Christmas Pictures

Christmas was a blast this year with Zoe. We had fun adding some new family traditions to the ones Mike and I had already been doing. Zoe didn't understand the meaning of Christmas but she sure could tell there was excitement in the air on Christmas morning! She had fun playing with all the wrapping paper, boxes, and her new toys.

On Christmas Eve we read about the birth of Christ from the New Testament, and Mike read Twas the Night Before Christmas. Earlier that week we went to see a live reenactment of the nativity scene at a lovely community Baptist Church and visited Christmas Town USA to see a whole city of Christmas lights (McAdenville, NC).

We also went to bed really early Christmas Day because we flew to Texas the next morning!The plan was to surprise our families but we ended up surprising no one. It was too difficult surprising anyone because of all the planning that needed to be done. We had a great time though!

Zoe, as we feared, didn't do too well on the plane. She has a hard time falling asleep in our arms which made for a cranky baby by the time we sent the carseat with our check-in luggage...made it through security...waited for the plane to leave...plus a 3 hour flight. We got plenty of 'Why don't you make your baby stop crying?!' looks. Oh well, we'll never see those people again.

Texas was great. We first spent a few days in Plano and Dallas then spent the rest of our time in The Woodlands and Spring. We still haven't finished unpacking (we got home Wednesday!) and our Christmas tree is still up. I think we're in denial that our vacation is over.

Here are some highlights from Christmas in Charlotte and Texas:

Zoe opening her first present on Christmas Eve

Zoe checking out her loot

Mike playing his air guitar

Zoe is exhausted!

Zoe and her new friends
(The dragon and pig talk/sing songs to Zoe.
She thinks that is SO cool.)

Zoe having fun with her new toy that connects to the TV

Zoe's first time at a piano

Cousins (top to bottom: Madison, Zoe, Jacob, Emma, Ethan)

Family Christmas photo

All of the bathtubs were being used. So this is where Zoe got to take a bath.

And this is how we rang in the new year. A game of Scrabble!

Some more photos from Christmas in Charlotte and our quick trip to Texas have been uploaded to our Picasa web album (in the Click Here to See More Ralston Pictures link on the right).