Grayson's First Christmas

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday growing up. I can say that the past few have been a little less special as we have hosted and it has seemed to fly by. I miss the days when I was a kid at Christmas and my Mom and Dad did all the work. Thankfully this year we have a new family member who helps make Christmas magical again. We had about a million presents and a house full of family. I guess it really can't get better than that.

Santa butt

Happy baby

So many presents

Half of the presents were for Grayson

Thank God Laurel got some cookies!

Aunt Laurel

Aunt Nee Nee and Uncle Bob

Nana and Papa

Nana and Pop

Papa and Great Grandma Barbara

Great Grandpa Wilbur

The Alexander Family

Four generations

Family

Brunch with Santa

Today Brookhaven Country Club, where Ryan and I are members, held a Brunch with Santa event. Although Grayson was a bit young to enjoy it, we wanted to take him to get his picture with Santa. Nana and Papa joined us for brunch, which was amazing. Luckily Grayson is such a good baby and so easily entertained, we were able to sit and brunch together for over two hours without a peep from the kiddo. I think we will have to make this an annual tradition.

Our Best Present Already Arrived

Although Christmas isn't quite here yet, Ryan and I both know that our best present already arrived this year.

We love you sweet Grayson!

Merry (White) Christmas

This year for Christmas my grandmother joined us again which is always fun. This is the first Christmas we have held at our house so it felt little different than Christmases past. I've never not had a Christmas in my parents home since as long as I can remember. I chose to cook breakfast while Ryan focused on a late lunch for the family. My grandmother, parents, grandfather, Ryan, and I opened presents in the morning after breakfast and just as we were wrapping up it started to snow. It was awesome to have a white Christmas in our new home surrounded by family. Later on after a late lunch my aunt and uncle joined us to open even more presents. I guess I'm still a kid at heart and would rather get 1 million tiny little presence than one large thing. It makes the day last longer and the fun too. All in all it was a day filled with family, food, and fun. I couldn't ask for a more wonderful white Christmas!

Mom, Grandma, and Dad

Ryan, Me, and my Grandpa

Ryan, my Grandma, and me

Rychar

Mom and Dad

Chef Ryan

 

Our snow covered home

Joy

I know I say this every year, but this was the best Christmas I have ever had. This year was much like the last. Christmas Eve my Grandma, Mom and Dad came over for our traditional dinner of chili and tamales. The hunt was on for one of the best places to buy tamales in Dallas, since Ryan and I are huge connoisseurs. I found an article online that listed what they believed to be the best 5 tamale makers in Dallas. I picked a place called Luna's Tortilla Factory since it was the closest to my office and conveniently on my way home. They were the best tamales I have ever eaten. I highly recommend them!

Also this year we made some wheat pasta to put under the chili since my Grandma isn't a big fan of tamales. She loved it. To be honest, we all did. I think that pasta has officially become a part of the tradition. I also made this cool, cheese ball snowman. It was fairly easy to make and, for once, it actually turned out looking like the picture on the Martha Stewart website. A Christmas miracle indeed!

The family left our house fairly early so that we could all get some rest before Christmas the next day.

This is the second year that I have worked on making my Christmas presents a work of art. I think I outdid myself this year. I used silver, glittery letters to represent each person. I thought this made the packages elegant and refined. I got many compliments and may have found a winner of a way to wrap for many years to come.

Christmas was a lovely day of opening presents with the family, listening to Christmas music, and enjoying some more great food. Although, it isn't really ever about any of this. I am just glad to spend time with the people I love the most in the this world. You never know what tomorrow will bring, so I am always grateful for one more holiday with each of them.

Christmas Present Love From Grandma

These were all of the presents that we wrapped and brought to Christmas at my parent's house. Over 30!

My grandmother got Ryan and me this really cute Precious Moments figurine. It reminds me of our wedding in that we went to Disney World for our honeymoon. So cute!

Finally my grandmother brought me this beautiful pink star sapphire and diamond ring. Although it wasn't a Christmas present, I loved it! She gave it to me when she got into town, but had purchased it for herself 30 years ago. I love gifts with history behind them!

We also got our very first Kitchen Aid mixer. The first thing we decided to make was beer bread. Yum.

Of course there were many other great presents, but these were just a few of the most special ones!

Because It's Christmas Time

I know that I say this every year, but this was the best Christmas ever! For the first time in almost 24 years, I got to spend this Christmas with my Grandmother (Dad's Mom). Ryan and I had seen her at the Wedding last year, but as anyone knows at your wedding you may see a lot of people, but it is such a blur after it is over. Having her here, along with getting to spend time with my parents and Ryan was the most amazing thing ever! I am so blessed!

As you can see from the picture, we had about a gazillion presents to open. In my family it isn't always about having big ticket items to open. It is more about dragging out the time it takes to open the presents, thus elongating Christmas. It is also about the food, and this year was some of the best. We had quiche and orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We then snacked on a few things throughout the day to tide us over to Ryan's great dinner. He made some great ham and fresh green bean casseroles. We then topped off the night with my homemade pumpkin and rustic pear pies. Delicious!

We had a simply amazing time and the presents were great too, great enough to deserve their own post, that wasn't even what it was about. It was truly about time with family, which is always my favorite!

Gifts from the Mos

I absolutely LOVE getting gifts from the Mos for Christmas! They always get us the nicest things, most especially a Christmas ornament from Crate and Barrel. I was really wanting this penguin ornament from C&B, but I didn't want to spend the money for it. Around this time of year, I try to use all the disposable money we have for gifts for others. I truly enjoy giving others gifts that make them happy more than I like getting gifts myself.

Anyway, this little penguin ornament is SO CUTE! I named him Hubert. (Yes I have a pathetic habit of giving everything with eyes a name. Oh well.) He will be a great part of our family tree for many years to come.

Thank you Mos (Mike, Amanda, Zoe, Barnaby and Henry). We love and miss you much!

Other Christmas Guilty Pleasures

Christmas Tree Cakes and Cherry Cordials are pretty gross, but I have had Cherry Cordials ever since I was a little girl and Ryan picked the Tree Cakes. Also, Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash, which is only available during the holidays sadlly, is AMAZING!

Christmas Time!

The first snowflake of the season in my car means that Christmas time is coming! I am so excited as Christmas was always the biggest holiday in my family. We always had decorations everywhere from the Christmas tree to nutcrackers to holiday wreaths. We even had this decoration that was a Santa you screwed on the top of one of your lamps above the shade. Needless to say, Christmas abounded at my house as a kid.


One of my favorite things about the holiday season is getting to buy holiday smelling soap. I always go to Bath and Body Works to pick out some awesome soaps. This year, and for years to come, my favorite scent will be Winter Candy Apple. I also bought Winter Cranberry, Twisted Peppermint and Vanilla Bean Noel. Love!

Also, the tree is up. Not my most favorite thing to do, but always worth the effort. I love stuffing as many lights as I can onto the tree. Ryan, not so much. He was trying to get me to just hold the lights and walk around the tree in circles. That wasn't happening. I think the end result is pretty nice.


Also, I bought us matching Christmas stockings this year. Although last year was our first Christmas together as a married couple, I just didn't have time to get these ordered after returning from our honeymoon on December 1 and having food poisoning for a couple of days. I really like these stockings though, and so does Ryan, so they were worth the wait. I also got a them really cheep, which is always a plus. I think they will last us for many years to come.

I just can't wait for Christmas with my family!