Christmas 2025

 

Christmas Eve is always a time of preparation for me, from setting the table to making the meatballs and making sure everything is just right for Santa's arrival! It’s not until we leave for the 4pm church service that I can finally relax and enjoy the holiday.

I love this picture from the day before Christmas Eve - the boys had a few last things to wrap and Kade amazes me with his ingenuity using his foot to help wrap the gifts! 

After delicious spaghetti and meatballs, it was time for Christmas jammies (and Halloween bottoms Brock?) to hang the stockings. Brock was also so good and poured Santa's milk in one of Brent's good scotch glasses! Nothing but the best for Santa!  

Santa did not have to wait too late this year to bring all the gifts, thankfully! Moose was not being as cooperative and refused to pose on the hard floor. He kept moving over to the rug every time we positioned him; I finally relented and put a cushion there! Silly pup!

I had to wake our almost-teenager up at 9:30am to open presents! He got moving faster than any other morning I've done that though - with a smile on his face! 

One present to open before our epic breakfast of pancakes and bacon. 

Back to opening gifts - Brock received a brand new TI-84 Graphing Calculator in Trinomial Teal (his favorite color is cyan) from Grammy & Grandpa. 

Brock also received several articles of clothing this year, not as compelling as a Farting Boxing pen - soooo exciting for an almost thirteen year old. 

Kade seems to like to wear his clothing gifts! Here is unwrapping his wrestling dummy while wearing his Under Armour hat and new Crocs! 

Kade received Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon and loved that you rub its head like a real pet! 

The dragon does favor a certain someone..... 

Christmas table is set for Prime Beef Filet Mignon, Chilean Sea Bass, baked potatoes, and green beans. 

Kade's favorite gift was his new headboard and bed frame. Brock's favorite gift was his fifteen pound weighted blanket. My favorite gift would have to be tied between cozy socks and our new Electric water kettle. Brent's favorite gift was fixing the heater core in his truck - after 10 months, the heated seats were not enough to overcome the chill of this winter!!

Our Apex home on Christmas night. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! 

2025 TAC Jingle Bells Swim Meet

 

Brock has become more competitive this year swimming for the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC). It is really awesome to see! He only has two more swim meets for opportunities to secure age group times before turning thirteen. The Jingle Bells meet was a three day event and Brock convinced us that he wouldn't miss too much work on the last school day before Winter Break. 

Brock signed up for events every day of this meet - mornings for the "Prelims" and early evening for the Finals - where only the best 16 swimmers are invited back! 

His first event on Friday morning was the 200 yard Free, where he qualified for a Final swim, besting his prelim time by another 1.28 seconds! 

Brock's second event was the 100 yard Breast, which we (even Brock!) are all astounded at how well he does with this stroke! He dropped 0.44 seconds from his entry time, earning him another swim for Finals! 

Finals went so well, he dropped another 1.19 seconds, finishing 10th overall! 

Brock is hiding behind/between his two friends - all standing next to their Coach. 

Brock's third event on Friday was the 50 yard Fly - cutting just 0.04 seconds in the Prelims, but earning him another swim in the Finals. Brock and his friend discussing strategy before their Final race starts. 

Brock finished 13th overall, cutting an additional 0.70 seconds from his prelim time! 

Saturday was a tough day for Brock. He did really really well, but he swam knowing that he was not going to be able to compete in any of the Finals that evening - it was the same evening as family time with Papa, Maddox, Asher and family. He was excited to spend time with his family, but bummed about not being able to compete. 

Saturday races included 100 yard Free, 50 yard Back, and 500 yard Free. 

Brock earned 2nd place in this heat, 10th overall - and it worked out great that Papa was at our house during this race and got to watch Brock swim this REALLY long race on the big screen tv! 

After a late night playing with cousins, Brock was at the pool early again - but only two races on Sunday - 50 yard Free and 200 yard IM. 

Brock improved 0.62 from his entry time and then dropped another 0.20 in Finals!

The best part of this race was he was swimming against two of his summer swim buddies! Brock is in lane 6 and his friends are in lanes 2 & 3. The trio finished third, fourth and fifth respectively! 

Brent and I walked out to the lobby, ready to see Brock walk up the steps any minute..... instead we received a text from him that he was swimming the finals in the 200 yard IM because several other swimmers had scratched. He had placed 19th overall, so this was quite a shock to us! 

For not being really prepared to swim another long race, he did pretty well - finishing 14th overall and cutting his time from prelims!

A very successful Jingle Bells swim meet! Brock did earn three age group cuts and one sectional cut too! 

Christmas with Cousins 2025

 

Saturday, December 20th was our Eason-Rosenfeld family get-together. Papa joined us earlier that day for lunch while Kade counted down the minutes to the Huntersville crew's arrival - he was SO excited! 

Lots of quality time with cousins - and taking out toys my boys have not played with in years! So much fun and excitement while we all talked and laughed and caught up on the latest news in our lives. 

Dinner reservations were quickly approaching, which meant it was time for gift swapping. Asher made an excellent "Santa" and gave out all the gifts to the appropriate recipient!

We all posed for some photos with my Dad in front of my Mother's Christmas tree - the last year it will make an appearance (due to some electrical issues....).

Then we were off to Lugano's Italian Restaurant for a nice holiday meal. 

Amazing Aunt Nancy ordered all the boys matching Christmas jammies! They looked adorable when they posed the following day! 

After an epic breakfast of waffles, bacon (4 lbs cooked by Brent!), hashbrown crowns, and two kinds of cooked eggs, the rest of Sunday was spent throughly enjoying cousin time. The boys were inside, then outside, with Nintendo switches, with cars and trucks - having a wonderful time together! 

The boys were sad their cousins had to leave - a weekend is just never long enough. Thank you Brian and Nancy for a wonderful time spent and look forward to more in 2026! 

Moose was very happy to pose for a Christmas Advent cookie in front of the tree when all the visitors left too! 

Family Steak Dinner and our last Holiday Express

 

On the first Saturday of December, our family celebrated our annual holiday dinner at The Capital Grille. Steaks almost as delicious as Brent’s legendary grilling!

Kade devoured his 10oz filet mignon faster than anyone else - the older couple at the table beside ours kept looking over in amazement at our little boy! And he loves it cooked rare (*rare plus = between rare and medium rare)! 

Brock looked all spiffy, I had to take another picture before we drove home! 

As Brock is not quite a teenager yet, I decided back in early October I would buy tickets one more time for the Holiday Express event at Pullen Park. Brock did make a great photographer! 

This event is definitely geared towards the little ones - we thought of Asher all night! Kade played a few of the carnival style games, but Brock was not interested. 

Even though it was cold - about 38 degrees the night we attended - it was absolutely beautiful walking around and seeing the light displays. 

The boys did stop and make s'mores in the open fire pits provided by the Raleigh Fire Department! No pictures, but it was yummy!

Aww, my little present! 

Riding the carousel was included with the ticket! Even though we had a bit of a wait, it was nice and warm inside! 

We were able to walk around and see everything before our 7:30pm train time. I'm glad we did ride the train one more time - they will be changing the train in 2026 from a propane powered engine to an electric powered one!

Pictures in the dark do not come out that well when you're moving. Pretty little shot of the walking trail around Pullen Park's lake from the train. 

One family selfie and we were back on the shuttle to our nice warm car!