Why My Children are Driving Me Crazy and Other Pointless Rants: Our Christmas holidays when we lived in Virginia

2003

Our first Christmas in Virginia wasn't in Virginia at all. My little sister Jolyn got married so we flew home to Idaho for her wedding and to spend Christmas with family. Blah blah...no pictures...what else is new. Carter was a tiny (but humoungous) baby and Andrew was an adorable three year old.

2004

Our second Christmas in Virginia was in 2004 where we lived at our bottom of the hill apartment in Meadowbrook. Steve grew up with real trees and I grew up with fake trees...quite the marital clash. We had never purchased a real tree before because my mom is extremely allergic to the smell of pine. The poor woman becomes miserable with headaches and a horrible stuffy nose. My mom wasn't coming to Virginia this year, so we got our first real tree. Steve was in heaven. My mom sewed a bunch of scrap Christmas material together for me and mailed it across the country so I could braid them together and have cute garland. I made my own gingerbread cookies and dried orange slices for ornaments. It turned out beautiful.

We asked Santa very nicely to come a few days early this year because Steve's parents were flying to Virginia and we were spending Christmas eve and Christmas day in Williamsburg...their treat.

Santa did not disappoint and our little boys were spoiled as usual.

Santa even ventured into our scary basement and delivered the best train table ever! Andrew had only ever seen the display trains in stores where all the pieces were screwed or glued down and exclaimed as he saw the table, "Mom, the pieces aren't screwed!!" To actually play with the trains was more than this little boy could handle. Carter, I think, just made messes.

Christmas in Williamsburg was amazing despite it being bitter cold. We had never experienced humid cold before and let me tell you there IS a difference. I wanted to die I was so cold.

Our weekend in Williamsburg was beautiful (and cold) and we spent most of our time eating and enjoying the beautifully simple authentic Williamsburg Christmas decorations. At night there were huge bonfires to warm up by and caroling. We ate Christmas Eve dinner at a restaurant called Shields Tavern. Our reservation was for around 7 pm, but we didn't eat until almost 9pm This was not an easy feat for two little boys who adhered to a strict 8 pm bedtime.

My favorite part of dinner was the pumpkin soup that Steve's mom and I found the recipe in a cookbook the next day and memorized so we wouldn't have to buy the entire book.
Still have the recipe.

Sadly, the above picture is the only one I have from the trip.

2005

This year was full of Christmas festivities and we played hard both in Virginia and then traveled for a Dixon reunion/ wedding/Walker Christmas.

This picture was taken at our Meadowbrook Ward Christmas Party.

I love Andrew's hand gesture in this shot...he's getting his point across to Santa for sure!

Carter was not quite as comfy with the Big Man.

Another fun part of Christmas that year was the parade in downtown Richmond.

Notice that I am not pictured among our friends and family. I was pregnant with Colby as was not about to be cold and around people. Not much has changed. Steve has always been wonderful and makes sure our kids experience real life despite their mother's reservations.

Love my boys!

(For the record...we still have that yellow Oshkosh coat. All four of our children have worn it and the fifth will too. That was a good investment.)

The week or so before Christmas we flew to San Diego for a Dixon family reunion.

The weather was beautiful and the house we rented was right across the street from where this picture was taken.

While we were in San Diego we were sure to visit the Mormon Battalion Visitor Center. My Grandma and Grandpa Walker had served their mission there just four years earlier, and I had visited them with my mom and sister JaNae when I was pregnant with Andrew.

(what is up with me and being pregnant in San Diego?)

Andrew and Carter were big into the guns.

Cute Dixon cousins with Grandma purchased treats. Oh yeah!

After the reunion we flew to Salt Lake where my mom picked us up and took us to my parents' house to stay for the holiday.

I was put right to work...what else is new. :)

My mom gets suckered into making orange rolls almost every year for my dad to give out to other optometry offices for Christmas gifts. I was more than willing to help her out, but taking sarcastic pictures for my dad's benefit is just what we do.

We warned Santa that we would not be in Virginia again...

and he was nice enough to find us in Idaho.

Christmas was good- as were my boys apparently...they made a haul. So much, that we had to ship a few of their gifts UPS as we couldn't get them to fit in our suitcases.

The best part of that Christmas season was attending Spencer and Eden's wedding.

What a gorgeous couple!

My mom and dad kept Andrew and Carter for the few days we were in Salt Lake for the wedding, hence why they are not pictured with the other beautiful Dixon grandchildren.

Our flights were funny on the way home and we again returned to San Diego and spent the night before we boarded the plane to fly back to Virginia.

We spent the time walking the boardwalks and looking at the boats. The kids loved it almost as much as they loved jumping on the hotel beds.

2006

We stayed in Virginia in 2006. We no longer lived in the Meadowbrook apartment at the bottom of the hill, but had moved to one at the very top. (The flooding had "nothing" to do with it.)

Steve's brother Gary had a Santa suit that he brought over Christmas Eve that we bribed Steve to try on.

The kids loved it.

Even the neighbor kids loved it.

But...I think its pretty obvious you are not the REAL Santa Steve. Your black mustache gives you away like nothing else.

Maybe this kid could pass.

New Christmas Eve pjs.

Milk, cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.

He came! He came!

We have Idaho boys! Of course Santa brought guns.

Baby Colby

Andrew

Aunt JaNae sent the best gifts however. Spanking brand new Book of Mormons with the boys names on them. Still use them to this day!

2007

In February of 2007 we had moved back to the west end of Richmond. It's a long drawn out story that involved diabetes and a whole mess of other factors, but we LOVED our new town house on Thistlebrook Ln. Loved it. It had light...tons of light and there is no way I could have managed to stay sane in our dark Meadowbrook apartments dealing with a three year old diabetic. This apartment is the the apartment that both Steve and I stay was our most favorite place to live ever.

We loved it.

We loved our neighbors, Andrew's school, our ward, our callings...everything.

I don't ever think I had ever been as happy as I was living here. Maybe it had something to do with flourishing among our trials. Our life was the hardest living here, but the best.

But I digress...back to Christmas.

Steve once again got his real tree.

Can I just say how much I adore his love of real trees? He's like a five year old filled with Christmas giddiness. Needless to say, we will be getting a real tree in 2013. I've already promised.

Colby was not filled with giddiness when we visited Santa at the Richmond Children's Museum.

I promise nobody was biting or pinching him.

In this picture either for that matter.

Maybe he just doesn't like cameras.

These were the most darling Christmas pj's ever. My mom made them and sent them for the boys. We still have ALL of them and they have been handed down accordingly.