Christmas break was in Texas this year and was a blast. We loved seeing the Ellsworths and enjoying time off from school. The weather was really nice, too. A little rainy at first, but later sunny and so warm and nice (except for those few eerie foggy nights).

Anyway, let’s start with pictures!

First of all, isn’t he just the cutest baby ever?

 We sure think so.

Carson did awesome on the plane ride home from Houston, but he didn’t do so hot getting out there. We don’t blame him: it was a long day of travel with a five-hour layover in Denver (turns out we’ll do about anything for the cheapest fares). It was a long day for Carson and all of us, but we all survived. Here’s Carson on the first leg of the journey.

Carson also got his first haircut over the break. Nothing major, he just had some long stringy pieces that I trimmed. I’ve never cut anyone’s hair in my life, but I don’t think I messed up.

I got a haircut, too, from my sister Brenn. Well really, like 4 haircuts. She would cut it, and we’d both say, “Let’s go a little shorter.” Then she’d cut it again the next day or so. It was fun, and now I’m a whole new me! I’m liking the short hair.

We really liked seeing family over the break. Carson gave us lots of good laughs, especially for grandma, who just can’t wait until he can talk and play.

Carson also met his great grandma, my mom’s mom. We went to visit her at her new house in Houston.

There Carson also met Aunt Melissa, our number one blog fan. :) Thanks for always being the first to comment, Melissa! Melissa’s five-year-old son Byron got some great laughs out of Carson, too. Also, Byron is a Star Wars fan, and we are Byron fans. Yeah, Byron, Star Wars rocks!

Below: Mom and Jennie at Grandma’s house (and a great photobomb by Brenn).

And finally, we had one awesome sushi night, our last night in Texas. It’s kind of become a tradition when we all go home to make homemade sushi. This sushi night was probably the best of them all. I mean, look at all this deliciousness. We went all out. One of the best parts is how everyone gets to name the sushi roll they make. (My favorite name was Brenn’s Rick Asltey roll…get it? Rickroll!) We even had homemade fortune cookies by Jennie. (Yes, I fully realize that sushi is Japanese and fortune cookies are…well, American wanna-be Chinese, but, hey. Perhaps our sushi nights aren’t the most authentic, but they sure are tasty.)

It was a great, wonderful break. Very relaxing. And Christmas morning with Carson was probably the best of all. Even though he’s too young to do much besides grab for the pretty wrapping paper, having a kid on Christmas changes everything and makes it so much more special and fun.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s too!