well i still haven't caught up on posts for the fall and now christmas has come and gone!

christmas is my absolute favorite, and i'm always a little depressed once it's over. but now it's even more special to me since we have a little one in the family. no one tells you that christmas is even more fun as a parent than as a kid.

i love making traditions with jia and teaching her about the true meaning of christmas. i also tried to hunt down all the fun activities in the area so that we could have a lot of holiday fun!

here's a photo run down of our season!


snow palace


dallas children's parade


santa's helper at the mall


jia's first ginger bread house


petting zoo at santa's village


vitruvian park


tuzer's nutcracker


decorating cookies


and of course meeting santa!

whew! we were busy!

on christmas eve jia actually came down sick, which was a big bummer! she had a high fever so we stayed in all day and just snuggled. thankfully her temp had dropped by christmas morning though, so we were able to really have fun and join family for some celebrating.


gifts at home


christmas with granna

jia was really getting into the whole gift thing, so i'm sure that by next christmas she'll be completely out of control now that she's caught on to what presents are about.



so farewell christmas...see u next year!

and happy new year to all!

ok so christmas was more than a month ago, so i need to hurry and write down the little memories we made this year before they all fall out of my head! (as things tend to do rather quickly these days!)

A) christmas is my favorite time hands down. i still feel crazy like a kid when i start hearing christmas music or see decor up. from november 1 till december 25 i'm pretty much loving life.

B) jia was at an adorable age to enjoy the holidays this year. 18 months is pretty much as cute as it gets.

for santa pics we've made it our tradition (for a whole 2 years now! :P) to go to the little santa's village in our town. it's free, and adorable. however, this year jia was a fan of the overall experience, but not so much of santa.





maybe it was just the whole 18 month separation anxiety thing...or it being past her bedtime. but oddly enough she was a fan of the police officer.



oh and of course the petting zoo was a big hit. i'm sure this kid will be a total animal lover.



we also went to see santa at willow bend mall. we didn't get pics with him (because mama's cheap!), but we did play in the fake snow (since it was free), and she was much more interested in that anyways.



a few days later this was followed by real snow/ice. and she had a ghetto-fabulous time.



and also had her first taste of hot chocolate.



christmas was partly made possible by pinterest this year. i don't know how people did the whole parenting thing before pinterest. it inspired an advent calendar filled with chocolate coins, and a felt christmas tree. both big hits for toddlers in the house.




and of course we always love a good advent candlelight service...thought jia maybe still be a little young to appreciate it.



she did however enjoy christmas lights this year...vitruvian park looked magical!



for us, the best gift on christmas morning was definitely watching her open hers! she got the hang of it this year!



it was pretty cute to see her having fun with gifts before the greed kicks in.

christmas is always a super meaningful and special time for me...but having a kid around definitely brings a little extra magic to it all...and an excuse to let my inner child loose! ;)

wow, i'm behind! or maybe i've just been in denial about christmas being over. :(

anyways, this year was of course our first christmas with a little one, and that was pure joy! jia is in this phase where she's obsessed with tearing paper too, so that worked out well.

in my whole 30+ years of christmases in texas, i had only experienced one white christmas before this year...and that was just a couple years ago. so my little munchkin was lucky enough to have the once in a blue moon texas white christmas on her first one! (too bad she won't remember it!)



she's a cold weather girl like her mama, so jia loved the snow!



anyways, christmas was adorable. i'm looking forward to starting new traditions with her over the next several years.

a couple days after christmas, jia experienced her first conference...which was an awesome one! but one thing i learned is that conference schedules don't always work with baby schedules! thankfully jia was still pretty off schedule from our trip to india anyhow! :P



in other news, over the past 3 weeks jia has cut 2 teeth, and had 2 colds! we've been passing one back and forth between each other. :( poor baby. it's a snot fest.



someday i will sleep again. some day.
in the mean time, i'm lovin' my baby snuggles.

so our tree went up this week. some bing crosby got busted out too.


yes, i agree. as much as i adore christmas, it's unseasonably early. i usually like to give thanksgiving its props.
however, this year the holiday season will be total craziness, so we're doing things a bit differently.

close to thanksgiving my mom is getting married, and then shortly after that we're skipping town for a few weeks. it's high time for a diversion...
and it's definitely high time to make another trip to india and see my husband's family.
it's hard to believe it almost been two years already since we last saw them.
i love having a cross cultural marriage. but i must tell you, the only thing that really sucks about it is having family literally on opposite sides of the planet...you're always missing someone.

but anyways, it will be close to christmas before we get back in the country, and i need more than just a few days to savor my love affair with christmas time...so i'm starting early. don't judge.