Christmas 2012.

we had a good Christmas this year, as usual. we are blessed. throughout most the month of December, i spent a lot of time making traditional chocolate chip cookies. my favorite. (and trying to eat something a little healthier - fruit - inbetween cookie bites.) we had our annual sugar cookie decorating party with the Horrocks's the sunday before Christmas.

we spent Christmas Eve with my family (everyone but the China couterparts). we had a huge breakfast/brunch at my sisters house. pancakes, eggs, fruit, bacon, sausage, juice, milk, muffins...you name it, we had it. soo good. we all opened gifts from eachother, which was fun. all the grandkids got remote control monster trucks from grandma and grandpa, which they loved (even the girls!). it was snowing most the day, which made for such a pretty backdrop for our party.

my parents, oldest sister and her family, and jae and i had Christmas Eve dinner together at Texas Roadhouse. it was super crowded, which surprised me a little. but was delicious as ever. afterwhich, we went back to our house for treats, games, and Elf watching.

Christmas morning, we woke up to our own little Christmas present opening with just Jae, Zoey, and i. Jae got some new slippers (our floors are SO cold), sour patch watermelons, tickets to a Jazz game, eye glasses cleaner (super exciting, i know), and probably his favorite gift - dark knight rises on blu-ray. i think i could've just given him that alone and he would've been happy as a peach. i got some clothes, lots of new nail polishes, jewelry, make-up, long cozy socks, and of course - plenty of reese's trees. Zo got two new chew toys (which were chewed up in pieces literally within about 4 minutes) and a new collar.

we stopped by my parents for a few minutes to see everyone that was there and stuff our faces with some brunch leftovers. i surprised Jae with a (gigantic) framed picture of Paris and the Eiffel tower for our living room wall. i had to hide it at my parents because there's no way i could've kept it hidden at our house. he loves it! success.

next we headed to Jae's moms for Christmas present opening with his family. Jae was "santa", as he is every year (wears a santa hat and is in charge of passing out the presents). we got more fun gifts there, and ate another meal. Jae had to quickly be off to work, but only worked a few hours and was home for dinner, so it wasn't so bad. Zoey and i went home and took a quick snooze while Jae worked. it was such a great holiday with lots of family.

a few photos from here and there during our Christmas season this year: