Christmas 2016

Indiana's first Christmas! Woooo! I think it was a success. A crazy crazy day, but she had a good time! We stayed in Temple again this year, as traveling with a baby is hard and traveling with a baby, PLUS doing multiple Christmases (the blessing and curse of your whole family living in one town) was just a little too much. So my family was kind enough to come to us! I'm really glad we stayed at home. We got to have Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with just the three of us and it was really really nice. We haven't spent a Christmas Eve or morning alone in practically our whole relationship and I have to say, it was awesome. Especially because it was Indiana's first, it made it really special. Christmas Eve was spent listening to Christmas music nonstop and I spent almost all day cooking. Happy place!

On Christmas morning Indiana woke us up and we got all ready to do the dang thing. We put her on the floor and let her go, and she went straight to her new piano! It was the sweetest thing and I tried (really I did!) to get it on video, but I didn't hit record. BAHHH, story of my life. I will forever be beating myself up about that. Oh well! Mental memory will have to do.

Indiana didn't NEED much of anything for Christmas, but I really wanted her to have a piano. A real one, not some plastic thing. And Santa brought her one! It's a real tiny piano and it makes the cutest toy piano plinks! She's excellent at banging on it. The cats hate it.

Sophie loves Christmas as much as any kid.

These two! Indiana and Sophie have recently gotten "closer" and I love it.

Indiana was mostly much more into the paper and bags and boxes than she was the actual presents, but I think she still had a lot of fun!

After Indiana's morning nap we had Christmas round two! And this is the only group shot we got of the whole day, because boy do photos go out the window when you have a baby on Christmas!

After Indiana's afternoon nap we did Christmas round THREE, which I got basically no photos of. Fail! At this point I was pretty tired. Between cooking, cleaning, wrangling Indiana, and hosting lots of company I was beat. I'm a big time introvert and we had A LOT of people come to our tiny apartment, so by the end of the day my head was about to blow up. Luckily Indiana is the opposite, she loves people and looooves being the center of attention. I wonder where she got that from.... (ahem, Dr. Hogan...)

Christmas dinner! My dad and step mom brought over a big folding table that we set up in the middle of our tiny living room so we could all actually sit together for dinner. One day we will have a bigger place. Our mini-apartment is great for the three of us at this stage, but goodness whenever anyone comes over it gets so crowded! Not to mention we are busting at the seams with baby stuff.

And this is the only photo I got of round three. Everyone looks SO THRILLED to be there, huh?

I swear we were having a good time! ;)

It was a good day. An exhausting day, but a good one. I was super glad that Brendon had Monday off so we could recover!

Indiana had a great first Christmas I think. She was spoiled rotten by people who love her (as were we) and got to play in piles of paper and boxes. I'm trying not to think about all the paper she ate, but hey it's just fiber right? Christmas with a baby was everything I hoped it would be and more and I think every year it will get better. I can't wait until she knows whats going on, haha. I think we've still got a couple more years for that, but I am so ready! Baking cookies for Santa, writing Christmas lists! Eeee! Bring it all on!

Christmas 2015

Phew, how is it almost the end of the year already? Christmas flew by. It always does, but I thought maaaaybe this year since life in Temple (should have been) a little slower, it would last a little longer. But nope! It came and went in a happy flash like it always does. The good news this year is that we had off for the whole weekend! Usually we're off to work the next day, but as I'm not working at all at the moment (mwahaha) and Brendon is on that government schedule we had three days together! It's kind of nice, how the other half lives. We had the weekend to relax after the wildness of Christmas. And the weather was kinda cray, right? It was hot and grosssss on Christmas, but then this weekend winter arrived. There was even a chance of snow last night! I don't think it happened buuuuut, still! I'm pleased as punch that winter has shown its face. I'm a cold weather lover anyway, but being pregnant you run hot ALL the time. A mild winter was NOT what I was hoping for.

GOOD GRIEF, I am talking about the weather. (But really, when it actually happens, it's exciting!) Back to the point, CHRISTMAS! We had a fantastic Christmas. All our family came up to us in our little apartment and I felt super spoiled. Brendon's momma and his little bro came up the weekend before to celebrate. We had a taco feast and played a very serious game of Star Wars Monopoly where Brendon's true dark side came out. He is unbeatable in Monopoly and cut throat, wives get no mercy. Never play him. Actually never play him in any game. He's too competitive.

Our Christmas tree! Every year the day after Thanksgiving we get a tree. From Home Depot. They have this "Promo Tree" deal for trees that aren't quite perfect, it's usually around $20, NO MATTER THE SIZE! So we usually look for the biggest guy we can find, and usually they're awesome! They might have a little more character than the "normal" trees, but I like character. But man, this year. This tree is craaazy. It had holes galore, and crazy branches sticking out every where. It was hilarious. Also for whatever reason, even though it had a freshly cut bottom, it wasn't soaking up water. So it was a crispy critter by the end. I still loved it though.

FORGIVE THE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY! I've found on holidays it's easier to just bust out the flash than to fight apartment lighting with manually shot photos. And you catch a lot more funny faces with a quick flash. :)

This is the "oh Marie is taking pictures again" collection of faces. I SWEAR we were having a good time! Every year Deb gets us PJ's, it's the sweetest tradition (and my only source of PJ's!). She always picks the cutest stuff!

Superheroes, obviously!

