Holly Jolly Christmas...

As I stated in a previous post, soon after the wedding, everyone started asking us about the holidays... even AT our wedding reception people were asking us what we had planned for Christmas... apparently it was going to be a big deal.

Lucky for us we have families that are awesome and understanding and accommodating and will to work with us on whatever worked best for US! I think that was important for me to remember through the process is that I couldn't please everyone and when it came down to it, I needed to protect my family first - meaning Aaron and I. I think the first thing we decided was that we wanted to spend Christmas morning just the two of us. We knew that when we had kids we would want to be a family during that time and so we firgured we would start this year and not risk the trouble of changing it later. So that was easy. What also made it a little easy was that my brother and sister-in-law decided that because they have 4 kids to haul around for the holidays that they would do one day with each family and not divide in the middle of the day. So they do Christmas Eve with my family and Aaron and I decided to do that too. So Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with the Mertz'.

The sad part was my younger brother... it was a really difficult realization that I wouldn't see him on Christmas Day. My older brother got married almost 9 years ago and despite the first couple of years where he and Nicole divided the holidays in the middle of the day, we have spent most of our Christmas Days just Tyler and I with my parents. We would stay up late talking and hanging out just him and I. This would be the first year I wouldn't see Tyler on Christmas Day! Luckily my new in-laws had the wonderful idea of inviting Tyler along for a Christmas Day evening event! We decided we would go see a movie and Tyler would come with us! Super fun :)

So here are some pictures of the lovely Holiday!

First stop the Thompsons! We woke up and went over to my parents for gift opening, breakfast, and some park time! I mainly got pictures of the present opening, but it was a lovely day at the park too so in your mind's eye imagine the sun shining, boys playing basketball and the the little girls sliding down both park slides over and over again.

Mr Mertz & I

The girls opened their gifts first so they wouldn't have to be bored with our present opening. They got the mother load of gifts! A Barbie House from Uncle Tyler, PJs and baby dolls from my parents...

Emolyn got a chalk board from Uncle Aaron and I! And Elsie got a piggy-bank filled with money... she had asked specifically for "money dolla's"

The theme of gift giving this year was Charity! We decided last year after I bought my whole family charity based gifts that we would start a gift exchange this year and only give gifts that gave back as well! Some highlights:

- Shawn got my mom a ring with dried forget-me-nots in it (like a locket, but a ring). It was for an alzheimer's foundation! She cried and cried of course because he dad pass away from Alzheimer's a few years ago right before Christmas.
- Nicole got Tyler a Tshirt made out of recycled plastic bottles - seriously it sounds weird, but it is the most comfortable shirt ever! She also got him headphones that also went to giving hearing to people who are deaf from ear injuries!
- I gave Shawn a To Write Love on her Arms shirt... and Nicole ended up getting him the same one. haha

Jonah & Nathan are now not the only twins in the family!

Emolyn and Elsie quickly took to the chalkboard!

Tyler had to work on Christmas Eve, so he left at 12p. After Shawn and Nicole left with the kiddos to put them to bed at home, my parents, Aaron and I went over to see Tyler and take him dinner, then Aaron and I went home for the night!


Next morning was our first ever lil' Mertz family Christmas!!!! I was looking forward to sleeping in a bit, but my husband was an excited boy and woke me up early too excited to wait any longer to give me my presents! We sat in front of the Christmas tree and gave each other our first Christmas gifts as husband and wife!

We did good this year! Aaron got me the entire Harry Potter BlueRay set! He also got me PJs and tons of snacks in my stocking!! I got him a keurig and a watch along with a wallet and legos and other fun treats in his stocking!

After we finished gift opening, we got dressed and ready and headed over to his parents house :) Three sets of gifts! I like this married business on Christmas :)

Me, Aaron, Ashley, and Jess!

So many fun gifts - Manicure/Pedicure gift certificate, jewelry from Ashley from her trip to Ghana, Christmas decorations, and much much more! We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the house and then we headed over to Aaron's grandma's house with the Mertz extended family. Such a big family!!!

Tyler met us there to go to the Christmas Day late night movie! We were planning to see Les Miserables, but when we got to the theater it was already sold out :( Instead we decided to see the last Twilight movie - Breaking Dawn 2. Jess was gonna kill us for making him sit through it! haha! The rest of us loved it and by "loved it" I mean it was beyond awesome, but so fun to laugh through!

All in all a great Christmas!

Christmas time is here...

Alright, lets get this going! Christmas is next!

Aaron and I returned home from Mexico on a Saturday, late at night, so Sunday was a full day free to get into the Christmas spirit! It is difficult to go from the tropical temperatures and sandy beaches of Mexico to a rainy wintery December day in Phoenix... but I was ready. It was breaking my heart to not fully deck our little home with Christmas decor and holiday spells!

So we woke up Sunday morning and first stop was breakfast and Christmas Tree hunting!

We had breakfast near our house at the always delicious Vovomeena! If you have not eaten here in Phoenix, check it out! Their biscuits and bacon are my favorite!

