Catching up on Christmas

If you're like me, you look forward to Christmas all. year. long. Especially if you live with someone like my fiance, who strictly forbids Christmas music before Black Friday.  So I have to wait. And wait. And wait.

And then it's over! And this feeling of relief always seems to surprise me.  Quite frankly, I'm glad it's only a month. My anxiety and my wallet can't take it. Neither can my liver.

Alas, it is still one of my favorite times of the year. And this year we got to decorate OUR home for the very first time.  Many thanks to our sweet neighbor Cary for answering our call to walk outside for a quick photo sesh, as seen below.

 Didn't Evan do a beautiful job decking the halls?

Unfortunately, our poor garland didn't survive a massive wind storm that blew through Lubbock right before Christmas. 

Whoops.

But onto presents! Keep in mind that Bear is our only child, so he tends to get a lot of attention on this blog.

"What else is in here?" 

"That's it?"

Fortunately, it wasn't. He also got an ornament from his cousin Atlas. It was exactly what he wanted!

We spent the actual holiday in Dallas with my family this year. And 'twas a White Christmas! Just when we thought nothing could top his ornament -- Santa delivered snow for Bear. The dog couldn't have been happier.

"Outta my way, Mom! I'm hot on a scent!"

"Santa?"

We don't get to Dallas nearly as often as I would like, mostly because I miss out on so much time with my niece and nephew. I mean, how cute are these two?

Conversation time.

Cousin bonding.

Parker loves Spiderman... he loved his flashing "Spidey Sense" button.

We got my mom and dad George Strait tickets... her face as she opened them cracks me up. 

Poor Megs was sick and slept through most of opening presents. 

Tough guy.

Tiny Dancer. 

While in Dallas, we also got to celebrate another "old neighborhood" wedding -- this time, Kelly and Alan Arbabi. Basically, any wedding with this group is a favorite of mine.

Brandon & Kaci, poppin' the bubbly.

Musgrave sibling Christmas card, 2012.

And my handsome date... we're next!

So with all the hustle and bustle now dying down... our hustle and bustle turns to finally getting our own wedding underway. (How often do I mention that our engagement is taking too long?! Ha!)

                   

Happy New Year, and thank goodness for 2013! This is our year and I can't wait. :)