Christmas 2014.

This was our very first Christmas spent just the two of us... not going to lie, we were feeling pretty darn lonely.

Sometimes I feel like such a loser up here in Oregon. We don't have any family and only have a small handful of friends... It's kind of sad! I'm from such a huge family and have always had a group of close friends, so I'm used to being surrounded by people that I love. I miss UTAH!

This was taken a few years ago, but it's probably my favorite Christmas picture ever :)

Anyway, we were supposed to go to Texas to visit Landon's family for Christmas, but the flights were just way too much and we couldn't justify spending over a grand on plane tickets. Such a bummer! 

On top of being alone for Christmas, we didn't get each other any presents. We decided back in June when we booked our big cruise that it was our Christmas present to ourselves. Traveling is expensive and the only way we could justify spending all that money was to not spend more money on Christmas presents. 

No presents, no family, no friends.... pretty pathetic huh?

Honestly, a fair share of tears were shed on my end. Being away from family is always hard, but it's especially hard around the holidays. 

But, we really tried to make the most of it and not wallow in self-pity. And guess what? It ended up being a very memorable and special Christmas!

We took our boat out on the Columbia to watch the Christmas Ships Parade. It was POURING rain, so I couldn't get very many pictures but we had fun! We brought our "Cocoa Latte" and made some yummy hot chocolate and blasted our Christmas music as we watched the ships do their thing on the river. It's so cute! 

 You can kind of see the boats in the background... just blobs of light :)

We ate a lot of Christmas candy, fudge, and cookies. I am not trying to boast, but I promise I make the best chocolate chip cookies you'll ever have ;) Haha! The secret is to add extra flour people! No one likes a flat, crispy cookie! Santa ate all six cookies that I left out for him, which is a pretty big deal to get Santa's stamp of approval ;) 

On Christmas Eve we watched It's a Wonderful Life (I cry every single time. It's just SO good!), went on our walk, and stayed up late talking, snuggling, and watching more movies. It's the absolute best to have nothing to do and spending time together like that :)

On Christmas morning we slept in until 9:30! And then we laid in bed for another hour...it was SOOO relaxing! I love having "bed mornings" as I like to call them. We really need to live up these lazy mornings because they are numbered... I hear that kids don't like to sleep in. Darn it!

I wanted to make a nice breakfast, which ended up being pancakes and chocolate milk. No eggs or bacon, but we were happy with it :)

We had a few presents to open from my parents, which was really fun and so nice of them! Suzette had presents waiting for us in Texas, so I know she felt bad but we told her NOT to send them and waste all that money in postage. She's such a sweetie and we wish we could've been there to spend Christmas with Landon's family! Daren also sent us a VERY generous gift too! We are so lucky to have such amazing parents!! THANK YOU!!!! :D

We got to Skype with family which was a huge highlight of our day.

my oldest niece, Savannah! I can't believe she's a JUNIOR this year

The boys' favorite part of the day was their Christmas present--a rawhide bone each :) I love how Henry holds it with his paws.

After chatting with family we went to see The Imitation Game. Oh my gosh, it was SO good. We both loved it! We never, ever pay to go to the movies, but we decided we would go to make Christmas more special :)

We got to the movie theater about 45 minutes before it started, because Oregon doesn't do reserved seats like they do in all the Utah theaters. We ended up sitting pretty close to the front, but it wasn't too bad. Since we got there so early, Landon had the idea to bring a game--Boss Monsters. We're such nerds but it was so fun and really helped the time go by fast :)

For dinner we had honey mustard salmon, red lobster rolls (the mix is at Costco and they're AMAZING!) green beans, and caesar salad. That's my idea of a perfect meal!

We finished the day with Muppet Christmas Carole :) And I forgot to mention, I call myself "Hannah Claus" 

I will never, ever forget Christmas 2014! It started out super crappy and feeling terribly lonely and upset, but ended up being one of my most favorite Christmases (spelling?!) EVER. It was simple, relaxing, and since we didn't have parties or many presents we were really able to focus on the things that matter most :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and hope that next year we actually get to spend it with our families :)

P.S. I have been their mama for TWO years this Christmas! They're my Christmas puppies :)

P.P.S. It was SO funny to watch them with our little Elf. They were so scared at first and then they showed it who was boss... and actually chewed off his thumb. Woops!