this first christmas.

it's still christmassy over here
because i was sick for the first few days before, during, and few days after christmas
and who am i kidding? i'm still sick. going over a month strong. it's a pesky cold that has, like, a crush on me or something. if it doesn't leave me alone tomorrow, i'm filing for a restraining order. or making a doctor's appointment. either one.
point is: christmas is being carried on for my sake and i'm a very grateful girl.

and so,
about christmas...

adam & i spent christmas eve with my family. my mom is such a great cook and always decorates her home so wonderfully for christmas time. i wish i had taken more pictures but i had fingers to lick and a husband to cuddle.

i will hold the memories of this christmas eve so dear.
i had dreams of spending it all with my husband and having our first christmas with our own traditions and our own gift exchanges and pies and treats and everything nice,
but what happened instead was so delightful i could burst.
it was the first time in a very, very long time that we had all my siblings together
so we boycotted the annual talent show in favor of lengthy chats and mild wrestling matches.
adam seemed as though he was walking on air spending time with his new brother and sisters
and i had "i love my family!" running like a marquee through my head while watching them interact.
watching him so delighted made me feel like that marquee was running right on into his head, too.
*sigh* i loved it.

a rarer than rare group shot! ^^^

adam had to work on christmas morning,
so we took advantage of the fact that brotha works at a hotel and stayed the night so we could have a little christmas morning of our own in the room.

i love hotels, man.

 a couple of gifts pictured above:
some family from los angeles were visiting over christmas and they brought us some lemons that they grew in their very own backyard. and the hotel kindly gave us some yuletide taffy which has occupied me both in the golly-this-tastes-wonderful sense and the why-does-this-so-easily-stick-to-my-molars sense. my mouth is a dental hygienist's nightmare after the stuff.

we high-tailed it to my mom's house for christmas festivities after adam was done working
and i sort of love that i have very few pictures of christmas day
because that itself is evidence of a day well-spent.

i tried to soak up the last few days that bruno could wear his christmas sweater
but, truth is, it's still on him as he's laying at my feet right now...
and i don't even care about all the eyerolls we get from neighbors when we walk him.
he looks so darn cute in that thing.

exhibit A:

by the way, this is him looking at adam because he loves him. more than me, probably.

so, i'm off to bake some more cookies and sit under my pretty tree and listen to jingle bell rock a hundred times.
how some people can pack christmas up so quickly, i don't know!

xo.