Our First Christmas

This year was our first Christmas together. Getting married does complicate the holidays just a little bit, and we sure were pretty busy from November through January just getting together with family on both sides and endless family get-togethers, dinners, outings, etc. But we decided to spend the few days around Christmas up in Philadelphia with the Pham side of the family. 

We started out Christmas Eve morning in our own little home, and Nathan made us breakfast. I crocheted our stockings and set the tree up the night before, so Santa would come that night with Nathan's big gift. We had a nice Christmas morning, shared gifts with each other, and then packed up to hit the road. 

Our cute little tree

 Handsome husband making pancakes

 Nathan really loves Christmas. And I get called a scrooge (although I don't think I'm that bad). 

 Emily opening a few gifts 

 Nathan really, really wanted a huge lego set for Christmas. He made a point to go down the lego isle at target every  time we were there. And I don't think he actually expected me to buy it, so I think he was pleasantly surprised. His Millennium Falcon now sits proudly on his night-stand. 

 And we all packed up, threw Rohan in the car, and off we were. He's a pretty good travel dog, though--he loves the car. 

We got to Philly and enjoyed some down-time with the family, just being all together is always nice. It was fun to see another family's traditions besides the ones I grew up with year to year. Like for starters, not doing Christmas Eve dinner and just grabbing some Philly Cheesesteaks: 

 Yeah, that was a great idea. Although I got some serious crap for ruining my cheesesteak with mustard. 

Christmas Eve we spent making some Christmas cookies with the kids. Nathan's brother Josh is a chef, but surprisingly had almost no baking things in the house. So we made do with what we had, but let's just say the cookies were nearly all thrown away the next day. But hey, the kids had fun rolling out all of those candy cane shapes.

Mom still wanted to continue our family tradition of Christmas Eve pajamas, even though we weren't going to be there, so she wrapped them up and sent them with us. It was really nice still having that tradition, and it's one I want to continue when we have kids. It was a new one for Nathan.

Man I love him

Christmas Day we went to Aunt Nga's house and got together with all of the extended family. Nathan's Dad is one of 8 siblings, so get togethers and big and fun, with lots of cousins and kids. Unfortunately, I'm still trying to get everyone's names down and remember who is who, but that could take a while for me. Josh and Mya were picking up a few things and preparing Christmas dinner, so we got the kids dressed and piled them in the car. 

And seriously, doesn't Nathan just look so ready to be a Dad? Those three nieces and nephews in the back seat really do love hanging out with him. 

Being part of an Asian family is seriously so delicious--so much food and it's usually new to me. Love that part. 

After meeting up at Aunt Nga's, we went back to Josh's place and hung around until Christmas dinner. I ended up zonked out on the couch for an hour or so. Josh cooked some seriously delicious food--I definitely ate more than I should have and went to bed very full that night. But it was so, so good. And even better, we had leftovers that he sent us home with for the next two days.

And that's a wrap--Christmas 2015 was a great one.