This was the first year, since we've been married, that we didn't travel home to California for the holiday break. It was Alexa's family's "year," and they actually came up to Washington.
It was awesome.
It was so relaxing to not spend the holiday season packing, cleaning, traveling, living out of a suitcase, etc. - especially with a crazy toddler. We had also finished all of our Christmas shopping before our November CA trip, so we didn't have to stress about that either. We just celebrated all month long.
Our Christmas Tree
Another in our Christmas of "firsts," we finally got a real Christmas tree! It didn't really make sense to get a tree when we'd be gone half of December, but this year we wanted to give it a try.
But there were specific constraints. Our little boy is a quite the spitfire, and any tree within his reach would not survive, so we needed a tree that would fit on top of our table. With that in mind, we went with some friends to cut down our own tree.
Will loves Seth.
And we all took turns taking cutout pictures.
The little 4 foot ones looked so scrawny, so we had pretty much given up. Luckily Seth and Sonomi found us the perfect tree on their way home from our unsuccessful tree trip. Yay! Will was a big helper getting it in the tree stand.
It was a perfect fit.
With that, it was on to decorating.
Our first family tree was complete!
Christmas Adventures
We also had some fun adventures with Seth and Sonomi (we're lucky to know them!)
First we went to Seattle. They had enormous gingerbread houses in a hotel downtown (including a Seattle-ized Jack and the Beanstalk and a really neat ship)...
...and we stopped by the market while we were there. Boy, was that ergo-carrier handy!
We also got the chance to see "Wild Lights," where the Seattle zoo was decorated for the holiday. It was incredibly cold, so Will was really bundled up.
Family Visits
Alexa's family came to visit starting Christmas day, and we had all kinds of fun - eating out, feeding ducks (pancakes... evidently, ducks love pancakes), seeing The Hobbit, finding a hobbit house in the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, celebrating Grammy's 90th birthday party, and playing with Will.
(This is Will playing with Grandma and one of his Christmas presents - colorful straws!)
We even got a little snow! Will loved it so much that we had a hard time getting a shot with his face in it.
The season wouldn't have been complete without an ugly sweater party!
We had fun reading Christmas books and playing with our new (kid-friendly) nativity from Grandma and Grandpa Larsen.
Will got some fun gifts from Santa. Yes, that is a pink stroller. He adored a stroller during our November CA visit, and he loves pushing his baby around in this one.
"I freaking love this stroller!"
It was a wonderful Christmas! A great season to spend with family and remember the Savior.
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