Christmas in Texas

We had a great Christmas season this year, spending time with both family and friends. As I said in my last post, Justin and Holly came into town the Saturday before Christmas. We were able to see them on Sunday, and then they left with their family for a couple of days to go down to San Antonio. When they got back, we went to Babe's for dinner on Wednesday night. It was so nice to hang out with them again. We have really missed our friends since we moved from Utah.

We got to see even more friends on Friday night (22nd), because more had finally come into town. We had Justin and Holly over, along with Daniel and Natalie, and Lindsay and Preston. I can't emphasize enough how nice it was to see them! We really missed Jamie and Nicole, and Ben, and Cory though--it would have been perfect if they had been here too. I sent out the same invites as I did for my Christmas party in Connecticut and made a lot of the same food. We spent the night catching up, eating treats, and laughing. It was great!

Our little Christmas tree in the corner

 Hot Cocoa station

All I have is pictures of the food. I can't believe I didn't get a picture with everyone :( Next year I definitely will.

Saturday was Christmas Eve, and we spent the day with Grant's family. His brothers and sisters and their families slowly came into town the week before and we enjoyed spending the day together. We hung out with all the kids in the morning, took family pictures in the afternoon, and then ate a delicious Christmas Eve dinner that night. We did some Christmas Eve traditions after dinner, including acting out the birth of Jesus while Grandpa read from the Bible, laying out our stockings for Santa to fill, and of course, last minute wrapping of presents. Then all the kids went to sleep, anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival.

Christmas Day, guess who was the first one awake? With a house full of kids under the age of 10, I was the first one awake--and not only was I just the first one up, I was awake an entire hour and a half before any of the kids woke up. Seriously, what is wrong with me?! On any regular day, if given the choice, I would sleep in until noon or later. But on Christmas, well on Christmas I wake up before the sun does.

The kids eventually woke up (with my encouragement) and got all the adults up as well. We went into the room where all the presents, stockings, and tree was. We then opened presents for literally hours, because there were so many of us and we all went one at a time. We took two breaks: one for breakfast and one for lunch. The kids had so much fun opening their presents, and I loved watching them. This was my first year of having Christmas with little kids, and it was so much fun.

 "Snowman Poop." Grant's sister Carrie came up with the idea, and I designed it in InDesign and helped her put them together. I thought it was such a cute idea!

 Tate's signs for Santa. Since they were sleeping over at Grandpa & Grandpa's house, Tate was worried that Santa wouldn't be able to find their stockings. Santa came through though :)

 Tate very excited about a present in his stocking!

 Blaine

 Mason

 Blaine, left, and Neil, right. (Twins)

 Neil

 From left to right: Wyatt in the Santa hat, Tate, Caleb, Becky, Neil, and Blaine. (Dan, Gavin, and Shannon in the background.)

 Dan, Gavin, and Shannon

 Gavin loved these balloons!

 As did Neil!

 Gavin with his new piggy bank and lots of coins to fill it with

 Caleb turning into Spider Man!

Gavin and I became good buddies this trip :)

 

We finished opening gifts just in time to get ready and go to church. While everyone was busy getting ready, I hopped on the computer and video chatted with my family, watching as they opening their gifts from Grant and I. (This all worked out, time wise, because my family doesn't wake up until noon and doesn't start opening gifts til around one o'clock in the afternoon.) After we video chatted, I went with Grant's family to church and we listened to a really great program, full of beautiful Christmas songs. We all came back and ate another delicious meal, and then played lots of games. I took a break from games to talk to my brother Austin, who's on a mission in the Philippines. It was great to talk to him, along with everyone else in my family, and we had fun hearing all his stories.

That night I also hurriedly packed a suitcase because I caught a flight early in the morning to Connecticut, to spend a few days with my family. Grant had to work that week, so he couldn't come, but I had the week off so I thought it would be a good chance to see my family for a few days.

My flight left at 6:00am so we had to wake up around 4:30 to get me there on time--it was rough. But I was able to sleep on the plane, and when I got into Connecticut around noon, it was really nice to have the entire day there. My brother Brandon and sister Courtney had stayed in Connecticut and were there when I got home. It was great to be able to hang out with them, my brother Trevor, and my sister Andrea, and my parents. We ate dinner with everyone that night and then Brandon and Courtney headed back into the city. I spent the rest of the week relaxing, catching up on sleep, hanging out with my family, going out to eat (especially Panera Bread), watching movies, and even getting some crafts done. I left Friday afternoon to come back to Texas--not a long trip, but I really enjoyed it.

Grant picked me up from the airport in Texas and when we got back we opened up his family's time capsules from ten years ago and twenty years ago. They make a time capsule every year around New Year's and then open the previous two decades around New Year's Eve. It was funny to hear all about Grant as a four and fourteen year old.

The next morning, Saturday, Dan, Shannon, and Gavin got up early and headed back to Utah. Grant and I woke up a little later and hung out with family for the day, went shopping quickly at Anthro (and got some great stuff), and then played games with Grant's family and our friends Nick and Briana while we waited for the clock to change to the New Year! It wasn't anything too exciting, but we all had a great time. Although I've got to say, this was the first year EVER that I've missed the ball drop. I didn't realize that it would drop an hour before us, since New York is in a different time zone, so we missed it :(

 Playing with the kids before they went to bed

 Neil coloring

 Blaine coloring

 Tate and Heidi

 Mason

 Heidi

 Tate

Caleb

 Playing Rockband while waiting for the countdown

 The madness

 Nick and Briana

 Grandma and Grandpa

 Burton and Becky and their friend Heather

 Todd and Diana

Sunday we went to church and hung out with the little kids in nursery. Then after we were able to spend a few hours with Daniel, Natalie, and Finn. They came over to our place for lunch and we had a good time just talking and catching up. One of these weekends we're going to go visit them down in Houston.

The rest of the day was spent playing with the kids and playing games with the whole family. The next morning, Monday, Carrie's family left and it meant back to work for me. Work was absolutely crazy this week with trying to catch up on everything from the week we were all off...but oh well, that's real life for you.

This Christmas break was exactly what we needed--time with friends, time with family, time to realize the important things in life like the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and time to spend with each other.