Christmastime is Here!

December arrived, and with it, Christmas. Baby Stoker getting bigger all the time, and so was I!  February was seeming really close. We love Christmas, and this would be our last one just the two of us, which was both exciting and bittersweet. 

His little face!

Anyway, here are highlights from the season:

1. Our Christmas tree, of course!

2. Making an awesome wreath for our front door.  I'm NOT crafty, so I was so proud of this.

3.  Seeing Gary and Melissa as they came out with Ally's car.  Love seeing family.

4. Planning my company's Christmas party.  OK, the planning wasn't so fun, but the party was a success!  All were also duly impressed with Danny's Karaoke skills. :-) I decided I would really miss my work family, as I didn't know if I was going back after the baby was born.

 

5. Being pregnant with my good friend Brittany. We worked in the Primary Presidency together and so we would sit in the back all the time talking about our pregnancies.  This was #2 for her, so I asked her for alll the advice. Her girl came 7 weeks before my boy, so it's fun that they are close in age, even though we moved wards in January 2018.

 

6. Taking Danny to see Les Miserables on stage for the first time.  It was so fun to show him something that meant so much to me.  And he liked it! Extra cool that Jean Valjean was played by a guy I knew in New York. That's always fun for me.  It was a great night with my favorite guy.

 

7.  Christmas Eve, of course.  We took our friends Ashley and Leon to the service at Christ Church that we love so much.  It's always a magical and spiritual night.

 

8.  Christmas Day was great.  We went to Ashley and Leon's for brunch with our friend Katy as well.  Then we just came home and relaxed.  The only other place we went that night was to see the temple lights.  Danny had thought Christmas night wouldn't be crowded, but I knew better. ;-) It was SO crowded, so we didn't spend much time.  But I'm glad we went.  It was gorgeous and ended our day perfectly, I think.

 

9.  I found a coupon for a painting class, and it was so fun!  I loved trying something new with Danny as one of our last real dates before the baby came. 

10. Back in 2015 Danny and I made these ugly Christmas sweaters for a ward Christmas party (that everyone was dressed to the 9's for, but that wasn't our style). I had to see what the same sweater looked like in 2017.  Two years makes quite a difference!

11.  We finally found an Egyptian restaurant!  My Middle East nerd was so happy!

And with that, 2017 came to a close.  2018 would prove to be the most incredible year with our new son, and huge/difficult adjustment at the same time with our new son.  An amazing and intense year learning how to be parents. But we didn't know any of that yet!  So, onward, and we were on our way into the abyss of parenthood! Yeehaw!