Christmas in Houston

We headed straight from Illinois to Houston for a week of Christmas celebrations with the Martin clan. This was a REALLY exciting year b/c it was the first year that Grace was old enough to really appreciate Christmas and Santa visiting. Personally, Grace and I got along REALLY well b/c she's going through a serious princess stage...everything she wants revolves around princesses, pink, trying on princess dresses, and pretending she is a princess. My sister Amy thinks this is just a stage but considering I'm 31 and am still experiencing this so-called "stage", Amy and Andy have a lot of princess in their future.


Christmas morning!!!


Christmas morning consisted of Grace ripping open a present and a combination of Amy, Andy, Mike and / or, myself frantically trying to put together the gift as quick as possible. This repeated about 15 times until Grace had been through all of her presents. It was pretty exhausting but a lot of fun! There was a lot of scrambling between various toy parts, tools, directions, and batteries but eventually we got it all put together. Who would have known one blond princess would be so high maintenance? :)


Amy, Andy, and Cinderella...



Mike and I after a yummy Christmas brunch...

The Martin clan (Papa, mom, my brother Greg, me, Mike, Grace, my sister Amy, and brother-in-law Andy)...