Christmastime Was Here

Christmas has come and gone - and as Matt says, the days following Christmas seem a little deflated... all the build up and then bam, it's over.  Time to clean, time to work, time to get organized for another new year.  But, as I say, that's why I start decorating for Christmas at Thanksgiving, stretching the season out as long as I can.  I love this time of year, and though we wish Benjamin could have been here to celebrate with us, we are already looking forward to his very first Christmas next year.

Our weekend was a great one starting off with a reunion of sorts with some of my best friends from high school.  We've tried to make it a tradition to get together once a year, but living in different states, having busy schedules (including a pilot in the Air Force and a real life rock star currently recording), and now expanding families has made it difficult to hold to the yearly reunion.  Thankfully, quite a few of us were in town on Friday, so we got together for dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery to catch up and enjoy each other's company.  I'm grateful for friends that have been around for over 15 years!

Christmas Eve was a great low-key way to really get in the holiday mood.  Matt was playing at church all afternoon, so Amber and I got to spend some quality time together preparing a meal before he headed out (I tried out a new cider pork chop recipe, made some tasty green bean casserole, and TJ's cornbread! yum...).  Even though our house is "cozy" (i.e. small!), it's so nice to host people and meals, especially before it gets littered with all things Benjamin!  DJ was on his way to New Mexico after work, but thankfully lunch was ready just in time for him to enjoy the meal with us.  It was a wonderful afternoon followed by Amber and I attending the 3pm Christmas Eve service at church.

That night, my mom, stepdad, and brother arrived to spend the evening with us.  They made an amazing dinner (homemade tamales and calabacitas!), and we enjoyed spending time together and exchanging gifts.

After opening the stockings that Santa filled for Matt and I on Christmas morning (even Lincoln got some surprises from Santa!), we headed out to Louisville to spend the day with my dad and stepmom.  We thought we'd give Lincoln an extra Christmas treat by stopping at the dog park since his world is about to be seriously rocked in the coming weeks :)  He loved every second he got to scamper through the snow and play with other dogs.  As you can see, it was a gorgeous Christmas day!

I promise the barking is not Lincoln (for once):

Christmas at the Monroe's was a great time, and of course, we all got very spoiled.  My sister especially outdid herself after getting Matt a hiking pack to carry an infant/toddler in!  I decided to surprise Matt with a complimentary gift to the Airport my folks got Matt for his birthday (which he is slightly obsessed with) by getting him AppleTV.  Now he's a complete gadget dork!  :)  (He's also ready to disc golf with the best of them after getting way too many cool disc golf accessories.) I'd say he had a great Christmas!  I'm also especially looking forward to the massage I got, the dutch oven that now resides in our kitchen, and the beautiful new duvet cover and sheets on our bed!  The bark collar for Lincoln hasn't arrived just yet, but my folks are well aware how much that will help out when little Benjamin arrives!  We are so grateful for all the amazing gifts we received this year - there is no doubt that we are incredibly blessed.

Matt's family's tradition of pickled herring, oysters, and sardines... he somehow got Arlene to partake, but the rest of us stayed far, far away:

Enjoying some Kinect in the basement:

Hilarious footage of hurdles... Lincoln decided he wanted to help Matt win, but really, he just ruined the event! :)

Celbrating my birthday!  Wow, I'm getting old! :)

And with that, we headed back to Denver, enjoyed a little more time with my mom, and went to bed, full, happy, spoiled, and anxiously awaiting Benjamin's arrival :)  I'm feeling very large, very uncomfortable, and exhausted by the even the most mundane of activities (not to mention that I have to pee about every 10 minutes...and that's not an exaggeration!), but most of all I'm feeling excited that we get to see his squishy little face soon!  If I do get induced, it's only 1 week from tomorrow (yikes!!), and if not, he could come any day now (here's hoping!). The (mythical) due date is barely over two weeks away... we can't wait to be a family of 3 (well, four with the Stinker of course)!

Hope everyone out there had a very merry Christmas as well!  Here's to a wonderful new year!