

Allegan on the 4th

 Now that Mema and Papa no longer have a place at Sandy Pines, we were unsure what we should do or where we should go to celebrate the 4th of July.

We live in Allegan, so we figured we could just go downtown and watch the fireworks with our fellow Alleganians! They had a bunch of events scheduled downtown all day, but we just wanted to see the fireworks. We rolled in around 8:30pm. It was already pretty busy, so we had to park pretty far away- all the way over in the parking lot of the Frugal Hoosier (that's what Diana and I call the local grocery store). We brought chairs so we could have a place to sit to watch the show. They are currently doing a lot of road construction downtown, so most of downtown was filled with orange cones and caution tape! We were still able to find a pretty good spot to sit over by the gazebo at the park. The line to get drinks was so long and so expensive, that I actually just walked back to the gas station and got some fountain drinks for us at a fraction of the cost! Even with the long line, Ledger wanted to get a fried snack. He was willing to wait, so I gave him some cash and let him wait by himself. Eventually he brought back deep fried Oreos! He was very pleased with his treat and gobbled them down, kindly giving Diana and I a small bite each.

At dusk we settled in to our seats and got ready for the big show. The firework show was great, probably better than the Sandy Pines fireworks, so we were very pleased with our decision. Afterward we gathered up our things and headed home, pleased to participate in our little town's celebration!

(more pics: 1, 2)

Egg Hunt

 Easter is here! That means that the eggs getting filled with candy and the boy gets to do a little bit of hunting. Earlier in the week I got a few different types of candy to fill up the plastic eggs for the morning hunt. Loading them up the night before, I snuck around in the dark of night and found good hiding spots for all 35 eggs. They were scattered around the living room, dining room, and kitchen for Ledger to find. I made sure to put some in easy obvious spots as well as a few tricky hiding spots. When we woke him up Sunday morning we reminded him what day it was, and he hopped out of bed (pun intended) and grabbed the Easter basket- the hunt was on! Most of them he found pretty quickly, as intended, but the last couple took him 10+ minutes to find! He kept asking for clues of the last locations, but I refused. He's got to work for his sweets! Later we headed over to Mema & Papa's house for a great time and delicious Easter dinner with Jill, Tim, and the kids.

(more pics)

Keenan Christmas

Unfortunately I wasn't able to join Diana and Ledger for her family's Christmas. I had to work, of course, so the two of them went down for a couple days to spend time with the family during Christmas break. Everyone had a great time and Ledger was excited to get a bunch more gifts, and honestly who wouldn't? Dad, Barbara, and James came as well to celebrate.
I wish I could have been there, but I'm sure I'll make it next year!

Christmas Morn

The beautiful sight we woke up to on Christmas morning! Our tree was filled with presents underneath it! Diana always says I get the boy too many gifts. She talks about how when she was growing up they only got two or three gifts for Christmas and the gifts weren't even wrapped, they were in paper bags. That always makes me so sad to hear! I grew up with a tree overflowing with gifts- my parents couldn't even fit them all under the tree, they overflowed into the middle of the living room! Granted, there were three of us kids, so it makes sense that there would be more, but we were always really spoiled at Christmas with too many gifts. I always loved those mornings, getting all those gifts, and I want Ledger to have the same experience. Spoiled? Yes, but that's my prerogative as his daddy!

He was obviously pumped to open his prizes! Once breakfast was done, we dug right in and got to work unwrapping all them gifts. First things first, we turned the TV on to one of those fireplace videos, specifically the Frozen one on Disney+. That, of course, set just the right mood for the whole event. We took our time unwrapping, taking time to play with each new gift. Diana had a couple gifts as well- and so did the dog! We finally finished up with the festivities by noon and spend the rest of the afternoon playing with our new loot!
(more pics: 1, 2)

Cinnamon Christmas

Good morning, Christmas! It looks like Santa stopped by again! Ledger got us up to open gifts but first we have our tradition of cinnamon rolls. They are always so delicious and fill the house with that sweet smell. It has become the smell of Christmas itself! On Christmas Eve, as I was trying to make it home during the blizzard from work, I had been talking to my mom on the phone and mentioned that I was disappointed that I forgot to get cinnamon rolls from the grocery store that week and that we were going to miss out on our traditional Christmas morning meal. Well, she didn't want that, and she proceeded to make us an amazing cinnamon roll concoction to take home after our Christmas with them. What a life saver! We took her baked treat home and popped it in the oven Christmas morning and the day was saved!

Now it's time for presents!

Brinkmas 2022

Let the Christmas fun begin! We all gathered together with my family at my parents house for some of that good ol' Christmas time joy. Soon after we got there we got there we jumped right into game time with the kids. Mema always plans a fun game where the kids win prizes, candy and gift cards. The big kids always grab the gift cards while Ledger and Noah went for the sweets.

In order to save every one the hassle, Mom ordered food for us so that no one would have to slave away and bring food. It was a nice spread and of course Mom got way too much! We gathered up our plates full of food and made our way downstairs for the main event: present time! Mema and Papa over did it on the gifts, as usual. Each of the five kids were absolutely elated with all the gifts they got! After much gift giving and catching up, it was time to pack it up and head home, with our baskets even more full then we arrived. We had better get to bed anyway, with Santa coming tonight, we don't want to miss the big event of Christmas morning!

(more pics: 1, 2)