Christmas 2013

We stayed in Houston this Christmas, and although we were separated from most of our family, we had a really wonderful holiday.



We spent Christmas Eve morning walking at the arboretum, and Isaac was in heaven finding and carrying around sticks.

In the afternoon, we made snickerdoodles together, and I let Isaac help "roll" the dough. You can see his "ball" on the pan in the second picture. Ha ha. Good try, Isaac. 

And then for Christmas Eve, we had 4 other couples over for dinner-- with 2 more toddlers, so 13 people in all. Our apartment was a little cozy, but the food was AMAZING, and I love that I didn't have to cook all of it. And it was so fun to share the evening with friends. Plus, who could be cuter than this Joseph and Mary? 

Here's what our living room looked like after Santa came. There really is something that feels magical about the anticipation of giving and receiving gifts. Most of these gifts were sent from family and friends across the country. 

And here is Isaac on Christmas morning with his favorite present: packing peanuts! 

We didn't talk about Santa this year, but Isaac-- with his birthday in December-- was very familiar with opening presents, so we had such a fun morning. Isaac opened everyone's presents, which was fine with us. Then we had Emily and Andrew over for a nice brunch and hung out with them for the morning in our pjs. Really, it couldn't have been better. 

I just love the music, lights, and feelings of Christmas. It was such a wonderful month. Brent took me to see Handel's Messiah performed by the Houston Symphony, I went to another local concert that was amazing, we went to the temple, to a movie, to the zoo. So much good-quality family time. Both Brent and I are tempted to say we may never travel for Christmas again. :-) (Don't worry, Mom and Okaasan, I'm sure that's not completely true.)

And here is a picture of my favorite house in the neighborhood next to us. This doesn't do the real thing justice. Just look at that tree by the front door! Talk about a lot of lights! 

And thank you to all of you who sent us beautiful Christmas and New Years cards. It was so fun to see your cute families and read about your adventures. With this baby coming, I thought it would make more sense to hold off on sending something to friends. But please know that we appreciate your friendship so much and hope you had a wonderful Christmas!