Christmas 2012

Last Christmas Jeff and I swore we would never miss a Christmas in Utah again. It was so hard to be away from family and although it was nice just to spend time alone together, the holidays are really all about family and friends. Our family was in Utah and all our friends were out of town so it made for a long day. And not to mention when we did go home in January it was hard to meet up with everyone because work and school had already started so it was hard to juggle time between 2 families.

Well guess what... here we were AGAIN stuck in Alaska on Christmas, and this time not by choice. Being 37 weeks pregnant and the no flying rule kept us home. I was already feeling the blues since I had to work Christmas Eve and our 3 foot tree was still leaning against the wall un-lit, no stockings hung and I just felt no christmas spirit this year. Jeff had even asked me a few days before christmas if there was anything we could do to salvage christmas and the scrooge in me said "No". Jeff also had to work until 7 pm on Christmas Eve so I didn't even get to see him before I left for work. (Luckily he came to visit me later in the night and spent a good amount of time chilling with me at work.) So christmas eve came and went, no traditions were done and I was just angry I had to work, knowing I was either going to sleep most of Christmas day or I would be onery and short from the lack of sleep if I decided to stay awake.

Well Jeff was up bright and early at 7 am, texting me, wondering when I was going to be home from work. He said he slept on the couch cuz he was so excited for Christmas (he really is a kid at heart still). So I got home as quickly as i could and on the front door was a sign that said "Hopefully after today you will believe in Christmas miracles" I had no idea what that meant. I opened the door to a dark living room with bright lights from the corner. Low and behold Jeff had brought home a HUGE REAL Christmas tree the night before, spent the whole night decorating it and wanted it to feel festive for me. I was shocked. It was so beautiful and the house smelled incredible of fresh pine. Believe it or not just having a lite tree in the house made it feel like Christmas. And it was such a simple gesture but the sweetest thing my husband could have done for me. He also moved our little 4 foot tree into the babies room and decorated it. It was so sweet. (The tree was so big and heavy that Jeff had to tie it to our wall, hence the string you see :)

 Being 8 am here, it was 10 am in Utah so we skyped with Jeff's family for quite some time... opening their gifts to us and just visiting. Then we briefly skyped my family (we skyped them again later once both my sisters were over at my parents house) and then we opened gifts from each other. We were both spoiled and felt so loved.

 

 Ever since I was a little girl and danced in the Nutcracker my mom always got me a Nutcracker for Christmas. Well needless to say I have a nice collection at my parents house and can't wait to have a place of my own to display them all. Jeff continued this tradition and this year I got a Fishing Nutcracker. It is so appropriate for Alaska and I love that he took the time to find it.

 It was about 11 am and I was beat so I wanted to lay down for a quick nap. I asked Jeff if he was tired and he said no, but I asked if he would come cuddle with me and rub my back until I fell asleep. well guess what, we both slept until 3 pm... Wow, where did the time go. We both didn't care cuz it just felt nice to relax at home together. We got a hold of some friends and they came over to visit with us and then we wanted to all go out to eat. (Jeff didn't want me cooking a huge dinner that would stress me or make me not relax so we opted to go eat out instead and have Christmas dinner the following Sunday) Well we drove to denny's, called Golden Coral, and Village Inn, Ihop and even attempted to order Pizza but NOTHING was open. Are you kidding me! So we ended up at the only place in town willing to serve christmas dinner... McDonalds. Ha ha ha. I didn't even care, at this point I was starving and it made for a fun night and good memories with friends. We were going to try and go the Les Miserables that evening but we were both still so tired. So we ended the night relaxing together and crashed fairly early.

 

The next day (Jeff was suppose to work but got it off) we went shopping, returned a few things and just spend the whole day together. Jeff had tried buying me an Ipad mini for christmas but they were sold out everywhere. Well sure enough the day after christmas Apple had them in stock so we decided with the money from Jeff's parents for christmas we would buy one and we love it. We've had an ipad before but ended up returning it and so i'm glad we have the new mini. We both are on it alot and I can't wait to start traveling or have kids to share it with. Later that evening we went to Les Miserables with friends.

So it may not sound like we had a very exciting Christmas away from home and with a 4 hr nap that took up the whole afternoon, but we loved everything about Christmas this year... and to be honest it all started with my husband decorating a tree for me. I'm amazed everyday at what an incredible guy I married. He truly wants what's best for me and will do anything to make me smile and spoil me. although we weren't home with family we loved every minute of our Christmas. And we know the only reason we stayed home was because we are expecting our little girl and what a blessing and miracle it is to have her come to us. We SOOOOOO can't wait to meet her and pray the next 3 weeks go by quickly.