First Annual Yule Log!

I hope the holiday season found everyone well this year! Mike and I had a very happy holiday! Here's a little recap of our December 2011:

I refrained from decorating or listening to holiday music until precisely December 1st...and then it sort of looked like Old St. Nick himself threw up in our living room...

Our first Christmas tree in our San Antonio home -
a 6-foot live fir.

Mike and I had rival each had our respective nutcrackers before we met, ironically.

On the 2nd, the 24th Air Force (where Mike works) had their annual holiday party. Mike was asked to Emcee the event and he did a spectacular job. He and the other Emcee, Lance, conspired to wear tacky Christmas sweaters that evening. Mike already had a puff painted Christmas sweatshirt, but we decided we could do better. So we added some jingle bells and LED, battery-powered Christmas lights:

Perfect!

You already saw our Gingerbread "houses" that we also made that weekend. You can also read about it on Ellie's blog.

Our friend's Onae and Thomas had a Christmas party at their house for our San Antonio group of friends. We played some fun games, to include a gift exchange, and watched the 2011 and 2010 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (why not?!). We had a really great time. I am so happy we have such great friends here after only a couple years! We'll be so sad to leave them!

On Thursday, the 22nd, we left for Opelousas, Louisiana, where we would spend Christmas with Mike's family. We arrived that afternoon and had ribs for dinner in honor of our nephew, Landyn's, birthday. The next day Mike and I took Landyn, 8, and CJ, 5, to lunch and the Children's Museum so that Mike's sister, Courtney, and their mom could do some shopping without the little ones. It was our first time alone with children and I like to think we did an awesome job. We ate lunch at a place called Walk-Ons and the kids were extremely well-behaved. They got their kid's meals on frisbees, so that was pretty cool.

At the museum, the kids put on a puppet show:

Landyn got to get in the front and the back of an ambulance. (He told his mother this after we were done and neglected to mention it was at the museum! I quickly followed with "at the Children's Museum!!" Hahaha!)

Future paramedic?

CJ loves to cook! She whipped up some crawfish, cake and burgers for us! Delish!

Future Iron Chef?

 Perhaps the coolest part of the museum was the bubble section. They had big bubble wands with waist-high trays of bubble solution. They even had one you could stand in and make a bubble around you. The kids were really good at it.

After the museum we picked up Courtney and went to the zoo to see the light displays. The kids played on a playground while the adults sipped hot chocolate. Needless to say, the ride home was very quiet. :)

On Christmas Eve, Mike's step-siblings came over with Gumbo and we had a big Christmas dinner with another gift exchange. Mike and I ended up with Home Depot and Target gift cards so we were happy.

On Christmas Day we went to Mike's mom's house where Santa had brought lots of fun toys for Landyn and CJ. We ooh'd and ahh'd at their gifts before they left to spend the day with Courtney's boyfriend's family. Mike's mom, Mr. Bo, Mike and I had a quiet day with turkey and all the trimmings followed by a nap. When the kids got back we watched "Big" on TV (I forgot how great that movie is!) and then we had a light dinner before playing "Headbandz" with the kids. If you've played that drinking game where you put a card on your forehead, it's very similar to that...minus the alcohol....and with pictures on the cards as opposed to playing cards...oh and you have a little headband that holds it up for you.

We drove home Monday. My mom had flown in to San Antonio the day before to be with my Aunt Rhonda for Christmas. We had a nice dinner with them and enjoyed Mom's visit before she had to leave Thursday. We went to Fredricksburg where we did some shopping and ate German food, we went to the San Antonio Art Museum, and we saw "The Artist" which I highly recommend.

Mom and I at Los Patios after Mike and I ran 8 miles.
Mom and Rhonda went for a walk on the trails, too

In Fredricksburg, TX

For New Year's Eve, Mike and I went to our friends, Justin and Clarissa's, house. We watched some You Tube videos and New Year's Rockin' Eve. We played a game called "Things" which was pretty entertaining.

Surprise!

Around 2:30am Onae and Thomas went home. Mike and I were staying the night since we live about 30 min away. I went to bed, but Mike and Justin stayed up 'til 5am playing video games! They're so funny!

So we had an excellent holiday season! I'm so grateful we could spending it with so many friends and family! I'm really excited to see what 2012 brings us! I hope the New Year finds you well and best of luck in 2012!!