christmas 2013

guess i better get caught up here before the year is over! christmas last week marked the FIRST time in seven years of marriage that we didn't travel to see family for a holiday -- every year before, we alternated between my family and b's family for thanksgiving and christmas, but this year we decided we were ready to try it on our own. we spent christmas day just the four of us, here in seattle, enjoying a low-key holiday and creating our own traditions. it felt a tiny bit lonely at times, but we skyped with all of our family and had a nie quiet day at home.

leading up to christmas, we had so much fun getting into the holiday spirit. seattle has some really cool activities in december and we took advantage of as many as we could -- from our stake's live nativity to the annual argosy boat parade (we sat on our favorite lake washington beach and watched the decorated boats float by with choirs on board to sing carols). we even woke up to snow one day!

we had one tragedy in december -- our camera's SD card self-destructed on christmas day, deleting all our pictures of christmas eve, christmas morning and jack's adorable preschool christmas program. we were heartbroken. i'm going to try to get some video & additional pictures from the other preschool parents for your viewing pleasure (seriously, no one should have to go through life without watching jack act like a melting snowman...no one! ;) but until then, just enjoy this gem. 

finally it was christmas eve! my family always went to the movies on christmas eve growing up, but i didn't feel like attempting that with hudson (b and i brought him along to a preview screening of saving mr. banks a few weeks ago and i spent 3/4 of the movie rocking him in the back, no way will i be doing that again soon) so we just put him down for a nap and watched rudolph the red nosed reindeer and ate popcorn with jack. we got fancy fast food for dinner, watched the nativity video and put cookies out for santa before tucking the kiddos in bed and getting to work. it is so fun to play santa when your kids are old enough to know what's going on! i also made hudson a stocking and barely got it done in time. 

christmas morning came and we got off to a slow start since the boys slept in. jack even requested a bowl of cereal before he checked if santa came! crazy. we were so spoiled by all of our family across the country and had such fun surprises under our tree. santa brought jack his first bike (a lightning mcqueen bike, natch) and a mr. potato head, so he was pretty pumped. hudson got a push toy and a sweatshirt...it's a tough life when your life is full of your older brother's hand-me-downs. ;) 

we stayed in our sweats, played with toys, talked to family and watched christmas shows. i made a tasty christmas dinner -- ham, twice baked potatoes, rolls, and my great-grandma's famous cinnamon applesauce, yum! -- and we went to bed. merry christmas to all and to all a good night!