Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Part One

Hank and I originally planned to do Christmas Eve on the eve of the eve (make sense? haha), but later decided to just wait until the actual night to open our presents. He had to work during the early afternoon, but once he got home and we both got ready for the evening, it was present time! I'll just mention a couple of the presents we exchanged- and one in particular made me so, so happy. That special gift was one of my most favorite Angelique Houtkamp paintings as a print. It's a big piece, limited to just 200, and is so, so beautiful. It's signed and numbered by Ms. Houtkamp herself, and it's such a great addition to our art collection. To say I'm stoked is an understatement. He really is the most thoughtful husband in the whole world and I feel so lucky he always goes out of his way and is so generous. I got him a lot as well, and a couple of his favorite things were the two prototypes of toys he loves. Our dear friend Alex helped me get some of the toys for him (as I am clueless), which was very kind. So after we did our presents at home, we headed out for the night, armed with huge bags and boxes of wrapped presents. As we do every year, we spent Christmas at Hank's mom and step-dad's home. It's a really fun time- we do a secret Santa exchange with extended family, and then once everyone goes home the immediate family gives each other gifts. Hank's mom is THE BEST gift giver- and this year was no different. A couple notable gifts were Hank's sought-after Wii and a huge box of games and corresponding gadgets and toys. He is in heaven. Another is my Kindle DX, and I am blown away with it. I AM IN LOVE! Now I don't have to lug around a million books on vacation, amongst many other pluses.

I am so thankful for everything we received, but those don't overshadow our "reason for the season," which is not god or anything related, but family. We aren't religious by any means, but we do still celebrate the holidays and enjoy an excuse to shower our loved ones with gifts, our time, and most of all, love! :) It's really neat to have such big families and I feel fortunate that we are all currently in great health and spirits. That isn't always the case so I am extra grateful this year.

After Christmas Eve festivities we headed down the mountain to Phoenix, so we could spend the night and wake up at my parents'! When we got to my parents' around 2am we were met with our annual Christmas pjs! Every year since we were kids my mom has always gotten us new holiday pajamas to wear to sleep. Hank and I put them on and hopped into bed!

When we woke up this morning we were met with a gorgeous tree and holiday music. All of us spent the morning opening up our awesome and very generous gifts. It was my sister's boyfriend Abe's very first Christmas EVER so it was SO MUCH FUN watching him open his presents and get excited. It was neat to be a part of that. So right now we are currently hanging out, waiting for a million of our family members to arrive, both from the airport via NY and up from Tucson. It will be a busy day, so I will be back with part two tonight!

Until then, have a fabulous afternoon.

Photos from last night and today (so far!)

Christmas Eve

In the tube is the print, the paper on the left is a picture and a letter of what the print is. It goes in for custom framing tomorrow, and Hank didn't want to damage it by taking it out of the container...hence the little letter that he wrapped up in a box. :)