Jon and Holly: Merry Christmas!

I have a lot of catching up to do! We were both sick last week - Jon stayed home from work and I came home early one day. We've both slowly recovered. Just in time to head to California to celebrate an early Christmas at my sister's place on Saturday. Our family pulls names, so it was fun to see what we all got from whoever had us. Jon got his new razor and Band of Brother DVD set he had wished for from Kevin. I got a fantastic pink candle and Old Navy gift card from Fred- woohoo! Does it get any better? Of course Camden was overwhelmed with all the presents he got from Mimi and Poppy and Auntie Holly and Jon Jon.

Mom and Fred left to head back home and the rest of us headed over to the Irvine Spectrum to get out of the house and try to get Camden to burn some energy. He got to ride the carousel with dad and Auntie Holly and Mom took him on the "big wheel" much to Dad's horror. We made it through safely, and Camden did a great job of making Auntie feel at ease-- especially at the high parts. And I found out today he told Kevin's mom that I was scared and I cried. Funny kid. We came home and said goodnight to Camden and the four of us played one of my gifts to Wendy - Trivial Pursuit 80's edition. Finally the girls were redeemed after their sorry loss to the boys at the last game (I Love the 80's) because we kicked their butts!!! My advice to anyone looking for a rematch: Don't mess with the Winslow gals and their 80's music knowledge. Finally a use for all of that stuff stuck in my head!

We got to sleep in the next day and said our goodbyes and had lunch with Hedder. Jon was thrilled that she gave us a gift card for Bed, Bath and Beyond so he could put it towards a new set of pots and pans that we've been waiting to get. yay! Then we went over to Harvest for the 4:00 Christmas Eve service and really enjoyed being there at a familiar place that felt like home - for me at least. Great to see Hanz and Debbie and their girls... along with everyone else of course! Made the drive safely home and picked up the pups and came home and CRASHED.

I was so excited for Christmas this morning that I woke up and could not fall back asleep, so I woke Jon up--and I've been exhausted all day! We opened presents - he got me a gorgeous "right hand ring" just like the kind I was looking at when I was looking at engagement rings. We need to get it sized and I can't wait to get it on! I made Nanny's apple cake this morning, but it wasn't exactly right because I used whole wheat flour in an effort to be a little more health conscious. Doesn't work and I need to re-make because you can't skimp on things like Nanny's apple cake. :) I'll try again this weekend, though Jon said this batch was just fine. (It wasn't). We love to go see the Belagio's conservatory decorations, so we got dressed and headed down there. It was awe-inspiring as usual, and from there we headed to Lake Las Vegas to see the Christmas decorations. Not much to see there as just about everything was closed, but it was still a great outing. And that's been pretty much our day!! Mostly enjoying the day off.

Last week we received our gifts from Jon's parents, which they asked us to open early so we could enjoy them. We discovered gift cards to Target, Buca di Beppo, AND Bed, Bath, and Beyond - which guarantees we have enough to look for a nice set of pots and pans. Such a blessing and we're looking forward to treating ourselves thanks to them. Along with a huge puzzle of Las Vegas that is guaranteed to begin as soon as the Christmas decorations are put away and we have a little more room. Can't wait!!

I've been putting in a ton of hours at work and Jon had an exciting week last week (great news!!! - hopefully more information on that SOON!) so we're pretty exhausted these days.

We hope everyone had a fun Christmas like we've had. And of course we must remember what Christmas is all about and celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. The greatest gift of ALL. Tons of pictures posted below. Enjoy!