A Brown Christmas

We spent Christmas in AZ this year with family.

It was so WARM and WONDERFUL! (comparatively)

It was great fun to be with all the cousins. James has some older cousins that were so cute and good with him, and he enjoyed playing with the younger cousins as well.

The holiday wouldn't have been complete without some carol-singing. Music is such a wonderful thing!

Christmas morning was really fun. It's great to relive that anticipation and joy through the eyes of children. James did alright, but as most less-than-one year old, the bows and paper held more appeal than the actual gifts for the most part. Regrettably, we didn't get any pictures with the Kingstons, where James opened most of his presents. But here's what we did get of him going through his stocking. He really loved his box of band aids (given in anticipation of future owies). As always, our families were WAY more generous than we could have hoped for (thanks everyone).

We stayed most of the time with my older sister and BFF (next to Dan anyway). Turns out my sister and I shop at the same stores and have very similar tastes. Even though we are several states apart our kids end up with some of the same clothes (heck, so do we sometimes).
Perfect photo-op, cute boys playing the fishing game in their matching shirts. These are for you Grandma and Grandpa!

One of the best things about the trip though...our finicky sleeper took the best naps he has EVER HAD on this trip and slept EVERY NIGHT like a champ. He was plum tuckered out by bedtime each night thanks to all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who did their darndest to teach him to crawl and walk (we're getting closer).