Christmas Re-cap

Christmas has come and gone.  We thought we would be snowed in for a while, but we did manage to get out and see everyone we wanted to see.  Our friend Rob was here visiting a few days before Christmas and got stuck here until Christmas Eve day, but even he managed to get home to Portland to see his family.  My dad and step-mom almost got stuck in Seattle until after Christmas, but they were finally able to get home too. So, all went well after all.  Here's a quick re-cap of our holidays.  

• Landon has so many new toys it's a bit ridiculous.  He is loving them, though.  Except for the ones we took and hid again to be brought out when I need something for him to do after the baby is born.  I guess that's what happens when you have three sets of grandparents.
• Landon and I were sick for most of the last week or so.  Landon was mostly well by Christmas except for a runny nose, but I am still not feeling great.  Not the most ideal way to spend Christmas.  
• I got a lot of knitting done.  I am almost finished with the bag I am making myself.  It should be done tonight.
• Our house is a disaster.  It always takes me forever to find places to put new things.  
• We generally had a great time seeing our friends and family over the last week, and I didn't update my blog at all because it was WAY more important to spend time with these people. 

In a quick non-holiday-related note, I am going to look at houses tomorrow.  We decided that we wanted to be able to take advantage of the low interest rates and find a house to buy instead of waiting until our lease on our rental is up in May.  Of course, if it takes until our lease is up to find a house that's ok, but we are excited about the possibility of being home owners again soon.  I am going to look at our top few picks tomorrow, and I sort of hope to just fall in love with one.  I didn't really want to move with a newborn, but I also desperately want my own house again.  So, we'll see how the house-hunting goes.  

I'm going to go finish knitting that bag now, and nurse my cold.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and is looking forward to a Happy New Year!

SNOW!

We have gotten a ton of snow over the last couple days. We are essentially snowed in, and it's absolutely beautiful! My pictures do it NO justice at all, since I am not a good photographer by any means.

Here is the neighborhood after the first couple hours.
(Out the front.)
(Our back yard.)

And here is our backyard yesterday morning.

It then snowed most of the day yesterday too. It's fun to live in a place where it snows like this again! Landon is having fun in all the snow, even though he's not quite sure exactly what to think of the whole thing.

Although I think the snow is beautiful, it would be nice to get out of the house for a couple of hours. I tried to wrap Christmas presents this morning, only to discover that I had used all of my tissue paper wrapping breakable things when we moved and therefore have no tissue paper to wrap anything Christmas-related. So, it would be nice to get more of that before Christmas is actually here. Plus Tyson and I really need some snow boots. We have been wearing rain boots, which have no insulation and it dawned on us that we now live in a snowy climate and may need to be properly outfitted.

Lastly, on a random note, we found Landon doing this last night:

He got the step stool, put it next to my laundry sorter and climbed right in using a fairly gymnastic maneuver. He was so proud of himself!

I have another post coming of a bunch of crafty and knitting stuff, but I wanted to get the snow pics up. I have been super-productive in the craft department lately. I've even surprised myself a bit!

birthday

Today is my little brother's 25th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Greg!  

I've been thinking about him a lot today because he is at bootcamp (he recently joined the Marines), and he is scheduled to be there until the end of January.  Yep, he missed Thanksgiving and his birthday, and will miss Christmas and New Year's and my baby's birth.  Plus, he's a newlywed and his wife is expecting their first baby in March.  He's kind of homesick, so if you are reading this and wouldn't mind, please send some prayers or positive thoughts his way.  I think he could really use them.  Also, if you know him and would like to send him a letter or card, please let me know and I can get you his address.  Thanks!

ballet

Today my loving husband took me to the Nutcracker.  I saw the billboard advertising it about a month ago and called him at work to ask if he would please, please take me.  I love the Nutcracker, and I really enjoy ballet and other "cultural events."  He agreed readily, and bought us tickets.  So, today we got all dressed up, dropped Landon off at my in-laws' house, and headed downtown.  We went out to lunch and then attended the ballet.  We went to the matinee, so there were lots of adorable little kids there, all decked out in their Christmas best.  Despite all the children, it was nice to do something so grown-up.  The performance was really good, too.  As a plus, Landon had a great time spending all afternoon with his grandparents.  So, overall, it was a very nice day and I got to have a nice date with my husband before we have a new baby in the house.  In two weeks we get to go to the symphony's Christmas performance, too, and I am also looking forward to that.  It is nice to do a few things that make me feel like an independent adult without an attached child.  

Christmas decorating

We are pretty much decorated for Christmas here. We even got some cute pictures in the process!


Decorating the tree together. I managed to convince Landon that once the lights and the ornaments are on the tree they aren't supposed to come off. As a result, he has been really good about not messing with the tree too much.



The tree all decorated. We are not putting presents out until Christmas Day because the temptation to Landon would be too great. Plus, I have nothing wrapped yet.



This picture isn't necessarily Christmas-related, except it was taken while we were decorating. I think it's hilarious. Landon is really into having things be a certain way in his world, and this picture embodies his bossiness sometimes.

I know I mentioned talking about Advent stuff too, but that's going to wait for another day. I have Netflix to watch.