Merry Christmas! Seriously! I love this season so so much. There really aren't words. Christmas has always been a favorite time of year, but this year it seems to be a hundred times what it has been in past years. I don't know if it is the excitement of sharing it with Little, or starting new family traditions, or just that it is a much needed break from all the craziness of life, but this Christmas feels different. I've been looking forward to it for longer than I care to admit and now that it is in full swing I can't even contain myself sometimes. Christmas lights everywhere, bursting out into song constantly, an entirely unhealthy diet of eggnog and chocolate covered macadamia nuts... I even broke out my Christmas socks early this year.  I'm not sure that this is even healthy, but man alive! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

Since this is probably as close as we're going to get to a Christmas card this year I suppose I should do a bit of a recap. Looking back, we've had quite an eventful year this year. We had a baby, moved across the country, Bryce started law school, we were driven from our home by squirrels, learned that Wahoos and Hokies are not a Dr. Suess story... all sorts of new adventures. All-in-all it's been a good year; challenging and crazy at times, but exciting nonetheless. We are finally settled in here and getting the hang of this school thing. Bryce survived his first set of finals with his brain mostly intact, so I guess we're looking good. I've set all sorts of goals and done well with some, but have a lot to work on still. I haven't gotten much writing done in all the hullabaloo, but hopefully when the new year comes around I'll be able to focus on that more as well. 

We've decided to start a family tradition this year wherein each Christmas we take a little box and at the beginning of the Christmas season write down one "gift" that we can give to the Savior throughout the coming year so that we can place it in the box and make that the focus of our Christmas season as well as life in general for the next year. It has been fun to really start combining family traditions as well as start our own traditions this year. It's amazing how much having a little one adds to Christmas, and holidays in general. 

This winter has been a blast so far. Little got to play in the snow for the first time, and by "play" I really mean be completely unimpressed and a little bothered that he had to be wearing a big marshmallow suit. From the moment we put him in his snow suit to the moment we took him out he stayed in pretty much the same position: splayed on the ground with a look of complete indifference.

Bryce even made a little snow angel around him and he didn't move a muscle. We eventually got him to crawl around a bit, but he found the whole experience more of an ordeal to wait out than an adventure to be enjoyed. 

In honor of Bryce finishing finals and the dread of grades to come, we threw a pity party--literally. We wrote our own epitaphs (the best of which being: Here lies Bryce - who left the world he only saw the left of). And we of course wrote some angsty poetry (with titles like: Snow in the Black Black Cold Cruel Unfeeling Treacherous World). And drank our sorrows away (with sparkling cider of course). I made shark attack cupcakes (because really, what worse thing could happen?) and I intended to make a pinata to beat after the festivities were over, but that got a bit too complicated. Maybe next time. Either way... we pitied ourselves away and came out feeling surprisingly refreshed. Little even got in on some of the action (not the drinking of course, but he did write some very nice poetry).

We just recently discovered that though we may be lacking crows that curse our apartment and squirrels that invade it, we have other avian visitors that frequent our new place. We have two cardinals, a few bluejays and mocking jays, a hawk, and uncountable other little birds who sing and play all day long. Who knew winter would bring them all out? We're definitely asking Santa for a bird feeder and a new bird book for Christmas.

In conclusion, life is good, we're excited to have Bryce back from the jaws of law school for a month, and we are very blessed and grateful for this season and the chance to celebrate all the Savior has done for us. Merry Christmas all!