Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Christmas Eve started with a little reenactment of the Nativity. Gwen loved being pregnant with the baby Jesus. Although, she was carrying a little bit high and to the left.

Christmas morning was filled with squeals of excitement (and lots of wrapping paper)

As always, we each had to pose with our Christmas stocking loot...

The most disturbing part of the morning was when my mom modeled the hat and black nightgown from my dad. Gross.

Later in the day, the extended Jensen family came over to exchange presents. The only photo I got was a picture of Gwen opening chocolate cake from her Uncle Michael. They love eating cake together!

More Holiday Fun

We spent several days of our Christmas vacation with my parents. Just a few of the highlights...


1. I love Christmas lights and I love seafood. Put those together and it's almost too much excitement for me to handle at once.


We went with my parents down to Gene Coulon Park at Lake Washington to dine on some fish and chips and to see the the lights. I've never done this before, but have always wanted to. It definitely lived up to my expectations!

2. Passing out Christmas candy to Rick's old co-workers at the downtown Wells Fargo.

3. Rick fulfilled his dream of eating at the Shakey's Pizza just down the street from my parents' house. He's been driving past it for over 10 years and finally got to try it. Really, it's just pizza, but since Rick is a pizza connoisseur, it was an important goal.

4. The girls loved being with my parents, whether we were out and about, or whether they were just at home, begging for snacks.

5. Rick and my mom bonded while making this t-shirt for Rick's brother, Andy. Gross, I know. And in case you are wondering, yes, when they were kids, Rick did in fact pass gas on a piece of bread and forced Andy to eat it. It's times like this that I'm grateful to be a girl.

6. The girls LOVED playing with Grandma and Grandpa J's dog, Emmy Loo.

7. Mostly, it was just nice being able to be with my parents. Isn't my mom cute?

Feeding Reindeer

One of my favorite new Christmas Traditions is to go to Swanson's Nursery to enjoy their Christmas festivities. The girls love feeding the reindeer, visiting the koi pond, and seeing if they can drop and penny on the electric train.

Another great thing about Swanson's Nursery is that it is very close to Larsen's Bakery. Larsen's is a Danish bakery and it is absolutely delicious. Every good outing needs to involve food. Am I right, or am I right?

Maltby Cafe

The Christmas season wouldn't be the same without our annual glutton-fest at the Maltby Cafe with the extended Bean family. Fiona, on the other hand, wasn't as thrilled to be there. Being the shy girl that she is, she chose to not to acknowledge those around her and escaped to a happy place.

Gwen is our resident social butterfly and did enough mingling to more than make up for Fiona's tendancy to be bashful. Gwen was especially loving Kirk and Whitney's little baby Brooke who had gotten so big since we last saw her!

Somehow I only managed to get a shot of Kirk ans Whitney with Brooke, although the whole gang was there!

Preschool Christmas Concert

Gwen's preschool did a little Christmas concert. Of course, Gwen was the cutest one there.

Holiday Lights Parade

We've never taken the girls to a "real" parade, so we were excited to take them to Holiday Lights Parade in downtown Denver. The plan was to meet up with some people that Rick works with. We got there early for a good spot and the girls were giddy with anticipation.

There were many people who didn't think they needed to get there early for a good spot. As the start of the parade drew nearer, people started crowding around us. The woman standing behind me was leaning on my head so close....I was starting to think she was trying to lend me her bosom to use as earmuffs.

For the first half of the parade, I leaned forward to avoid her. Eventually I decided to beat her at her own game and started to lean my head back. She didn't like that and finally gave me some space.

Did you notice that lack of photos of the actual parade? In all honesty, I thought the parade itself was average and the photos were even worse. But, even so, we had a great time!