Merry Christmas!

We had a nice quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas day at home in Houston this year. We decided to play it all low-key and just enjoy our time with a newborn at home. And we had to prove that Santa would indeed find us in Houston! This was our first time flying completely solo for the holiday and while very quiet, it was nice. We have missed our family a lot, and we've been talking on the phone and over the webcam--thank goodness for technology!--to help bridge the miles. A Houston Christmas is definitely an interesting thing too with 75 degree weather! Apparantly we missed an awesome doozy-of-a white Christmas in Utah this year with everyone snowed in. I find myself longing for the snow. Kind of. For a week maybe. Then I remember that we get an early spring. And life is still good. :) Actually, I really do love the snow and am pining away for the cold, brisk air. I revel in the days that we actually need to wear our shoes and socks instead of sandals, and bundle up in our jackets when we go outside. Anywho, back on topic...

We weren't alone the whole day. Our friends from the ward invited us over along with several other couples in the ward for a fun Christmas dinner and get-together/visit/game night. While we live far from our families, it's very nice to know that we have our ward family and friends here to spend time with and share the holiday. Anna had a lot of fun dancing and running around from person to person lapping up all the attention she could, while hyped up on sugar cookies. All in all, a very satisfying holiday!

So even though I'm a day late, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Here's some pictures of our holiday fun!
Making sugar cookies on Christmas Eve




Our tree, complete with the one small section of lights that stopped working that Dan needs to fix. Shoot, I didn't get a picture of the tree before the lights shorted out. Time for some testing of the lightbulbs. But we still love our tree! Anna especially adores it, and I just love to see her lit-up wide eyes when we plug in the lights everyday.


What Santa left when he came. Oops, looks like we missed the picture of the big family gift he left. Santa was very good to us and brought us a Wii this year! I must say, it's mighty fun to play, and I really loved whipping Dan in tennis. :)


Anna couldn't wait to dig into all the fun new toys lying out for her, although I still think she doesn't quite grasp the whole Santa concept. I'm thinking next year she'll understand a lot better.


What a haul!

David gave me the best Christmas present and slept for 4 and a half hours the night before Christmas, and then he slept for a 6-hour stretch last night too! I almost feel human again after getting to sleep more than 4 hours in a row! He woke up early Christmas morning to eat, but zonked out again right away of course, right in time for a quick family picture.