The Amazing LA Race is basically a huge scavenger hunt all over Hollywood. We had to go from place to place searching for clues and trying to figure out where to go next. They gave us a bus card, so we rode the metro to get to some places. Some of the featured places that we went were: The Walt Disney Music Hall, the LA Library, a food market, the Hollywood Walk of Stars, the Chinese Theater and more! It was a blast. Out of the 8 teams that competed, the girls won first place and the boys got dead last, finishing an hour and a half after us. They're reacting much better about that loss over a week later :) It was seriously a blast and you should check it out!
Over the next few days, Ethan and I had the chance to go see Star Wars, catch up with some of my high school friends and teach my family how to play some of our favorite games. We were also fortunate enough to work at the bakery I worked at in high school to make some extra cash while we are home.
Even though Ethan was super confused as to why there wasn't snow on the ground for Christmas like he's used to, I think we managed to have a good time :)
When December 23rd rolled around, I convinced Ethan that we should open up the gifts his parents sent us so we could have three days of Christmas. The 23rd with his family, the 24th with my dad and the 25th with my mom. He must have been anxious to open them too because I didn't think I did a very good job trying to convince him, but he went with it. They got us a book with pictures of our trip to Disneyland. We laughed at that because we also made all of our parents a book of our wedding. It was like we traded gifts! We also got all of our parents a picture of the Proclamation to the World with their wedding pictures behind it. I think they all enjoyed that, they came out really well. Oh, Ethan's parents also got us this ornament for our first Christmas. Boy am I glad that they did because I really wanted to get one, but totally forgot.
On Christmas Eve, Ethan, Alec and I went to my dad's house to enjoy yummy Mexican food and have a gift exchange with all the adults. We ended up getting a really soft grey blanket that matches our bed, and a tire pressure thing... not sure how to explain it more than that, but it will be very useful seeing as we travel so much. Then we exchanged gifts with my dad and his wife. Like I mentioned before, we got them a wedding photobook (that I seriously spent like 50 hours making) and the Proclamation with their wedding picture. They got us a ton of gift cards that we get to use up at school. Hallelujah for prepaid groceries and date nights!!
I love how beautiful my mom decorates the house for Christmas. She puts so much effort into making sure it looks so welcoming, especially around the holidays. Anyway, after having a nice evening with my dad's side of the family, we headed back to my house to open Christmas jammies with my mamma. Ethan and I both share this tradition in our separate families, so I am grateful for a mom who helped out this year so that the pjs didn't have to come out of our budget. This year, the girls got matching pjs and the boys all got ones with their favorite superheroes. (Katie and Chris were working, so they didn't come until Christmas Day.) I tried to get a picture of the girls, but Alec took them, and they are all extremely blurry. Here is one of the boys instead:
We decided that since we didn't get to wake up on Christmas morning and have some time to ourselves, Ethan and I would open the presents that we got for each other in my room before going out with everyone else. We set a budget for each other and kind of obeyed it... haha
Since we had to travel for Christmas, we shipped all of our presents to my house in California in an effort to bring less and avoid any peeking ;) Here was the stack we came home to:
Here they are looking slightly nicer after being wrapped:
Ethan got me a beautiful necklace that says "Mrs", a custom phone case, an attachment for my Kitchen Aid, Cards Against Humanity, and a few other things that I asked for. I got Ethan a new watch, a tie and a couple cool tie bars, a few new games, and my most exciting gift: the entire Star Wars collection on Blu-Ray. He was pretty stoked and I think we did really good this year. However, I have to admit that the best part of it was waking up next to my sweet husband and realizing this is how Christmas will begin every year from here on out.
Every year, my mom fills our stockings with the necessities: toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, a razor, shaving cream, as well as a few other goodies. This year, Ethan and I added a few things to each others stockings, but boy were they full, and beautiful. I'll tell you one thing: my mom does Christmas the right way. I can't wait to continue the traditions she has already set up for me.
After opening stockings, we opened presents with my family. Maybe it's just because growing up, it was just Alec and I, so it was easy, but my family opens Christmas presents one at a time, youngest to oldest to make sure that we all get to see what everyone else got. It's so fun to see how excited everyone is and we definitely enjoy the whole morning doing so.
Some notable items from the morning were: Alec getting new workout equipment, Ethan getting new wrinkle-free white church shirts and his first tool box, Shelby getting gifts that my mom purchased from a company that actually feeds a certain amount of dogs for every item purchased... I think at the end, there were like 150 dogs fed, Chris getting tons of Superman gear, and Katie and I getting wife stuff... like a beautiful new Nativity. You'll have to wait until next year to see it, though :)
Ethan and I got my mom a bracelet that had all the kids names stamped on it, and we got Mark a flag that flew over the Capitol on his birthday. There were some tears when he opened that gift, Mark is super patriotic, so I'm happy he enjoyed it.
We also did gift exchanges between Ethan's siblings and my siblings, those were fun too and I think we all had fun incorporating the new spouses into the equation. Alec got Ethan 2 dozen bottles of his favorite soda, and he was very happy about that. That night, we had lots of family come over and have dinner. Look at these cute dessert shots my mom made, yum!
Merry Christmas!
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