Christmas at Home

After being out of town for four straight weekends, it was nice to be home for the Christmas holiday.  No plans, no parties, just us. 

On Dec. 23 we still needed a Christmas tree so we went to Home Depot in hopes of an inexpensive tree, given that it would only be up for a week!  Home Depot was out of Christmas trees...so we noticed the grocery store next door still had some outside.  I mean, how lame is it to buy a tree at a grocery store??  Well, turns out we didn't actually to buy it; they were all free this late in the season.  I guess there are benefits to waiting so long!  We ended up with the nicest 9 ft Douglas Fir we've ever had-smelled great, perfectly shaped and solid branches.

At the tree lot

Wouldn't be Christmas without gingerbread men!

It was undoubtedly a white Christmas here in CO!

The neighbors built a sledding hill!

 
On Dec. 24 we finally had a chance to put together Nora's new bedroom furniture.  We've had it since September and have slowly worked to clear out my old office and repaint it.  Nora immediately liked her room and cuddling in her new bed, but it would take about a week, and her old bed getting 'broken,' before she'd sleep in her new bed.

Christmas morning, Nora woke up with bad bedhead, but we figured it was best left rather than combed out.  After unwraping each gift, she wanted to open it up and play with it before moving on to the next.  It was very cute, and it took at least two hours to get through the gifts under the tree!

Posing under the tree

Playing with her stamps

The Ikea train set was a hit

Getting into Uncle Bruce's present was tough...

but well worth it...her very own CD player!

Playing with her marble run

Dec. 26 we decided we'd slept in our own beds too many nights in a row (5?, 6?) so we went to Beaver Creek.  Jeff had to work up there a few days and Nora and I tagged along to hang out in the mountains.  Jeff took Nora skiing, but after one run she was over it.  However, she was quite interested in the warm chocolate chip cookies!

 
The following day she tried out her new snowshoes from second cousins Eli and Charlie.  It seems so simple to walk with them on your feet, but getting a two year old to walk with their legs apart is more challenging than you might think!

 Jeff has several long ski weekends planned for January.  Other than that, we are are busy getting ready for the baby!  So much to do in the next few weeks:  prepare the nursery, wash baby clothes, stock the freezer, stock up on household items, finish some cleaning projects, decorate Nora's room, the list is endless.  Oh yes, and we should probably decide on baby names...