Christmas time is here!

This year we opted to stay home in Texas for Christmas instead of going to Utah. It was a hard decision, but an ultimately necessary one to make. Travelling with a new baby is scary and I've had friends whose babies have gotten RSV, which is terrifying! We missed our extended family a lot, but it was really nice to get to start some of our own family traditions as a new family of four. We went to see houses decorated with lights in the River Oaks neighborhood and also Pecan Grove! Practically EVERY house in Pecan Grove had lights due to an annual light decorating contest they hold. We were blown away and it really filled us with the spirit of Christmas.

Jordan also surprised Olivia and me with tickets to see "The Nutcracker". It was so fun to get to see such an amazing show with Olivia and she really enjoyed it! I think it was especially nice for Olivia because she just started dance this year. It was so fun to get to spend some quality time with my girl! I really hope this a new tradition I can continue in years to come.
We saw Santa and frosted cookies with friends! Of course I had to make some cute cookies for neighbors and friends.

 We read a new Christmas book that I bought, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!" We all enjoyed it and I loved learning about Christ through the Herdman children's point of view. It really helped me appreciate the humble circumstances our Savior was born into. On Christmas Eve we continued one of Jordan's family traditions and went and saw a movie. Rogue One: A Star Wars story was our family pick, and we all enjoyed it, although Olivia prefers the movies with Luke Skywalker. Romney only fussed a little and overall I think it was a good experience. After that, we took the kids to the store and had them help pick out a gift for each other. Olivia picked out new clothes for Romney, since he's not quite big enough to play with toys. This was Olivia's choice and was in no way influenced by her parents. I love how practical she is! Romney needed a bit more help from mom and we ended up picking out a little live petshop bird in a cage that records your voice and sings and chirps songs. I imagine in the future that the gifts will be smaller and less expensive, but I think it was good for Olivia to get to pick out something for her brother and I can't wait to see how this evolves in years to come.
We had a Christmas Eve dinner with friends which was so lovely! We had ham, jello, rolls, cheesy potatoes, cinnamon glazed carrots, salad, and cheesecake...and Jordan's Oma's homemade eggnog. It was the least stressed out I've ever been in hosting a dinner! I liked how it was more simple and laid back. Lately when I've been with groups of people it drains me, but I really felt energetic and relaxed the whole time. I feel so blessed to have such fantastic friends in our lives! I'm quite sad that ALL of these friends are moving at the end of December and we won't get to see them as often, but we've all resolved to find ways to see each other again, and I know it will happen.
During the evening we had a small Nativity pageant of our own and sang a couple of Christmas carols. The kids had a lot of fun acting it out and I loved seeing Pierce as a donkey with his daughter Kam on his back as Mary. I also enjoyed the double Angel of the Lord part as Sawyer decided being an angel was more fun than being Joseph and jumped up to help Olivia out. His little sister Haylen decided to fill the roll as Joseph. So, while our Nativity wasn't very well organised or traditional, I think we all remembered in the end who Christmas is really about.
Before bed we had the kids open their traditional Christmas pajamas. I was worried Romney wouldn't fit into his 3 month footie pajamas, but he's been growing quite a bit and filled out his new pjs, although he wasn't very happy about being changed into them. Olivia fell asleep so fast with the threat of Santa skipping our house, that we almost wished Santa could come every night. With the kids fed and finally in bed, we started wrapping gifts from us to the kids and preparing for Santa to come. I made a breakfast casserole in the crockpot and finally got to bed around 1 am, which is pretty typical with Romney's feeding schedule.

 The next morning we woke up early, fed Romney and had to actually wake Olivia up! We let her open one present, which happened to be the Ninja Turtle she asked Santa for in her letter, and then had breakfast and hurried to get ready for church. I honestly was disappointed that Christmas was on Sunday this year because I was worried about how our morning would go with two kids, but Olivia was super patient and understanding about not opening gifts until after church. She was quite the saint! In fact, we were EARLY to church. It was a nice service and I really enjoyed the spirit it brought into our hearts. It wasn't easy to have church also on Christmas day, but a lot of people go to some kind of church service on Christmas day regardless if it is Sunday, and with the proper planning, I was able to change my heart to prepare to make Christ the center of our celebrations.

After we got home, we all changed back into our pajamas and let the present opening commence! Olivia was so thrilled about the barbie house she got from Santa and also the bike.  The bird from Romney was a hit as well! I made Jordan some surgery scrub caps that turned out really nicely. He was surprised that I had actually made them! I loved the jacket Jordan picked out for me and my illustrated Harry Potter book.We loved Skyping with our family and opening gifts with them, and although my mind mentally cringed at the mess we would have to clean up, I forced myself to relax and just enjoy Christmas and time together as a family. Clean-up could wait until tomorrow. It was really a wonderful Christmas and although it was different without our extended family, it was much easier to do Christmas in Texas and I loved being with my little family. I hope in years to come we can still make trips out to Utah, but Olivia finally got to wake up Christmas morning in her own bed and experience Santa visiting her house on Christmas day. I love the memories we've made as a family and the traditions we've began. From here on out, Christmas will never really be the same with Jordan being a doctor and most likely working a lot of Christmases, but I know we will always strive to make Christmas special for our family and it will always be memorable. As long as we remember that Christmas is about Jesus Christ, I truly believe we will never have a disappointing Christmas. We have been so blessed and I'm so grateful all I've been given. 

Merry Christmas!