This Christmas was the best. Probably I say that every year and that's okay. With her sweet and contagious enthusiasm for all things Christmas and Santa, Ella made the air thick with joy and anticipation. From the Elf on the shelf, to reindeer stories, Pollar Express, and the home-made paper candle/scripture wreath, we soaked it all in every bit and every day before Christmas.
Our paper wreath inspired by the beautiful Christmas message by Pres. Uchtdorf in the December issue of the Friend magazine:
As it's been the tradition around here in the past couple of years, we kept it simple and enjoyed the quiet magic of the season. With all the fun we had the days before Christmas, a little quiet Christmas was much needed. We had some friends over on Christmas Eve, watched Poccahontes, and had a great time laughing and eating some yummy Mediterranean food.
In the morning, we opened presents of course. Ella was over the moon with what Santa and mommy and daddy brought.
Then we spoke with our dear families in India and Romania and even did video chat with mamaie and tataie.
We also made a blueberry tart trying to copy the one that we got at the Mediterranean store and which was delicious. My sous chefs agreed ours turned much better:
After a nice nap, we saddled up (well, not really) and went to Sienna Stables to say hi and feed our horse friends.
Feeding Cessna, our newest friend and lesson horse:
When we got back to Sugar Land, one hour later the temperatures had dropped to 35F with high winds, crazy weather for this part of the world. The air smelled like snow a bit and for a moment we thought we might get some. In the evening we had Andrea and Shu over for Christmas dinner and some more present opening.
The day after Christmas was prep-day/cleaning and getting ready to welcome Hrishi's cousin, Akshay who was flying in from Colorado. It was great to have him spend a few days at our place.
We packed a lot in the four days he's been with us. We went back to Moody Gardens for some ice skating and sight seeing. The lights were beautiful.
Ella was so happy to finally try ice skating for the first time. She's been looking forward to it but unfortunately neither one of us skate or are very fond of the ice. Having our dear friend Andrea take her on the ice made a dream come true. And she did pretty good for a first time.
To her delight, she skated all by herself between the cones and wouldn't want to get off the rink.
Then the day after, we went fishing at Brazos Bend. Akshay never went fishing before and we were hoping for him to catch some nice fish (like beginner's luck) and see some nice big alligators. But it wasn't meant to be. We tried different spots, but no luck. The weather and surroundings were beautiful so we still had fun.
Ella enjoyed showing Akshay the ropes:
We visited the Space Center. Lots of fun things to do. We are definitely going back soon.
Went rock climbing, another first for Akshay and he did so great. It was really neat to see all three climbing side by side. Ella, as always, swept us off our feet with her awesome skills. Hrishi was funny, he thought the few lbs she gained during the holidays may affect her performance, ha-ha but they didn't! :)
She is a natural:
The awesome Ella and Akshay!!!
We also had a lot of fun at home. Akshay got to draw galore with Ella. :-)
Our paper wreath inspired by the beautiful Christmas message by Pres. Uchtdorf in the December issue of the Friend magazine:
As it's been the tradition around here in the past couple of years, we kept it simple and enjoyed the quiet magic of the season. With all the fun we had the days before Christmas, a little quiet Christmas was much needed. We had some friends over on Christmas Eve, watched Poccahontes, and had a great time laughing and eating some yummy Mediterranean food.
In the morning, we opened presents of course. Ella was over the moon with what Santa and mommy and daddy brought.
Then we spoke with our dear families in India and Romania and even did video chat with mamaie and tataie.
We also made a blueberry tart trying to copy the one that we got at the Mediterranean store and which was delicious. My sous chefs agreed ours turned much better:
After a nice nap, we saddled up (well, not really) and went to Sienna Stables to say hi and feed our horse friends.
Feeding Cessna, our newest friend and lesson horse:
The day after Christmas was prep-day/cleaning and getting ready to welcome Hrishi's cousin, Akshay who was flying in from Colorado. It was great to have him spend a few days at our place.
We packed a lot in the four days he's been with us. We went back to Moody Gardens for some ice skating and sight seeing. The lights were beautiful.
Ella was so happy to finally try ice skating for the first time. She's been looking forward to it but unfortunately neither one of us skate or are very fond of the ice. Having our dear friend Andrea take her on the ice made a dream come true. And she did pretty good for a first time.
To her delight, she skated all by herself between the cones and wouldn't want to get off the rink.
Then the day after, we went fishing at Brazos Bend. Akshay never went fishing before and we were hoping for him to catch some nice fish (like beginner's luck) and see some nice big alligators. But it wasn't meant to be. We tried different spots, but no luck. The weather and surroundings were beautiful so we still had fun.
Ella enjoyed showing Akshay the ropes:
We visited the Space Center. Lots of fun things to do. We are definitely going back soon.
Went rock climbing, another first for Akshay and he did so great. It was really neat to see all three climbing side by side. Ella, as always, swept us off our feet with her awesome skills. Hrishi was funny, he thought the few lbs she gained during the holidays may affect her performance, ha-ha but they didn't! :)
She is a natural:
The awesome Ella and Akshay!!!
We also had a lot of fun at home. Akshay got to draw galore with Ella. :-)
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