most wonderful time of the year

This year for Christmas and our holiday break, we decided that we'd stay around here instead of travel to see family.  We decided this back when we first found out that we were pregnant, because last Christmas it was a little overwhelming driving over 2,400 miles in 2 weeks.  So, we enjoyed our very first Christmas with just our little family and I'd say it was fantastic.  A little weird to not be surrounded with family, but we enjoyed having our own little traditions here.  So, to start out with the fun, here is what we did:

I had heard from a friend of mine here that the Coca-Cola Semi-truck comes driving around near Christmas Eve and is completely lit up with Christmas lights and plays music.  After she told me, I knew I had to watch out for it because I'm sure it would be cool not only for Josh to see but for everyone.  So, two days before Christmas Eve, I kept hearing this loud honking (almost like a train honk), so I kept dismissing it because I can usually hear the trains here on a regular basis.  But then it kept going.  About 10 minutes in I decided to run outside just to see if I could find where it was coming from, and sure enough the Coca-Cola parade passed right in front of our house. 

So, I went back inside and grabbed Josh out of the middle of eating dinner and we ran back outside to catch it.  (Jake was gone running errands at the moment, so he wasn't there, which is why you should picture me running with a toddler in my arms 30 weeks pregnant in my pajamas and slippers. NICE!) 

I ran all the way out the street, so that I could see where they were headed.  Luckily, they were in a neighborhood nearby and we didn't completely miss it.  At just about this moment, Jake came home and I ran back to the car telling him to stay in, then ran inside, took dinner out of the oven so it doesn't burn, grabbed Josh again and we all hopped in the car (Josh on my lap wrapped in a blanket).  It was so funny!  I'm sure that Jake thought I was crazy, but after a little driving, we found it!  It was great.  I'm so glad that we didn't completely miss it.  Josh definitely did love it and kept responding once he heard the horns.  Every time, he'd make a noise back.  Too cute!

On Christmas Eve, we have made it tradition in our family to have the opportunity to open one of our gifts.  We also have the tradition of having Christmas PJ's for the kids.  We were pretty excited to have Josh start opening gifts, and it turned out he was more into it than we thought he would be.  His Christmas Eve gift was the Semi-Truck/Car Hauler.  As soon as he started ripping paper he was so excited.  Kept ripping more and more, and as soon as he saw that it was a car, he wanted that car out right that second.  He played with that car for the rest of the night, and carried it up to bed with him.  He bawled the second we took it away.  Too funny! So glad to see that he was excited to open gifts.  It made our anticipation of the morning even higher. 

Jake and I had a lot of fun being "Santa" this year.  Joshua is a very spoiled boy and we could have ended Christmas with his car he got the night before.  We knew that we would have to take Christmas in stages because Josh would be preoccupied with other things before we could move on.  So we took the day in about 3 different stages with him and he really enjoyed opening all of things that he got.  Between all of the gifts and getting the skype with all three families, we are continually grateful for our supportive families and the blessings that we enjoy in this life.  We were grateful to spend some time at church Christmas morning reflecting on the blessing of our Savior and remembering the reason for the season. 

Christmas morning on the stairs