Christmas in Texas

Ryan remarkably got 9 whole days off for Christmas. Merry Christmas to ME! It was amazing having him around and just being together. We took off on Monday and headed down to Houston to be with his brother and sister in law. My parents in law arrived on Wednesday. (Side note, some people in Ft. Worth   say to me because we go to Houston so often, "Don't you hate the 4 hour drive?" Truth is I don't mind it at all. It's a very easy drive, very direct, and for 4 hours Ryan is stuck beside me and can't go anywhere.)

My brother in law is awesome at making sure there are plenty of activities and adventures when we come visit. Since we were there for a week, we did lots of fun things. Two days before Christmas we went to Sea World down in San Antonio. It was a 3 hour drive, it was gray and cold, but it was a lot of fun, and I bought an "all you can drink hot chocolate mug" so the cold wasn't a big deal. 

Riding the carousel with Papa.

Check out that FAT walrus in the middle.

A Christmas mariachi band. 

Even at Christmas the Shamu show was very majestic, but there is something a little odd about watching killer whales swim and jump around to "The First Noel" dispersed with random people on the jumbotron talking about Christmas miracles in their lives. Sweet, but a little weird. 

With Christmas falling on Sunday we started the morning at church, not with gifts. The whole program was basically singing through the hymnal with some wonderful narrative about the true meaning of Christmas. It was very touching. The most tender moment was when this little girl with Downs Syndrome got up and sang the first verse of Silent Night. Musically it was awful, but spiritually it couldn't have been any more perfect. Here was this girl (actually probably about 15), who was born with a great disability that will affect the rest of her life, singing about the birth of the Savior - the very one who's life and death will make it possible for her to be made whole and perfect someday. It was such a wonderful reminder what Christmas is all about, the birth of Jesus Christ. It really set the tone for the day. 

Christmas morning.

My 1.5 year old nephew who got ahold of 3 rock candy suckers. 

My mother and father gave Owen some real cowboy boots for Christmas. We used to go to this one store down at the Historical Stockyards and played dress up all the time and he would always put on these same boots. He was SO excited when he opened the boots. Ryan and I gave him the hat to complete his outfit. 

Playing dress up at home. He wore the boots everyday for a week. 

Making gingerbread houses from scratch. They didn't last long before they collapsed, but it was fun for the kids. 

Here is a prego picture! I'm quite boobalicious these days. 

Every gift giving occasion I struggle to know what to get Ryan. He wants for so little and the items he does want are too big or too specific that I dare not buy them without him. He also usually out gifts me on sentimentality too. I usually get him something very functional and his gifts usually have a wonderfully sweet meaning. This year it was jut the opposite. 

Ryan and I met in college at church but never really dated. I took two years off of school and served a mission for her my church in Colorado. While there Ryan and I wrote letters, old school style, through which we really got to know each other, became best friends, and ultimately fell in love. For Christmas I took two years of letters and compiled them in to a book along with some photos from that phase of our lives. While preparing the book I got to re-read so many of our letters. It was such a wonderful experience for me to read how we became such trusted friends and how we fell in love. It reminded me of what lies at the base of our relationship, a mutual love of Christ. I often found myself in tears out of love and admiration for my sweet husband. He is such a wonderful person, a courageous and loving human being. I'm so lucky to have him in my life. Preparing this book for him made me fall in love with him all over again. And that is the most valuable gift I could ever give him. 

Here is what the inside looks like. I did a fun pink background for all of my letters to Ryan and a blue for all of the ones he wrote me.