merriest of christmases.

I saw someone a few days ago write that Christmas joy is about the people around the tree with you rather than what's under it. How true and well said! We always celebrate for our little family and then with each set of parents, so in all that is three Christmases. We also hosted Christmas lunch again this year. What a day!

The Christmas season was jam packed this year, full of decorating, Secret Santa exchanges, Nate's first Christmas concert at daycare, shopping, wrapping, getting ready for our big lunch, taking Nate to see Santa (who he is still terrified of), and trying to keep everything for work and school on track.  We had a great Christmas with so many people to be thankful for. Here are a few of my favorite Christmas memories:

thanksgiving 2012.

We took a big trip for Thanksgiving this year. Since Chris and I alternate years with our families, we headed down to Texas in his parents' newly purchased RV to see all of the Texas relatives. Granted, the trip down and back was very long, there was a lot of illness (the flu, ear infections, etc.), but we had a great visit seeing family! Here's a very picture heavy account of our time trip:

love.

Nate is only two, but I think the number of times that I have said that I love him is countless.  After begging, pleading, coaching, bribing, and giving up, Nate finally decided that he was ready to say it back. Not the best video quality, but I love Nate's little inflection in this.

After a rough day, this made my heart melt.

happy halloween.

I think it's safe to say that Nate 'gets it' this year. The costume may not make all that much sense yet, but the joy of candy and the fun of trick-or-treating has certainly translated to his two year old little mind. You may recall that in the past, Chris and I have switched off years in deciding what Nathan would dress up as. For Nate's first Halloween, I decided that he would be a monkey. For his second Halloween, it was Chris's choice so he and Nate were Batman and Robin. This year, we ventured into uncharted territory and let Nate make the decision on his own...naturally he chose to be Jake the pirate from his favorite show, Jake and the Never Land Pirates.

We had quite the night, trick-or-treating at both set of grandparents' houses, riding on a hayride, running wild from sugar, and even visiting some of my friends. Here are some photos from our fun night out!