Lil Landis Fam: January 2026

Sunday, January 11, 2026

Year 7, December: Blessed Beyond Measure

We are a slight bit behind, but we are going to be there! Our December was chaotic and wild and altogether wonderful! It has been a great year and we are so thankful for all that it has brought us.

We have had a lot of good family time, cleaned up the outdoors and indoors a little bit, there was a lot to do! Work was a bit crazy, but that was to be expected. We had fantastic help and got as much as we could done! I worked a few extra shifts for my partners and then had some vacation at the end of the month, so it all worked out pretty well overall!

Jonathan and I took Vivian for a date and shopping trip for Christmas early in the month and it was a lot of fun. We enjoyed getting to go shop in person! Once we got everything we could in person we spent some time ordering the rest of the things we needed and got everything in plenty of time!

Poor Vivi girl has had a rough month. She learned how to crawl late November, which interrupted her sleep, and then she ended up with a fever. When the fever lasted a few days I took her to the doctor since she had no other symptoms. It was a long day. They did all sorts of tests, the weather was absolutely awful, the tests were terrible, I was completely scared by the whole experience, it was terrible, but thankfully it did not have any long term impact on her and everything came back clear for her. Unfortunately, when she was sick we were supposed to get together with our small group, so we had to cancel that. It was quite disappointing, but it is what it is! We didn't want to share with anyone else!

There were more hard Vivi days than easy ones, to be honest, but we made it through and have just soaked up some extra 7 month old snuggles! It is hard to get ready for Christmas AND plan for birthday, but we did try to think ahead more this year than we previously have and I think we have a plan - stay tuned for that!

We actually made cookies this year and I think Amelia would have decorated as many as I could have possibly made for her. She is so incredibly enjoyable right now. Such a fun age! I think a highlight for her was probably us going for groceries and getting Applebee's, she loves her some apple restaurant...possibly their biggest fan.

Christmas gifts got wrapped a few days AHEAD of Christmas, so it was much improved from previous years. We enjoyed spending some time together doing that and have got so spend some time organizing down there as well since Jonathan and Dad worked on the attic. He did a lot of moving! It is already looking better down there, still some work to go. ANYWAY, getting ahead of myself, our Christmas prep was a lot more efficient this year. And I mean that about us as a team, as I finished my shopping on the 23rd! That said, it wasn't anything too big, just a few small things and it was ready to go!

I think this was one of our best ones yet. We had Christmas with the Landis family the Saturday before Christmas, which was great. It was a whole day celebration and the kids had so much fun. Then, Christmas morning was wonderful, as one would expect considering we have a 7 month old, 3 year old and 4 year old, they enjoyed their gifts and were so excited about opening them, the big two helped Vivi the whole time and they shared with each other so well. It was just the best and I am sure next year will be even better!

The day just kept getting better. My parents and grandparents came for lunch, which was super special, the kids loved it and we did too! Dinner was with the Landis side - Jonathan's parents, Grandpa, Sister, Aunt and cousin. It was so special to see everyone ON Christmas! How special for our kids to get to see all their grandparents and great grandparents! So sweet and special for our family. It meant a lot to our family.

Shem, Karah and Hazel came in town on Friday and we had so much fun during their visit! Saturday after Christmas was Haas Christmas, so that was a whole day of celebration and then we had hang-outs with different combinations of people throughout the rest of the week. We had a sleepover and celebrated my birthday together as a family, it was just the best Christmas break we could have asked for. We loved being home and with all of our people. The kids are still a little sad that Hazel isn't in town any more, but they are slowly coming down off the Christmas high.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! We can't wait to see what is in store in 2026. Thank you for being part of our lives, buckle in for the rest of winter! We will be enjoying every minute of it! Stay healthy and warm.

Love,

Jonathan, Allison, Amelia, William and Vivian

Random Photos:

Fake nap on Christmas - figured out he can lay the recliner back!

Helping Daddy make Christmas maple sticky buns!

Wishing she got to take baths with Bro and Sis!

She LOVED decorating cookies!

New winter boots!

Fever over 102 and she still has the best smile!

Never to cold for a bike ride!

"Snow potties" are a necessity at all times this year.

Year 7, November: Thankful

I hope you have all had a happy Turkey month! We have had a great month, a little crazy, but full of things and people we love, which is exactly what the holiday season is about, we just had an early start to it. So thankful for the weather and the start of our birthday and holiday celebrations.

We started off with our first celebration! One of our friends has a chili cook-off every year and we housed it this year. It was a lot of fun! We had a great turnout, the weather was a bit chilly, but it was so much fun. The kids were so excited, we loved getting to use our barn for people we love to gather together, it was a wonderful day and the first of 3 parties we had in 8 days!

Tuesday was voting day, then on Wednesday I had to take Vivian to an appointment for her skin, it turns out she has eczema, which was disappointing to hear, but we have been treating it and have been getting good results. That evening we had our final small group of the semester with dinner and some fun fellowship time together! Our second party and by far the least involved! By Thursday I was pretty exhausted from the previous days and overwhelmed by the rest of the week, I got a lot of stuff done and instead of making supper, we went to Grinder's, got some grocery shopping done for the final party: William's third birthday!

This year we decided to have a "farmer's breakfast" for William and had everyone over for brunch. It was a bit of a hack. I am absolutely a fan! All the prep work was done on Friday - two kinds of muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls, slider prep, fruit prep and table/chair prep. On Saturday, all I had to do was finish the sliders, set up the yogurt bar and organize the pastries! William had such a great time. He got to enjoy his new toys the entire day and everyone got to stay and hang out until naptime!

Jonathan has done some traveling this month, so we have made sure to get some time with friends and Nana and Papa to distract the kids from long days at home. He had a lot of work things that all have gone very well! We had a pretty quiet middle of the month. Lots of relaxing, a few doctor's appointments for the kids and for us.

We had one weekend of kids and Mama at Nana's house. The kiddos were little troopers! We went to visit Grandma Kate and Grandpa Glenn, we did some grocery shopping and the guys working on re-insulating and flooring our attic. As a reward for making it through, we all went out to eat and the kids were absolutely thrilled. It was a great evening, the attic looks great, we had a great time with Nana getting some visiting and tasks done, it was wonderful. Added bonus, I got to do some kitchen cleaning the next day because I was so inspired by all the space I have in the attic to store things! No need to keep extra stuff in my kitchen anymore, that's for sure!

Of course, we ended the month with Thanksgiving! It was a small Thanksgiving with my parents and grandparents, big family game night with my dad's side of the family on Friday, pigs on Saturday and Christmas decorating on Sunday after naps, sausage and church. It was a BIG weekend! The kids loved every single minute of it, of course, and took some VERY good naps!

Our month has been pleasantly full. We have all enjoyed our month and our time together doing such a variety of different activities. The best part of the holidays is more time with family and friends and we are planning to continue that into the next month! I hope everyone else is ready for December! Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, enjoy the cooler weather and the holidays!