Christmas in Grand Rapids

We spent a blissful 5ish days in Grand Rapids over Christmas. Our time was filled with family Christmas parties, catch-up sessions with friends, and lots of food. I think we had forgotten how much we missed West Michigan. 5 days wasn’t nearly enough time, and we will hopefully be able to go back up there soon.

Now for some pictures of good ole family fun...

Witte Family Christmas Party

We're clearly not lacking for people!

Also, a Christmas celebration is never complete without singing Christmas Carols and Dutch hymns. I need some significant help on those! I have no skills in Dutch, that is for sure.

Cousins. Now that I live by none of them, I’m reminded of how special they are to me. There was a family baby boom in the early 80’s, which was resulted in my having LOTS of cousins right around my age. Built-in friends that I have an excuse to see around the holidays. What could be better?

Christmas morning at the Witte house

All three of us kids were definitely spoiled rotten! What sweet, generous parents we have!

I got a Cricut! Can’t wait to get back to the scrapbook and use this AWESOME new tool!


Josh and I received a cow and a goat (respectively) this year. My parents had them donated through Samaritan’s Purse to needy families in other parts of the world. If you’re ever looking for a unique gift, they come out with an awesome catalog of charitable giving options. You can stock a fish pond or give toward medical equipment for preemies or buy a goat in the name of a friend instead of giving them more junk they don’t need…

I think it took my mom a while to find a plastic cow and goat for us to wrap up, but she managed. I put these on a shelf at home so that I can remember to pray for the families that received these animals.

Witte cousins over for game night on Christmas – complete with leftover sweets. My arm, Mark, Annette, Rebecca, Nathaniel, my brother Ben, Josh, Natasha, my dad, and Christina. We played Oodles, Euchre, and Trivial Pursuit before finally calling it quits around midnight.