Christmas!

Sadly, I only took one picture this Christmas... and it was of Max, checking out the presents under our little tree. It is a good thing we don't have a big one because we barely have enough ornaments to cover this one! I'm afraid I've really been slacking on the picture taking since getting pregnant. I'm sure that will change once the baby arrives! We had two Christmases this year. Actually, Dan just didn't want to load all the presents in the car and take them all the way to Ohio, so we had our own little Christmas celebration on the 22nd. It was so fun! The night before, we played Christmas songs, drank sparkling cider and read Christmas stories in our new Christmas PJs. Then, the next morning we got up and opened our stockings and presents and made Christmas Crap (a really yummy breakfast caserole that Dan's family always makes). The rest of the day Dan played his new electric guitar and I ran around frantically trying to get things ready for the Sacrament Christmas Program the next day.

I have to admit I was nervous about putting together the Christmas program. I had never really put together any kind of program for Sacrament before (other than just music), and for Christmas... there's so much pressure to come up with something special! But everyone in the ward was very willing to participate, doing special musical numbers and reading the narration parts, so it turned out great! The hardest part was just trying to decide what scriptures/stories/quotes to include with the music. It was a good experience, but I was very relieved when it was over!

After church, we packed the car and drove to Ohio. It was so fun to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with all of my family in Columbus! My grandparents live there, along with the Cooks (my mom's sister's family) and the Ralphs (my mom's brother's family) drove up from Cincinnati. My Aunt Lisa also flew out from Utah, so we had lots of family together! It was wonderful! However, we did miss my sister, Erin, who spent Christmas at home in L.A. this year. It was different, but still lots of fun, waking up Christmas morning with just my parents and brothers (and Dan and Max of course. The girls were really outnumbered).

The day after Christmas, my mom, Aunt Lisa and Aunt Mindy took me shopping for maternity clothes. Previously, I had looked at a lot of maternity clothes but never been brave enough to actually try any on. But they got me over my fears, and I really enjoyed spending time with them!

We spent a few more days in Columbus, hanging out with my dad and brothers after my mom flew to Seattle for my cousin Brandon's wedding (Congrats Brandon and Demarae!). We got to visit some of my favorite places, like La Chatelaine, an authentic French restaurant. So delicious! In middle school, my French class would take field trips there so we could practice ordering in French :) We also took my brother, David, shopping for the kinds of things guys need for their college apartments that they would never think to get themselves.

As we were got in the car to drive home I begged Dan to let me stop at Graeter's for some ice cream. If you are from Upper Arlington you must love two things: the Buckeyes and Graeter's. In high school, I got ice cream there practically every day since it's right down the street from my house (it even does a pretty banging business in the winter), and it would have been a crime to leave without a single scoop! Dan stopped at a gas station to put air in his tires and I kept begging. He finally looked at me said, "Fine, if you absolutely have to..." in that voice that means, "You better not say you absolutely have to." But being from Upper Arlington (and pregnant! hello!), it was physically impossible for me to leave without it, so we drove out of Columbus with one scoop of Cookie Dough Chip and one scoop of Black Raspberry Chip.

It was a very relaxing trip, and so nice to get out of the city for a little bit!