It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

(Warning: long post alert!)

December is such a wonderful (but busy) month! It's a time for....

...DECORATING THE CHRISTMAS TREE

This is one of our most favorite activities! It is a tradition in our family to get a new ornament each year, so decorating the tree is always fun as we pull out each ornament and remember memories of Christmases past. Still my favorite ornament...a snowflake made out of salt crystals from the Great Salt Lake.

This is a handprint ornament Jaimason made when he was 2...It's hard to believe his hand was ever that small! Good thing we have this ornament to remind us!

Jaimason kissing his favorite ornament....a dog he got when he was 1 to represent his love of dogs and the theme of his 1st birthday party: dogs.

And to top it all off....the star! (don't know how much longer Daddy'll be able to do that!)

Gotta have milk and cookies! Isn't that the best part of Family Home Evening?

...LOOKING AT LIGHTS

We went to San Antonio the first weekend in December to visit the Riverwalk and the Alamo. The Riverwalk is a really cool outdoor shopping center of sorts and everything is along the river. There are lots of big trees and briges you can walk over to get to the other side. All of the restaurants have patios right by the river. And it's down below the city,too. At this time of year, they string lights on all the trees on the Riverwalk, put luminarias on the walkways, and decorate a huge Christmas tree in front of the Alamo. It's very festive!

It's really too bad our camera is dying...this was really pretty!

Jaimason and daddy in front of the Alamo.

The big Christmas tree with massive ornaments on it.

Lucky for us, right as we were leaving, we ran into Santa and Mrs. Claus! It's not every day you get to see Mrs. Claus!

...GOING TO SEA WORLD
We wanted one last fling at Sea World this year, so we stayed the night in San Antonio after the Riverwalk and visited Sea World the next day. It was chilly, but not freezing, and we probably had a better time during the winter than we did in the summer! They have all new attractions during the holidays, and it's less crowded, which is always nice.

First, we went to a sea lion and walrus show. It was VERY entertaining! The animals are so smart; they even had them dancing and singing!

(L)Seamore dancing...(R)"Santa" walrus came down the chimney

This guy was hilarious! He kept clapping the water and barking at everyone.

We saw a shortened version of Polar Express in 4D...that means we even got to smell the hot chocolate, feel the train rumbling, and get snowed on! Here's us in our sweet 3D goggles.

We got to see Elmo and all the Sesame Street characters teach Abby Cadabby about Christmas. Jaimason's favorite was Big Bird. He kept saying "he HAS to be real...no one could dress up like him because no one is that big!"

We got to meet Shamu Claus.

Jaimason was brave enough to go on the roller coaster all by himself. Zoom in on this picture...his pride is priceless!

Aren't those huge wreaths pretty?

...TAKING HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE RIDES
In downtown Austin, they had free carriage rides one night, so we took Jaimason down there to ride. He had been dying to go, so it worked out perfectly. There was no way I was going to spend $70 on a ride any other night! It must have been a magical night for him...he couldn't stop talking about it.

There's Ted the horse

...GOING SLEDDING
Yes, you read that right! We went sledding in Texas! Our HOA brought in a snow machine and sprayed it on one of the hills in the neighborhood and let us have SNOW! They even provided all of the sleds and hot chocolate. All you had to do was show up.

It was very weird going sledding in just a sweatshirt. Jaimason insisted in getting all bundled up, but it really wasn't that cold!

The Blue Boys

Ben, our friends Catherine and Jared, and their daughter, Maj-Lis

...MAKING HOLIDAY GOODIES FOR NEIGHBORS
Of course, what would Christmas be without a sickening sugar overload? Making treats is always a special family activity for us.

...DECORATING GINGERBREAD HOUSES

We have had this thing for 3 years now, and it has been in the pantry, begging to be decorated. So, this was the year! The candy was a little gooey and old, but it worked out just fine. Jaimason really put his creative skills to the test.There's not snow on the ground in Texas...just grass!

Well, believe it or not, that is not all, but I'm tired and done blogging for one night. Stay tuned for a really special trip to old Bethlehem, our new car, and Zilker Park. You won't want to miss it!