"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #12 - 2009)

Today was our final date of the "12 Dates of Christmas" for 2009. This afternoon we watched a youth students basketball game - it was fun to go support her.

Earlier in the week we did some Christmas shopping... the valley recently got a Rooms to Go store and on one of our dates we went perusing through the store and if you know me, it's hard to leave a furniture store with making a purchase. We had been wanting a new entertainment center for quite some time but had never found one we really liked until now. So needless to say we purchased an entertainment center. Then the following day we purchased a new 40" flat screen with the gift card from Kirk and Donna (thank you!). So we spent time this evening taking down the Christmas tree, clearing out the old entertainment center and putting up the new one with our new TV. It was cool because we were able to bless a family in our church with our old entertainment center.

Here it is.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #11 - 2009)

Tonight we went to a "Rio Grand Valley Killer Bee" hockey game. The game was intense. The Bees tied it up with just a few to go in the third. Went into overtime-then a shootout. We ended up loosing but Micah and I had a ton of fun. Mack slept through the whole thing!

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #10 - 2009)

We enjoyed some great fellowship as we celebrated with one of youth student's for his birthday.

Me and my little bundle of joy:)

Once we got home Micah built a fire and we roasted marshmallows and talked.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #9 - 2009)

Enjoyed some hot chocolate as we sat at Barnes and Nobles. Set some goals for the new year like having family devotions together with Mack. He may not fully comprehend what's going on but we are beginning to pour into his spirit the Word of God.

There's our little guy sleeping.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #8 - 2009)

Nothing too big today, we ate lunch at Chick-fil-a. They have amazing shakes and ice-cream cones.

Then rented a movie called "The Cove" (a documentary film of the purported annual killing of about 2,300 dolphins in a National Park at Taiji, Wakayama, in Japan) and cuddled on the couch.

There's our little man!

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #7 - 2009)

Merry Christmas! This is the picture we had a friend take to put on a Christmas card, didn't get it out as soon as I wanted so I e-mailed it to any friends and family I had e-mails for and posted it on facebook. I got several returned e-mails so if you did not get it let me know and I can resend it if you want it, just let me know.

We started our morning with a simple breakfast in bed - cinnamon rolls.

We read the Christmas story to Mack.

We got Mack his first Christmas ornament for the tree - that's all he got for this year (he doesn't know any different).

We had a nice lunch with Micah's parents then just vegged at the house the rest of the afternoon playing a game called Bananagrams, it's similar to scrabble - fun times!

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #6 - 2009)

Did a little shopping this morning, once we purchased our items and got to the car we realized they were too big to fit so we had to wait for backup. Needless to say we had to wait around in the parking lot for a little bit, luckily we live in south Texas where the weather is nice in December.

Enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve service at church - I would say there was standing room only but even the standing room was occupied, in fact we had people lining the halls.

Dinner with some friends.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #5 - 2009)

It was a beautiful day so we had a picnic lunch in our back yard.

Then Micah took Mack to the in-laws and when he came back to pick me up he said, "I didn't rent a limo but I borrowed this car." We got dressed up and went out to dinner at Johnny Carinos. We had a great evening together.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #4 - 2009)

Today was a low key day, slept in this morning then did some shopping. Micah captured this awesome picture. Had dinner with some new friends - the Taylors.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #3 - 2009)

Today marked 4 weeks for Mack.

Taco Bell for lunch.

We saw the movie "Invictus" starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, I'd recommend it.

We ended the evening with pizza from BJ's.

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #2- 2009)

Today was a fun day with Mack's grand debut at church on a Sunday morning. He slept through most of it but at least he was "Shalom".

We also had a staff Christmas party this evening where we enjoyed food, fellowship and exchanged gifts.

To end the evening Micah and I made sugar cookies together. It's always fun to get a little messy when baking!

"12 Dates of Christmas" (Date #1- 2009)

Micah and I began a new tradition last year called the "12 Dates of Christmas". To keep from solely vegging out in front of the TV during the holiday season we've decided to have at least one "date" each day for 12 days where we do something fun. This could be as simple as going for a walk or eating out at one of our favorite restaurants. The idea is do do something together, take lots of pictures and in the end I will make a book out of it for memory sake.

So we began our dates this year with the classic Nutcracker ballet.

We dropped Mack off at Micah's parents. (I was a bit anxious as this was the first time to drop him off anywhere - I think all new mom's experience this, right?) I think he enjoyed his time as we enjoyed the show and ended our date with Starbucks.