Christmas Day

We have always spent Christmas morning at the house I grew up in. When I lived there, we woke up super early, ate breakfast together, went through our stockings, and opened presents. Now that I don't live there, we get there early and do all the same things. It's the best. Sadly, this was our last Christmas in that home. It's going to be torn down in the new year, and the thought of it makes me really sad, so let's not talk about it anymore for now, okay??! I'm just really happy that Wolfie got to spend his very first Christmas morning in the home his daddy grew up in! :)

Speaking of Wolfie, he's really into chewing on water bottles:

And I'm really into him:

Every year, my mom bakes muffins for us in little flower pots:

But this year, there were also donuts, so I got a little sidetracked:

(sorry there's a hook blocking your face, Ivy!)

After breakfast, it was time to open some presents! We drew names this year. I got my sister. I ordered all of her gifts online (a little late), so I wrapped up pictures of the things she would be receiving in the mail. Haha! It meant that I could give her more though because I was able to get great deals on things! And who doesn't love mail??! (To read about the best gift I received this year, click here.)

(Wolfie loved the drum my mom gave him.)

My brother, Zachary, gave Levi a Nerf gun (the boys always get Nerf guns at Christmas), so they had fun playing with those. About five minutes after unwrapping them, they took them apart to modify them so they could shoot farther. Haha!

I couldn't decide which photo I liked best of me and Levi, so I'm just throwing them all in:

(Yes, I wore the exact same outfit on Christmas Eve...)

It was a great last Christmas in the Hunter family home! :)

Candlelit Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went to church with our friend, Ray.

Church was awesome. We sang lots of Christmas carols, there was a shadow puppet show, and we celebrated the birth of Jesus with tambourines and maracas. My favorite part was towards the end when we lit candles and sang my favorite song of all time, Oh Holy Night.

It was beautiful.

After church, we included Ray and my sister, Ivy, in our Christmas Eve tradition of dinner at a dive restaurant (think Coco's, Spires, Hof's Hut, etc.). This year, we went to Hof's Hut and feasted on extraordinarily mediocre food in the lounge, which probably hasn't changed at all since 1973.

Next, we went home and wrapped presents while listening to Christmas music... it didn't take long since we only had three presents to wrap.

Levi and I didn't exchange gifts this year since we went to San Francisco the week before Christmas. I cheated though and gave him a little teeny gift (the awful drawing you see represents the Radiohead decal that is coming in the mail for our car this week - told you it was a teeny gift).

Oh, Christmas Tree!

This year, we got a little 4-foot Christmas tree. He is so cute - all skinny and short. We had to put him on top of an old drawer to give him a little bit of a boost.

The fact that our tree is only four feet tall didn't stop Levi from dressing him in 800 lights. 800!!! Each branch is wrapped in colorful lights. I love looking at it without my contacts on... I can't see the tree anymore; all I can see are big, blurry balls of colorful lights.

Decorating a Christmas tree with Levi is a serious business. He had to redo the lights three times because he couldn't get them just right at the top of the tree. He also asks that we only decorate with one type of ornament at a time... so that they're properly spaced on the tree. Levi is a very laid-back, easygoing man, but when it comes to decorating a Christmas tree or making something look nice, he is so meticulous and OCD. It never fails to surprise me and crack me up. I guess I'm not the only perfectionist in this family.

I love this little tree. I have a feeling he'll be with us far into January.

The Nativity

Happy Christmas Eve Eve to you all!

I hope you're having a very blessed Christmas season so far.

Our nativity is my favorite part of our Christmas decorations:

And here's a fun little video on the nativity:

(Here is a link to the video if you can't play it from your smartphone on my blog.)

Besides the fact that my Mary has angel wings (I tried to rip them off... it's not happening), it looks like my nativity is fairly accurate! It doesn't really matter as long as Jesus is in there. :)

Enjoy the next few days leading up to the day we celebrate the birth of our savior!

december's here!

what a great way to start december!

i woke up to find levi and gretel putting up the christmas lights outside this morning.

she's such a big helper.

lily helped by napping on the couch.

(p.s. don't blame me for the hideous color of our window panes - we didn't choose it. our front door is the same color. i wish we could paint them so bad, but we're not allowed to paint outside - only inside.)

other ways we started december:

- drinking delicious cups of blue bottle coffee (one of the reasons we are considering moving to san francisco - all of the best coffee we've ever tasted is in san francisco.)

- coming out of the bathroom to find gretel licking the jelly off my toast. guess she likes boysenberry too.

- frantically studying for my french exam today. it's in 38 minutes. crap! that means i should probably be getting ready for school!

wish me luck!

and happy december! let's all truly embrace the season this year all month long.