Christmas at the McClish House

Amongst all of the baby preparations we are doing around the house, Andrew and I somehow made some time to decorate for Christmas. I love this part of the year. We are partial to real Christmas trees and enjoy the process of going to the tree lot, picking out just the right one after much consideration and debate, then taking it home to trim. I think many find this a hassle but to us it is one of the best parts about the season.

Fortunately we also agree on how a tree should be decorated. I am not sure I could have married a guy who insisted we have colored lights on our tree. No offense if you do colored lights at your house, I think those trees are pretty too. However, Andrew and I both grew up with simple white lights and it just feels right to us. We love the simplicity and I am so glad we agree! Andrew does the lights and I do the ribbons then we hang the ornaments together. Perfect....

This picture did not come out as well as I like...but I think you get the idea. The other thing that is great about real trees is all of the extra bows left over after trimming the bottom. I use these on the mantle and they look pretty (IMO) and smell wonderful. Also, after Christmas I can throw them out and don't have to find a place to store yards of garland. Next year we will  have 3 stockings....just can't believe that still!

Since I am now officially on restricted travel (my OB doesn't like her patients leaving town after 32 weeks), Andrew's parents came to see us this weekend. Pat has been sewing some special things for the nursery that she brought and we worked on. They turned out beautiful and I love that Julianne's room is full of things specially made for her. I will have more pics on this soon, but here are some from our time with the McClishs.

While they were here they treated us to tickets to the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Texan. Every year they have tons of ice brought in and these Chinese sculptures come to create beautiful works of art out of ice. This year the theme was Peanuts or Charlie Brown's Christmas. Here we are waiting in one of the lines to get in to see the ice.

Once we got through the lines they gave us parkas to wear since they must keep the ice at 9 degrees. Fortunately they one that fit over my belly.

It was very neat and I was impressed with the artistry as well as the emphasis that was kept on Christ throughout the exhibit.

My favorite sculpture of all was the final room we walked in....an incredible ice nativity. This picture does not do it justice. It was truly breathtaking and surprising since I didn't expect the exhibit to be Christ focused at all.


More on pregnancy and how the nursery is coming together soon. I am really enjoying getting things set up in there for our baby girl!

Nathalie