After breakfast we headed straight over to Home Depot & Lowes to check out their selection. I have not had a real Christmas Tree at Christmas since I was very young. My family got a fake tree when I was about 5 years old, and ever since then we have had the fake tree. Aaron's family grew up with real trees... and while there are pros and cons to both, I was excited most have my house smell like a Christmas Tree!

We finally settled on this little beauty!

We got it home and started decorating! We had decorated my parents' Christmas tree before we left for Mexico and Aaron had marveled at how my dad could string Christmas lights on a tree like no one else. Believing it was a genetic gift and that I had the same talent my nature, he entrusted me to light our tree!

Aaron and I had quite a fun time getting out all our holiday stuff and combining it! I had two strands of lights that blinked and twinkled and he had 2 strands that shone without blinking... so we put all four on the tree!

In the back of the above picture, you can see the fireplace decor... brand new stockings from Target (Aaron's was red and mine is white). My mom had given me flannel stuffed letters for my birthday (A & M) and so we tied them to the stockings. On the mantel you can also see my beginning collection of Christmas Trees. My sister in law Nicole has an AMAZING collection and I hope to one day have some like hers with all different colors.

The tree took an afternoon of ornament decorating and then the following night we made a popcorn and cranberry garland to wrap around it and it was done :) I have never made a popcorn & cranberry garland and it was super fun! Maybe a new tradition?
And what holiday movie did we watch as we decorated our tree? The Avengers... ok not Christmasy, but still AWESOME!

The finished product!

Christmas time is officially here!


My family also gets together before Christmas to decorate Christmas cookies!! We had a facebook contest this year about who's cookie was best:

From top left: 1.)Shawn's "The Cruncher" (basically frosting and every sprinkle that can fit on the frosting and topped with more frosting; 2.) Tyler's "The Patriot Mitten"; 3.) My "Sparkly Candy Cane"; 4.) Aaron's "contrast Candy Cane". - Seriously the Mertz family did not bring our "A" game... aside from the awesome photo bomb by Aaron.

In reality the decorating was more for Emolyn and she was SO in the zone! She would decorate and eat all her creations with delight. Elsie on the other hand didn't understand why we needed to waste time putting the frosting on the cookie with style and so she would just throw some frosting on and chow down.
Fine family fun indeed :)

The weekend before Christmas Elisabeth and I went on our traditional Christmas lights tour! It is a self guided tour,  where we get neighborhood information off the web for our city and then drive around with warm drinks and Christmas music and look at lights.

This house was intense! so many lights!

While we were looking at the house above and taking pictures like the one below, a cop showed up at the house...  he rolled down his window and asked us if it was our house... feeling a bit nervous, Elisabeth and I said no. The cop then just looks at the house and says "its awesome! My partner and I are just driving around looking at lights." He then proceeds to talk about all the neighborhoods that have the best lights... nice to know our policemen are using their time wisely!

There were some pretty stellar neighborhoods this year. Some had movies showing in their drive way with seating, a popcorn machine, and hot drinks. Some houses had photo opportunities set up in their yard for visitors... like the one below.

Elisabeth and I made a promise a couple years ago that regardless of whether we were married or had kids, we would still carry on this tradition with each other with just the two of us... I love my time with Elisabeth!



Another Holiday tradition that was started this year was the "Kids Of Rice Night" or KORN as we affectionally started calling it. My parents for years have taken us to "Rice Night" which was started by friends of theirs - Steve and Grace. The premise of the night is for each couple or person to bring a holiday dish that they grew up eating at Christmas. The rice that gave the party its name, is slow cooked sweet rice with butter and cinnamon/sugar on top. My mom would always make Swedish Meatballs and other people would bring wonderful delicious food for the night and it was great! But this year Shawn and Nicole decided to start a party for all of us kids to use to go to Rice Night... so we gathered at Shawn and Nicole's house and brought food, ate Baja Fresh tacos and hung out! We joked about doing it again next year but trying to incorporate KORN stuff into it... no idea how this might play out, but I am excited for the tradition to keep going!

picture taken my Amy Lynch

The last thing we did to celebrate Christmas before the big day was take Emolyn ice skating!!!! This was actually Aaron's idea because he would see the Downtown Phoenix skating rink every day and thought it would be fun to take Emolyn. When we told Em what we were doing she very sweetly tells me, "Aunt Miranda, I think I know how to skate already." - haha... we'll see.

We took her to lunch at Chelsea's Kitchen across the rink and let Emolyn order herself what she wanted. She was so delighted that she got to order herself. After lunch we walked over and got our skates and got on the ice. You could tell from the moment Emolyn stood up in her skates that this was not what she had expected, but she was FANTASTIC! She was so brave and while we took a lot of breaks, she was willing to continue to get out on the ice and try it again. We mainly just stuck by the gates to the sitting area going back and forth while she held mine and Aaron's hand. Aaron and I also got to take turns getting out on the ice the 2 of us and speed around the rink. It was a blast!
The day finished with Emolyn and us at home with hot chocolate and a movie and then back to Emolyn's house. Definitely a fun memory for the 3 of us!

Next post... CHRISTMAS!