Wishing You a Very Merry Perry Christmas!

We had serious issues trying to pick our holiday card picture this year. We finally decided to use one from our West Coast trip, which maybe wasn't the best idea because the one we ended up using was just about the only good photo of the both of us we took during our entire 2.5 week vacation and you can't even tell where we are. We got it printed the first time with this picture from Seattle to Bainbridge but the printing was way too dark.

Take two... we used the next best picture we could find. This should say something about the pictures we took while we were out there. Let's just say we (intentionally) missed the boat on the generational "MySpace" self-portraits and we haven't mastered the art of taking our self-portraits quite yet. I have faith that someday we will get there...

Of course you couldn't see the background after it was cropped for the card we used. If you could have seen it in the picture, here's what it would have looked like. SO PRETTY. Take me back!

 Just for kicks... here are the failure outtakes from the same location.

[1. zoom fail  2. KT wonk-eye fail  3. cut out the pretty background + cut off JB ear fail]

By the time we were supposed to send the cards out, I was out of steam for the annual letter I usually write. Sorry to those who missed it. I wish I could use the excuse of, "but we have a blog so you should know what we've done all year and you shouldn't need an overview of our year" but I know I've been falling behind on the blog-writing front so I don't even think I can say that!

I really wanted to write "Merry Perry Christmas" on our card. Jason even helped me come up with "A Very Merry Perry Christmas from Candyfornia" since the picture we ultimately used was taken in California. Instead I used a tacky peppermint layout that I loved only because it had peppermints on it. It was subtly Candyfornialicious and thus, less outwardly crazy. Also, I prefer to make our cards all-encompassing (holidays, not just Christmas). But I hope you all know we were wishing you a Very Merry Perry Christmas anyway because that's the kind of year we had (and you all know I'm kind of crazy anyway). If you don't even know to what I'm referring, it's probably best to just carry on...

Happy Holidays to all!

A Utah Christmas

On Christmas day, my brother, parents, and I flew out to Utah.

When we landed there wasn't any snow, but the next morning, on our "Christmas", we got a white one.

We got to see quite a few relatives, including Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Steve, Aunt Pat and Uncle Boyd, cousins Wil and Connor, and Aunt Merna and Uncle Willis. We spent most of our time playing games and laughing - both things that my family is known to do.

Opening presents, Grandma got what she's been waiting over a year for - wedding pictures. I gave her some prints as well as a book. She loved it.

Another present hit was Jakob's new shirt. Very fitting.

By the end of the night we had a pretty cool surprise.

The next day, Jake really wanted to see Uncle Willis' Buick that he's been restoring.
It looks pretty awesome!

On our last night, we convinced our parents to walk around the town center so we could see their Christmas light display. It was amazing. It was multiple blocks of amazing Christmas houses and lights!

The next day, we said goodbye to our family, the mountains, and the snow.

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone! What are your plans tonight?

Jingle Bells

We spent Christmas morning with the Bells before I headed off to Utah. The funniest moment was actually on Christmas Eve. Linda found a temporary tattoo on her grandbaby and asked her, "Do you have any other tattoos I should know about?" To which Esme responded, "Not yet!" Esme's parents have many tattoos and they have always joked with Linda about tattooing the baby - the jokes started before she was even born. Needless to say, Esme's response generated many, many laughs. That is a story that is bound to live on forever.

For the record, we always laughed at people who dressed their dog.

Then we got a chihuahua mix who has the chihuahua shakes.

Rufus gets cold and needs clothes.
We don't love doing it, but the pup needs them!

Hope everyone had just as merry a Christmas as we did! 

Our Christmas Eve

  The stockings were hung by the chimney with care... 

*Those stockings (minus the snowman) are my favorite knitting projects.

Dad got cashews in his stocking... and Al got a yak that Jakob made out of clay. 

Yes, a yak. 

I think it might be her favorite present.

Dad created DVDs of all of the old family videos he could find as a gift to Allison.

We watched footage of Jakob as a newborn through one year old. 

He was the cutest kid ever.

Watching the videos now you can see his brilliant mind developing already at only a year old.

In contrast, 

that tape also contained a video of me and two friends in middle school performing 

"The Killer Salad Dressing" - an extremely compelling movie that we made up for a school project.

I remember we thought it was fantastic and hilarious at the time.

...It was terrible. Simply terrible.

Oh, the memories.

Twas a fantastic Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Celebrating Christmas at home we'll enjoy this tree

And celebrating on Christmas morning we'll enjoy this one with this company, along with a lot more family.

Hi, dearest in-laws!

We'll also be celebrating Christmas with my family tomorrow on Christmas Eve before we (Dad, Al, and Jakob) fly out to Utah on Christmas day. I'm very excited to visit my relatives along with the mountains and snow. I love Utah. Unfortunately, Jason is staying at home because he has to work, but we'll get to celebrate together before we leave. 

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! 

Love to all.

Cold! Winter! Snow!

Since Thanksgiving, we have had some cool things happen. First, Jason started working at a new job. He is now doing bigger and better things. I am SO proud of him! He is now using public transportation to get into DC everyday. My little commuter! And speaking of jobs, the organization I work for got written up as one of the best 50 places to work in Washingtonian magazine. This actually happened before the wedding but I'm just getting around to telling y'all now. My bad. Even cooler – my parents' company got written up as well!

We have also had our first snow (!!!)

and therefore our first family snow photo of the year.

We're supposed to get a ton of snow starting tonight – hooray! So we might take more pictures of that.

We got the Bells' Christmas tree a few weekends ago – the day after our first snow. Man was it MUDDY. So, going with tradition, we carried Rufus the entire time again. This was last year:

This time Jason took a turn.

He started falling asleep. Life is tough for this little guy.

The search begins.

And then Jason finds one! Here are Terry and Linda with their tree right before we cut 'er down!

Ta-da! It’s magically on the car. A dude from the tree farm chucked it up there – literally.

And now the Christmas countdown begins!