Scenes from the Holidays

I hope everyone had a merry holiday season!  We had lots of fun both at home and in Nashville, and were so lucky to have some quality time with just the four of us, but also time to celebrate with many of our relatives.

I've dreamed of this photo for years...my children wearing matching pajamas on Christmas Eve just as my sister and I did growing up.  I don't think my dreams ever came close to being as sweet as seeing this is real life.

Rigby had a great first Christmas.  "Opening" his gifts and playing with the tissue paper were the most fun!  And, his skills at sitting up and scooting across the floor were nearly mastered at my sister's house...we are going to have a professional crawler, if not a walker, on our hands very soon!  Speaking of a Walker...Jack's favorite present was the Lego Walker set gifted to him by Santa.  He spent nearly five hours on Christmas Day and another five hours after we returned home from Nashville building it to near completion!

One of the highlights of our Nashville trip was taking Jack to see The Grinch at the Opryland Resort. He was given 5 tickets for Christmas from my parents, so while they watched Rigby, the grown up kids spent the day with Jack (lucky us!).  The musical was great, Jack sat on the edge of his seat for the whole performance, and it's always a treat to go see the Resort all dressed up for Christmas. 

David and I agreed that our favorite event of the trip was our annual apps and beer tasting night.  The appetizers were outstanding this year, the company was wonderful (David's sister and her fiancé joined us), and the beer was memorable (i.e. not our favorites, but perfectly holiday-ish).  My sister and sister-in-law organized beer tasting cards for us to use during the evening and gifted us all with Christmas beer glasses making it a truly festive affair!

David and I were lucky to enjoy two date nights over the holidays.  The first was in Seattle before Christmas when we to the Ballard neighborhood for drinks at Noble Fir and dinner at Stoneburner; it was one of my favorite dates - perfectly unplanned and low key and lots of fun!  The second date was on New Year's Eve (also our wedding anniversary!) when my parents very graciously babysat and we had a delicious dinner at 5th and Taylor with my sister and sister-in-law and then rang in the New Year at David's sister's house.  We haven't been out on New Year's Eve in a while, so it was a real treat!

We loved being able to see both sides of our families during our Nashville week and feel so lucky that everyone made an effort to stop through there to visit!  Our upcoming move closer to all of our family, including these sweet cousins, makes us truly excited for the fun family times ahead!

Cheers to 2016...May it be the best year yet!