Joanna Gaines' eldest daughter, Ella, made a triumphant return home from college, much to the delight of her family. The 19-year-old debuted a deep red hair color, a far cry from her usual brunette, as Joanna snapped a photo of her hugging Crew, seven, with both of their faces obscured for privacy.
Ella wore a white sweater and loose blue jeans as she sat on the sofa, with the family Christmas tree visible in the background. "'Mom is this a dream? Ella is home!' She's back from college," Joanna sweetly wrote in the caption.
© InstagramThe teen left home for her freshman year in August, in a move that the Fixer Upper star said was particularly devastating for her. "Ella, our second kiddo, she's graduating this year, so we're going through that again with another kid leaving the nest and trying to stay emotionally stable," she told People.
"I think there's an emotional difference," she added. "With Ella, we love to go to antiques shops, plant shops, and go get coffee – that's our rhythm. I kind of feel like I'm losing a friend in my everyday life."
Learn more about Joanna's daughter Ella below...
"It feels like what's coming this summer will be a tidal wave of emotions, and I am not going to brace; I'm going to stand there and take it." Her eldest child, Drake, left home for college in 2023, which shifted the family dynamic for good and sent Joanna into a spiral, as she told the publication.
"I was so sad. I couldn't believe how it hit me because Chip always says I'm not super emotional. I'm pretty steady," she said. "But, I think just the idea that I realize that one move out with that one kid, it triggers something now where it starts feeling everything goes fast."
© Instagram"It's just being okay with the shift and letting go of what was, and just being excited for what's to come." The mom of five revealed how she stays connected to Drake and Ella while they are away at college in the Magnolia Journal.
"For Drake and Ella, [being there for them] might look like experimenting: care packages with their favorite cookies and surprise visits for an afternoon coffee. But it will also look the same way it always has: a listening ear, texts that let them know I'm here."
© InstagramShe continued: "Because the hope, I think, is that my children will know – no matter how far or near they are—that proximity isn't what truly connects us."
Ella is following in her parents' footsteps already, having designed her dorm room at college on her own and taken on the challenge of designing a cottage on their Colorado property for the Fixer Upper: Colorado Mountain House series.
© Nick Kelley"Over the past few years, Ella has really come into her own when it comes to developing her own personal style," she wrote in the Magnolia Journal Winter Issue. "I love her eye, so I asked her to design the small cottage adjacent to the main house [in Colorado]. It was so sweet to share this experience with her before she went off to college."
Joanna's eldest daughter also interned at the family business for several months before heading off to college, and was heavily involved in the running of the brand.
