Christmas in Texas!

CHRISTMAS EVE .....

Well it all started with LOTS and LOTS of rain. Jon and I decided to go play in the rain in our pajamas. Rain was pouring off our roof out back and Jon stood under it and then threw me under it too, man it was colder than I was ready for. With my clothes soaked in just seconds we danced around in the back yard. Darby and Gauge looked at us like we were crazy, which we probably were. But heck when can we say we danced in the rain on Christmas eve in shorts and a t-shirt???
After taking a shower in the real shower we decided to go to the beach. I mean, again we are in Texas so we have to do things that we won't do anywhere else on Christmas eve. It is about an hour drive, we hit a little traffic but it wasn't bad. Then we found the beach, there wasn't any sand where we stopped but lots of rocks and some lots of grass. It was really nice, some people were fishing from the shore even. It was raining though so we didn't get much time outside. But of course I forgot my camera on this special day so we had to use Jon's phone camera, which wasn't too bad. It is better than nothing I figure.
So here is me and Nixon out on the shore.

Jon on a really big rock trying not to fall in, at least that's what I think he is doing. Aren't the clouds beautiful?

We had to rush back to the car because it started pouring. Nixon thought it was funny, it got all foggy in the car.

This is the pier, well what is left of it after Ike hit. There is a pelican flying away from shore. He was huge and I had never seen one, it was cool.

Of course we drove over this awesome bridge but NO CAMERA, so here is a bad picture of it as we are leaving in a different direction. It has yellow poles... yeah you can't really see it but it was really cool.
CHRISTMAS DAY!!!

Well Santa found us down here in Texas and Jon even got it to snow in our living room! He had cut out snow flakes and placed them on and around the tree. How cute is he? Well there was definitely no snow outside because on Christmas day it was 75 degrees and as we opened presents our air condition kicked in.

All the stocking were stuffed. Mine, Jon's, Nixon's and the pups!

As you can tell Nixon was pretty excited about this stocking and presents idea..... ?????

Jon got me a new stereo that plays fm AND am radio AND I can stick my ipod in it. I was pretty excited.

Jon got a new mouse for his laptop. It is pretty cool it folds up little so easy to transport.

Nixon got some new 'kicks' from his cousin Mac. They are converse shoes!!! He is cool now!

Nana sent me a box of chocolates, a tradition I sure do love.

Nixon was so tired while we were opening presents, poor little guy didn't even make it half way through.

As you can tell, we kept opening presents and all he wanted to do was find his blanket and binki and take a nap. Christmas is so rough for this little guy! This is a book and puzzle from Grammy and Pompa.

Cousin Lilly made Nixon a necklace. How stinkin' cute!

Nixon got spoiled this year, mostly by the grandparents and great grandparents. Santa only brought him some socks and a church shirt... but he had the most gifts by far. Thanks everyone for sending us gifts so we could have a wonderful Christmas here with our little family. Nixon has got some awesome toys that will be fun to play with.

After opening presents Nixon went down for a nice long nap. Then Jon and I had the traditional egg casserole and "special drink" a.k.a. orange julius breakfast. I must say it was really good.

Jon and I started a tradition our first year of marriage that we got matching pajama shirts Christmas Eve night. We went camo this year and found Nixon a camo shirt too. We are pretty silly!

One thing I learned about having Christmas alone with no other family is that you want all the traditional Christmas food but you have to make it all. So I made cheesy potatoes, pretzel jello salad, ham with a brown sugar glaze, corn and rolls. It was SO good, YUM I love the holidays it just means lots of yummy food.

After dinner we went on a walk... in the 75 degree weather.. did I mention that already???

There is a bunch of trails in our neighborhood which is so nice for walking around with the stroller and the dogs.

Then we had desert, I know the food pictures are a little much but I was proud of myself for all the food I cooked for Christmas.
I made a pumpkin pie for me and a chocolate pie for Jon.

Nixon got some rice cereal and was pretty mad it wasn't something better, like pie or even mash potatoes for crying out loud... ha ha!

Jon took the rest of the week off of work and we spent a lot of time as a family. We played some cards, watched some good movies, took naps, went on walks... lots of family time it was really nice and relaxing. Although I think Jon wonders what I do everyday home with Nixon...ha ha!

On one of our walks we found this cool pond by our house. It has a little walk way all around it, it's kinda fun! The dogs wanted to jump in but what if there is alligators... haha!

Nixon loves to ride in his stroller, he blabs the whole time it's cute!

Nixon with Daddy's hat on. He thinks he is pretty cool now....

Our little cutie pie!

Nana gave him this outfit for Christmas, it is super soft. He looks cute in it too!! What a big boy, I can't believe how much he has grown!