Christmas 2013

Christmas is hands-down, without a doubt my favorite holiday.  I love everything about it.  Derek always laughs at me because I get so excited about everything Christmas.  For me, the anticipation usually starts as soon as it gets cold and snowy outside.  That's when I start feeling Christmas in the air!  Usually in Utah, that's about the beginning of November.  However, Derek is in the "No-Christmas-music-or-decorations-before-Thanksgiving" camp.  We've argued about this before.  He's of the opinion that Thanksgiving should be it's own holiday with no Christmas overlap.  He thinks it gets "overshadowed" by Christmas.  I, on the other hand, do agree that Thanksgiving and Christmas get blurred together, but I like it that way!  The way I see it, Thanksgiving is about being thankful and what do we have more to be thankful for than the birth of Christ?  The two holidays go hand-in-hand in my mind, and therefore, I am perfectly alright listening to Christmas music all through November AND December.  We do, however, wait until the day after Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas tree and decorations.  Sometimes, a happy marriage involves compromising.  :)

This Christmas was extra special because it was Anna's first one.  I kept thinking back to last Christmas when we were waiting for her to come any day.  It's so weird to think that just over a year ago, she wasn't born yet.  The last year has gone by so fast, but at the same time, I feel like Anna has just always been a part of our family.  I can hardly remember what life was like without her!

We went to Denver this year for Christmas.  We were able to stay a whole week, which was really nice, and we got to spend time with all of our family members who live in the area.  Everyone loved having Anna around.  I'm so glad she's the type of baby that will go to almost anyone.  She loves people!  And they love her!

Here are some of the highlights...

Watching the Broncos game and making Christmas cookies at Mike and Joy's.

Going to the Riddle family Christmas Eve-Eve party.

Making tamales on Christmas Eve.  It is an almost all-day affair. It took Karry, Sterling, and I almost 45 minutes to assemble them all, then they had to be cooked in two batches, which took another several hours. Tamales are quite labor-intensive, but oh-so-delicious!

Getting to be in a nativity "pageant" with Scott and Kristine's family.  We stopped by to say hi on Christmas Eve and they asked us if we wanted to join in.  Anna was a rather large and active (and female) Baby Jesus, but I guess she fit the role better than the teddy bear they were going to use before we showed up. :)  I was glad we got to participate because it is one of my favorite Ireland Christmas traditions.

Watching Anna "open" her gifts Christmas morning.  We actually got to sleep in until 8:30...one of the nice things about Anna being too young to care about Christmas!  She loves the baby doll she got from Santa. She is so cute with it, cuddling her and giving her kisses and patting her head.

Building towers with Anna's blocks and watching her knock them down.

Going to Derek's grandma's house for Christmas dinner.  She has a beautiful rustic home nestled right up in the mountains, and I had never been there before.  The view is gorgeous!  We had a traditional Lontine Christmas meal of pickle enchiladas (yes, pickle...don't knock it till you try it!), rice, and pinto beans.  Ted, Michelle, and Trevor were there too and we had a nice evening visiting and exchanging gifts.

Anna got two gift bags full of CUTE clothes from Great-Grandma Lontine!

Spending the day after Christmas in Colorado Springs with the Boyds and Grandma Buckner and Ron. We spent the afternoon eating, playing games, shooting sling shots...and opening more gifts.

Attempting to go to the zoo lights, but changing our minds when we got there and saw the hundreds of cars and people waiting in line!  Instead, we went downtown to the civic center which was less decked-out, but also much less crowded!

All in all, it was a really good Christmas.  Even though Anna didn't really understand what was going on, it was so fun to have a kid around for Christmas.  We loved helping her open her gifts and watching her play with her new toys!

The only downside of loving Christmas so much is that I'm always just a tiny bit sad when it's over. But luckily, with each new year comes plenty of new things to look forward to. Here's to a happy 2014!