Looking extra pregnant here. It was a fantastic early Christmas, and a great way to start the Christmas week! I'm all about spreading the holiday cheer as far as possible.

Christmas morning Brendon and I got up early (well, we always get up early) and had our little Christmas together. Usually we do ours last, so it was a fun change to open our gifts to each other ON Christmas morning. A nice calm and quiet morning, because we know next year will be very different!

I am going to spam you with repeated photos of our tree. Because I can.

Christmas with the cats, naturally. Sophie is a big fan of Christmas, she sneaks into A LOT of these photos.

Brendon spoiled me rotten, as per usual. I love how thoughtful that boy is. Also he got me one of those giant tins of popcorn, you know the cheese, butter, and caramel? It's already over half empty. I love that nasty stuff.

My sister, mom, and her bf Ray arrived a little later that morning for Christmas round 3! And they rolled up like Santa:

Sophie was in heaven. No cat loves Christmas more.

PS, it was hot! Shorts and short sleeves and an open door because the apartment was getting steamy.

You see what I mean about funny faces? I get free passes because, preggo. And I made Brendon wear Elf hats with me. Because when else?

And I totally busted out the self timer. Multiple times. I don't regret it, we don't have too many group shots over the years.

Later that afternoon was Christmas round 4 with my dad, step-momma, and step-bro. And Santa arrived again!

More group shots! With a Sophie this time! She's so spoiled.

My photo taking slacked off towards the end, by the end of the day I was reeeeal tired! But not tired enough for one last Christmas family photo:

Greg though. Not thrilled. I love this little family of mine! Can't wait until that one that's living in my guts is HERE next year!

Overall, even though it was a break from tradition, it was an excellent Christmas. Our family really came through, I am so grateful that they all traveled up to be with us! And family spoiled us like crazy, we ate lots of food (and I cooked! Not something I usually get to do for my family!), and we had oodles of fun hanging out. Lots of laughing, lots of goodness. A wonderful last Christmas before the Seahorse arrives.

Which could be any day now! Eeeee! Hopefully she makes it to her due date but gosh, these practice contractions make me feel like there's no way in heck we'll make it another month. Keep your fingers crossed, y'all! I want a chubby little bundle of Hogan to cuddle on, and the longer she's in there the fatter she'll get. ;)

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas if you celebrate! And a marvelous holiday season! I still can't believe the year is almost over. Time flies when you're having fun. :)

Christmas marathon 2014

As has become tradition since we moved to Austin, Christmas is a sort of marathon for us. We do Christmas Eve with my mother-in-law Deb and little bro-in-law AJ, then Christmas morning with my my mom and sister, then Christmas afternoon with my dad, step-momma Lynne, and step-bro Jason, and THEN we come back to Austin and do a little Hogan Christmas with just me, Brendon, and the cats. It's always a lot, but it's always fun and always worth it. 

This year, I was sick. Bonus. I got a cold on Christmas Eve's Eve and am still getting rid of the remnants. Even though I felt a little rotten and feverish, it was still a wonderful Christmas. Thanks to my sweet family and cold meds. Lots of cold meds. 

So here it is. The Christmas marathon with all the photos. Lots of them. All in one post because I've got to work today!

On Christmas Eve Deb and AJ came over to my moms house for presents and fun times! Deb brought us all kinds of drinks, Mr. Hogan was happy!

My mom made the biggest totally vegetarian feast, it was very awesome. And delish. Two kinds of enchiladas, veggie chili, rice, and of course, tons of queso! My momma is the best cook.

Coolest hats ever? Deb got the boys little minion hats! They're so cute!

My mom won this round. Table ping pong, coolest thing ever.

Deb's traditional Christmas Eve PJ's! They were perfect! Why can't we wear PJ's all day long, they're so comfy!

We wrapped up the night by watching Elf, my favorite! We were all cuddled up on the couches together, it was lovely. Especially for someone who has a fever. (SORRY IF I GOT EVERYONE SICK.)

The next day Julie's boyfriend Casey came over and thus began Christmas morning! And Christmas morning means breakfast taco feast. Every year. My mom always kills it with the breakfast game, and this year was no exception.

I am generally, a friend of all cats. However, this little cat is not a huge fan of me. Like at all! Moments after this photo was taken she ran away.

After opening  presents, stuffing our faces, and playing a few rounds of Scattegories (ahem, which I won), we headed over to my dads house for round 3. Christmas at my dad's is always full of shenanigans, and animals!

This turkey is abnormally old and in his old age he's become a man hater. He hates men! He kept running at Brendon, trying to get the best of him. Pet turkeys are funny!

The cream colored 20+ year old joke sweatshirt reappeared. Brendon was gifted it again! This time with an addition of tons of cat hair.

Also, the spam made another appearance this year.

Truly how I felt.

After dinner at my dads, we headed back up to Austin. Christmas at home is the calm after the storm. Even though it is kind of crazy to come all the way home and then open presents, I love it. We get quiet time together, and the cats are there! Highlights included, a home brewing kit for Brendon and a Lego Millennium Falcon for me! And Elf on the Shelf!

By the end, as always, we crawl into bed worn out but so happy. This Christmas was so lovely. It's the saddest when it's over, but thankfully the year always seems to fly by, so before we know it we'll be celebrating again! Big kudos to my amazing family for knocking it all out of the park, as you always do. Seeing all you guys is what makes Christmas so magical. 

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday and the real world doesn't call you back too quickly!