Happy New Year!

Ringing in the New Year with our good friends was a lot smaller this year since everyone seems to be sick, but we had a great time as always, and are looking forward to what 2026 brings together!

We do know that the year has started off strong with hangouts, games & fun! I hope it's filled with many other fun times ahead!

Christmas with the Cousins

Despite the flu arriving for Emily and a little quarantining, we still had family come for the holiday... 

We enjoyed our gift exchange with each other, and Grandpa was thrilled to try on his new Wolfpack shirt that Abby picked out!

Madelyn finally got her well- wrapped present... it took her quite a while the get through it all, but we think she liked it! 

Unfortunately, right after our gift exchange, Abby was the next to take the fall to the flu, and headed up to the quarantine zone. It was a bummer since Madelyn couldn't wait to spend time with the girls, but they still hung out on Facetime together when the girls felt well enough...

We even dialed them in for some family time...

There was a lot of handwashing, disinfecting, medicating & temperature taking...

With our group dwindling, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful 70 degree day outside and get out of the germmy house. We explored a beautiful park in Cary, and loved the fresh air in December!

When the girls started feeling better, their meal request was good old Bojangles, so Liam and I headed out for a convertible ride to pick it up!

The adults also got out to enjoy some drinks & apps...

Brian even made it up until after 8pm several nights!

For their Christmas gift, we got Nannie & Grandpa an afternoon of fun, food & golf at Top Golf... Even though the group kept getting smaller, they still had a great time!

There may not have been any big family pictures this year, but we made many new memories, and are looking forward to the next time we're all together! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Beach Family!

We enjoyed our family Christmas Eve morning gift exchange! It's our favorite time of the year with each other!

The puppies were helpful this year too...

Ben found me an awesome tray for our rolls!

I was super excited to find Brian a quieter electric toothbrush... The misophonia struggle is real...

The biggest gift of the year was surprising Emily with concert tickets to one of her favorite artists, Laufey... in Copenhagen, Denmark!!! She and Brian will enjoy a trip for the two of them in February, and she could not be more excited!

When Brian was in France last week, he found a book in French for Abby for her to practice her reading skills!

The Lego king in the house was super happy this year!

I had some AI books written about the kids... hopefully they are a hit!

The family dog walker deserves a uniform!

For our Hawkinson/Smith/Beach gift exchange this year, we pulled names and gave gifts in the spirit of our favorite Christmas movies! It was a fun twist on our gift giving, and we all got on a zoom call to celebrate together!

Ben was given a gift from Uncle Ryan with "Home Alone" in mind...

Emily got a fun gift inspired by "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"...

We saw fun gifts from so many awesome movies... "The Holiday",  "Love Actually", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Miracle of 34th St", "Die Hard", and so many more! We're already looking forward to next year's theme!

Ben appeased us with his annual Christmas photo...

Christmas morning was full of more memories, and this year, Mrs. Claus even brought the family an educational book so everyone can understand me!

This ornament sums up some of the brain rot the kids have embraced and moved on from already this year...

The family got a new VR headset to go with the Playstation games!

Staple supplies in our stockings are what everyone looks forward to opening...

Unfortunately,  Christmas morning is where the celebration ended for Emily, as she tested positive for the flu and headed to her room for days of bedrest... but the party must go on, since we had family coming into town to celebrate!