Four Christmases

Christmas this year was busier than ever! Since Gabe and I both come from divorced families we were able to celebrate this magical time of year four times! It would have been 5, but we were not able to travel to Boerne for Christmas with my grandma, uncle, and cousins. I will give a brief blurb about each one below so be prepared for another long post.

Christmas Eve (morning) - Christmas #1:

My father in law, Harvey, who lives in L.A. was offered an opportunity to produce a few 15 second commercials for Joe's Crab Shack (airing now). With this opportunity, he was able to do majority of the work in Los Angeles, a little bit in NYC, and then about 10 days in Dallas (which happened to end the day before Christmas Eve). Gabe and I hosted Christmas Eve morning with a Mexican lunch in order to switch it up from the traditional ham or turkey. Luckily, I have a wonderful hubby who wanted to take care of all the food from getting the tamales, cooking tortilla soup, making cornbread, Spanish rice and black beans. It turned out great and was a nice change.

We were spoiled with tons of lovely gifts, and enjoyed the great company. It was so nice to be able to spend this special time of year with my father in law and his girlfriend, Rochelle, since we usually don't get to.

Christmas Eve (mid-day):

One of my cousins from Scottsdale, Melanie, was in town spending Christmas with her husband's family, in Allen, so we HAD to get together for a brief visit. We met her and her baseball player husband at the Galleria. We took Brody to the kid zone so he could be entertained and we could chat, while baby Cash slept in the stroller. She was sweet enough to bring a few gifts and it was HER birthday.

I know that isn't one of the four Christmases, but I wanted this note for our memory.

Christmas Eve (evening) - Christmas #2:

After leaving the Galleria, we headed home to get ready for Christmas with my sister, dad, and step mom, Pat. My dad and Pat were gracious enough to bring the ham and potatoes and dessert over so I just had to add the green bean casserole. It is becoming a tradition to spend Christmas Eve with my dad. It just works, and why fix something that isn't broken, right?

Once again, we were all spoiled with wonderful things, which we all appreciate. Thanks for bringing the yummy food, dad!

Christmas Morning - A Mini Christmas

Santa came! Both boys got one Santa gift. Cash is just loving his Santa gift, and Brody's Santa gift was a little bit overwhelming and not sure if we will keep it. It just wasn't what we were expecting! (bad mom alert- I procrastinated on getting Christmas PJ's for the boys, but I did have Christmas outfits for the day.)

Christmas Morning (mid-morning) - Christmas #3:

My brother in law was gracious enough to host this Christmas at his new house. We had a fantastic meal and visit, just wish we could have stayed longer. Brody and Bella always have a great time together.

Cash loving on Nana

Brody and Bella watching Christmas Vacation

Brody watching Bella drink his juice

Bella's Santa present, a puppy

Unsolicited assistance from Bella :)

Brody loving on Nana

Brody's loving it, Cash not so much...

Christmas Afternoon - Christmas #4:

Since we were already out on the road, we decided it would be best to stop at my mom and Ron's, instead of having them come to us. We snacked over there since we had just eaten a huge meal. It was nice getting to see their new outdoor patio they had built. Can't wait to enjoy it when the weather gets a little nicer. We were definitely spoiled, but Brody was spoiled rotten!

We must have been good this year....

Baby Cash playing

Mr. Brody

A pro at opening presents by this time!

Trying out the new scooter

Grandma and Baby Cash

Sweet sweet Baby Cash

Brothers

Devon

Mommy and Peanut

Musical Reindeer Feet

TRUCK!!

Santa Picture 2010

This did not go as well as last year. Gabe saw the Santa at Northpark Mall as a child, so we thought it would be special for our children to see the same Santa as long as he is still there.

Brody blessed us with an awesome 1st Santa picture last year (2009).


This year, not so much. We knew this would be a challenging year, and that is exactly what we received. This picture really makes us laugh and we are looking forward to next year to see what we get!

Bubble FUN!

Brody L.O.V.E.S. bubbles! We enjoyed a cool December afternoon outside with bubbles.

Maybe I should lick the bubbles...

Am I doing something that I shouldn't?

Here, you try. Your turn.

My turn again, and again, and again....

Popsicle anyone?

Sweet boy

Yea! I finally blew some bubbles!

Milk Producer

Brody always wants to help me feed brother (baby Cash). Oh how I wish you could help me!

Here are some other times he has tried to help as well:

Christmas Cards 2010

After promoting Shutterfly for the free Christmas Cards, I never ordered. I was really excited about it in the beginning because i had never done a photo card before. My excitement slowly decreased with each passing day. I wanted to take a family pic, but "somebody" always had a reason to wait. I considered individual photos, but I didn't have any of myself that I wanted on a Christmas Card that was recent. Then I thought maybe just put the boys on the cards, even though I really wanted it to be the four of us. So 'discouraged Lindsay' just said to heck with it and never ordered Christmas cards.

Bad Mom award goes to me!

I did LOVE receiving all the ones that arrived in our mailbox, so thank you for thinking of us. Maybe I will have my ducks in a row for next year...