Christmas 2011

This year we celebrated our first Christmas in California. It looked a little more like September than December outside, and it was nearly 60 degrees - certainly not what we are used to, but a fun change!

Since we didn’t travel back to Colorado for the holiday to celebrate with our immediate families my Aunt Pat and Uncle Tim, who live 5ish hours away, came to stay with us! I was so excited to finally have the space to host my first holiday!!

On Christmas Eve Pat and Tim arrived and we all headed to our church’s Christmas Eve service. After church we went home for a bit to chat and eat some of Pat’s yummy appetizers before we headed out to look at Christmas lights and have dinner at a restaurant - one of my family’s Christmas Eve traditions.

On Christmas morning we all slept in before enjoying opening all of our gifts. Santa came for Gromit and he was super excited to check out what was in his stocking. And yes, we dressed him in dog pajamas that morning just to be cute.

 

Dave and I made out like bandits on Christmas morning and we have a lot of very generous family to thank for our wonderful gifts! The one thing that we are most excited about is that we were given money towards purchasing a dining room table and chairs! We do have a small, 4-person table in the kitchen area, but we want something a bit larger for the dining room so we can host more than two other people for meals. We are so excited!

After opening gifts we had a yummy Christmas brunch before spending more time hanging out, Skyping/talking on the phone with family members in other states, and eventually giving a driving tour of our new hometown.

One of my favorite parts of the holiday was preparing Christmas dinner. It was my first holiday meal and I was pleased at how it came out! We made balltip steak, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and rolls and Pat made a yummy salad. And then for dessert Pat and I made a really delicious pumpkin cheesecake. It was certainly a feast!

On Monday Pat and Tim had a great idea to take a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I had never been before so I was excited to go. Dave and I still think it is crazy that we live in the same state as all of these fun attractions. We all had a great time looking at all of the animals and Dave took some amazing photos!

After a few hours exploring the aquarium it was time for us to part ways and head to our respective homes. We had a great time spending Christmas with Pat and Tim and really enjoyed their company! Who knows, we may have to get together for every holiday!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!