Christmas in New Mexico

We had a great Christmas. We left last Tuesday for New Mexico by epic car trip. I have never seen roads so icy and snowy but we made the regularly 10 hour trip in a short 15 1/2 hours. We were thrilled to arrive safe and sound and were even more excited to have Mom and Dad P and Brian awake when we got there at 11:00 PM.

On Wednesday we slept in, relaxed, and went to see Tangled again. I think it’s a really cute movie!

On Thursday we went to one of the best restaurants ever called Gabriels where I had some tasty chicken fajitas. We went and saw Tron in 3-d which seemed pretty long to me=) We made our way to Albuquerque where we went to see a local light show called River of Lights. There were so many lights in every pattern you can possibly think of. Here is a fun picture Dad P took:
I also really like this one of Sean with the penguins.

We rounded off the trip with a visit to the local IHOP then headed back to White Rock.

Friday was Christmas Eve which was a lot of fun. We mostly watched movies, played games, and ate yummy farmers caserole. We also had a beautiful devotional where each person shared some thoughts about Christmas or family. We sang some Hymns, Brian and Sean sang O Holy Night, then Sean played a medley of Christmas hymns. I even recorded it with our new video camera so I will upload that later.

When it got dark we went out to see the lights. In New Mexico they have these beautiful things called luminarios. They are made by putting sand in a paper bag then lighting a candle inside. Many of the houses turn off all their lights so the only thing you can see is these little lanterns.

This was one of my favorite houses we saw. I loved the cross in the front yard! I was pleasantly surprised by all the beautiful crosses and religious symbols throughout the whole town.

Christmas morning was weird for me this year since I am used to my sister waking me up at the crack of dawn. Instead we woke up about 8. I snuck out to the kitchen to get some cereal since I was starving and then went back to Brian’s room to eat while we waited for Mom and Dad P to tell us we could go out.
The first thing Sean opened was a new camera which we were so excited to use. His favorite gift was the camera and mine was a cake supply organizer thing.
Brian got some good loot=)

Sean was all wrapped up for me;)

I really like this picture of Sean and I after opening all our gifts. The pajamas were made especially for us by Mama Jo.

The tree was really pretty.

Some other highlights included yummy pumpkin pie, excellent lessons in church, beautiful piano playing by Sean and Mom P, great movies, and lots of sleep!

Sean and his mom played some beautiful duets on the piano. I think this photo is really cool with the reflection of their hands.





Merry Christmas!!