A Holly Jolly [white] [unplugged] [Texas-travelin'] Christmas!

Christmas 2012 was one for the record books!  After 6 days, 3 cities, visiting close to 30 family members and dozens of friends, numerous parties and wayyyyyyyy too much dessert I can say that not only did we survive but we had a blast!

Maybe I am getting way too good at setting low expectations for traveling with kids but Cooper slept pretty good and we only had one round of car sickness from him in the 17 hours in the car! Good news is that the police officer that pulled Kyle over 10 miles down the road took one sniff of the car and one look at our naked kid covered in towels in the backseat and let us out of the ticket.  Merry Christmas to us although Kyle says the fine sans puke might have been the easier option!

Santa was good to us and we made a last minute decision to stay a day later in Dallas for a chance at a white Christmas. Cooper loved the "little ices"! Not bad for a TX boy to see snow before his 2nd birthday!

It think I checked my phone/email once a day (if that) and the work blackberry was even more neglected.  Seeing as I'm currently in bed on my iPad mini with my phone and blackberry on the nightstand, it is clear to me that unplugged is a good place to be...sometimes!

Here are some pics from the trip!

Playing with cousins, Robin and Russell!

Kyle posing at the exact spot at the Dallas Arboretum where we were married! Such a good sport!

The Chihuly exhibit...glad they extended this one!

With Cita and Uncle Nat!

Christmas day SNOW!

Hope you had a very merry!

The Big Brother Post!

Last night was the last night of Hanukkah for my boys.  Cooper wanted to share with you our family's biggest gift of all this year...

Cooper is going to be a big brother!

He's sporting his very trendy mustache big brother shirt if you can't read the whole thing. We are all so thrilled and can't wait to meet our new little guy or girl come July!

Happy Happy Holidays!

The Hanukkah presents under the Christmas tree!

Not only did Cooper get to meet Santa yesterday, he got to light the Menorah for the first night of Hanukkah!  Holidays around our house are a little...different.  But good different!  Hanukkah presents are under the Christmas tree and Kyle hikes it up to the roof every year to hang Christmas lights for me, despite never having done so before in his life.  He always jokes that's going to be his 15 minutes of [ironic] fame: "Jewish man breaks both legs hanging Christmas lights for his wife!"

To put it very simply (because it's not always so simple), Kyle is Jewish, I am Christian, Cooper is being raised Jewish but obviously has exposure to both Mommy and Daddy's way of doing things.  It means lots of celebrating, lots of traditions learned and hopefully a little boy that is firm in his roots but appreciative of the ways other people do things.  

Christmukkah, as we like to call it, it the best month of the year.  It feels like "little kid Christmas" for 9+ days of the month.  Here are some pics from yesterday's events:

The day started out like any other, with a little shirtless vacuuming. I swear, I do not endorse child labor but the vacuum and the broom are just about Cooper's favorite toys.  You're welcome future daughter-in-law!

Then, we went to see Santa.  I guess every kid ends up with a picture like this at some point!  I promise he's a [pretty] good boy, Santa.

Later in the evening, on to the first night of Hanukkah!

The toy vacuum was a HUGE hit!

And where should it be stored?  The vacuum closet, of course!

Happy Hanukkah!  Merry Christmas!  Here's hoping whatever you are celebrating makes you as happy as vacuums make my son!

These are a few of my favorite things!

80 degree weather be damned, this weekend I finally marched my butt up to the attic to get the ornament box and I decorated the poor tree that had been sitting naked in my dining room for a week!

What did I find when I opened the box?  Last year's Christmas cards, of course!  I love Christmas cards so much that I can't bear to part with them when the season is over. Too much post-holiday depression to add that one to the mix!  So, every year I pack them on the top of my ornament box and the next year I get to gush over them one more time.  I could't believe all of Cooper's fat little baby friends who aren't fat little babies anymore!  I'm counting on you 2012 Mamas to fill the void!

In the past, I have driven Kyle C.R.A.Z.Y. with the amount of Christmas card displaying that goes on at the house.  He can't stand "clutter" and I go to town filling every nook, cranny, shelf and window sill  with Christmas cards.  This year, I have I new plan.  Thank you Pinterest and you're welcome Kyle!  All you need is a hole punch, an O ring and some Christmas ribbon to make an "add as you get them" Christmas card coffee table book!   I've already started mine:

And finally, the tree!  Having a Jewish husband means two things in terms of my "getting in the spirit-ness": 1) who wouldn't be excited to spend not one but nine days celebrating the holidays in December and 2) I get to decorate my entire tree with no input from the peanut gallery.  There are a few random A&M ornaments and Santas scattered around but for the most part...SHOES!

I'm officially in full holiday mode!