Christmas Happenings, Take 2

Our first Texas Christmas was pretty swell. Ever since we became a family of 3 in 2008, Tim and I made the decision not to travel on Christmas. Not only did this allow us to establish some of our own traditions, but it also spread the present love out a few weeks.

This year was different, obviously. Almost every day from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve the mail lady dropped off a package for Nigel. Our tree was full well before Santa arrived. On Christmas Eve we baked and decorated cookies for Santa.

I was worried that so many presents at once would cause Nigel to get overloaded. I also worried that he wouldn't be grateful because there was so much. (Yes, I know he's not even 3 yet, but you're never too young to learn about gratitude.) The day went really well, though. He was so excited to see the tricycle from Santa. His extended family also sent some really lovely things, including clothes, a tent, puzzles, books, DVDs, etc.

The best thing about the day, though, is that we were all 3 together. After spending two months apart this fall, I think we're all grateful for that!

Christmas Happenings, Take 1

We went to Grapevine, TX, last weekend for its Christmas celebration in the historic downtown area. They have tons of things between Thanksgiving and New Year's, including free wagon rides (Nigel was afraid of this for some reason), free Christmas ornament making, shopping, lights, Santa on stilts, etc. We found Grapevine to be a really cool city. It's one of those places that we'll take guests to for some fun shopping. The three of us are actually going back in March to celebrate Nigel's 3rd birthday with A Day Out With Thomas the Tank Engine!

We also went to this neighborhood to check out Christmas lights. Nothing was as tacky as what we see at home in RVA, but since almost every house in the neighborhood was decked out it was really cool.

The Neiman Marcus window display in Dallas on our way to visit with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dan in Plano. We went because the display is interactive for kids. Unfortunately, Nigel wasn't old or tall enough to participate. I think he liked looking at it, though.

The Makings of a Gingerbread House

My awesome mom sent a gingerbread house kit a few weeks ago, so we cracked it open on Sunday. The candies were really hard, which made them inedible for Nigel. Not a big deal considering we don't really allow candy, but it was unrealistic to expect that he wouldn't sneak a few. So, we got chocolate chips and candy bits for him to decorate a portion of the house with. Our end result doesn't look anything like the box suggests it should, but we had a blast!

Look! We're Social!

I lamented here about how much we miss our friends. Pity party's over — we've been out socializing, y'all! Two Saturdays ago, we had lunch at Tim's boss's house and enjoyed some adult conversation. The next day, I went to a cookie exchange through meetup.com; the group is for ladies who are looking to make friends. I had a really good time and am looking forward to doing more with the group.

This past Saturday evening we drove to Frisco for a Christmas potluck with a group of families who have adopted children from Ethiopia. We had
such a great group of similar families RVA, so we were really excited to find these guys online. Turns out, most of the group lives in Dallas and beyond, but we did meet a really nice family with a 4-year-old boy that actually live about 4 miles from us! After the party we made a quick stop at Frisco Square to see its Christmas decorations. Supposedly next weekend there's a parachuting Santa, but it's quite a drive for us so I don't think we'll be back for that.

The next day, Sunday, we met a Plano couple and their young son (friends of my former coworker/friend in California) at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. Great Wolf is an indoor water park/resort, but they have some free stuff in the lobby that we checked out. We had a great time and would love to see them again soon.

Speaking of Plano, we're going there Saturday to see Tim's great-uncle and great-aunt again. We hope to make a quick stop in Dallas to see the famed window display at Neiman Marcus.

We don't really have much going on this week other than storytime at the library. We're hoping to check out some more Christmas lights, too. From what we've seen so far, folks in FW aren't super big into holidays lights. But Tim's boss clued him into this neighborhood that looks promising!

No Tears at Santa (plus a lighted Christmas parade)

We took Nigel to see Santa here yesterday. Sundance Square is an outdoor shopping/dining area a few blocks from Tim's work. Sarah was a little bummed that Nigel wouldn't get to see the Legendary Santa again (the same Santa she and her brothers grew up believing in), but this turned out to be great! It was outdoors, so there was plenty to distract Nigel. The line was short. And we prepped Nigel for about two weeks, telling him in great detail what was going to go down. Nigel sat on Santa's lap, told him his name and what he wanted for Christmas. There were no tears!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2008

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the Fort Worth Parade of Lights. The parade started at 6 (dangerously close to Nigel's 7-ish bedtime), but we went anyway. We walked around downtown a bit and then settled into a spot. True to bad parade form, people showed up at the last minute and crowded us, but we still had a blast. Nigel got spooked by a firetruck of all things and we left before Santa came rolling by. There were lots of really cool lighted floats, but Sarah's favorite was our first Texas celebrity sighting: Joel Burns, of "It Gets Better" fame!