home for christmas

We havent stayed home for the whole holiday season in a very long time! I have also never been to Reno or Texas for Christmas. So this year we decided to do both. This was Finley's third time flying....she wasnt quite ready for the experienced traveler line yet though.

Obviously we are not very germ concerned parents. We let Finley use up some energy on the floor of the airport before our flight.

We went to Texas first. We flew into Amarillo and then drove to Pampa. This is a very interesting part of the country. It it very flat and there arent a lot of trees. You can tell that it was a thriving community at one time, but now many businesses and houses are boarded up. There was a lot of money in oil at one time, but when the money stopped flowing, people left.

Anyway, most of Bens extended family lives there, so visiting with them and had a great time.

This is Aunt Lindas house

We went for a walk to a park near Lindas house

We stopped at Henry's house (Bens step-grandfather). He wasnt home, so what other choice did we have but to pose for a photo in front of his house.

Bens other Aunt Linda was out of town and let us stay at her house. It was very nice and comfortable. Finley approved of the toys and the crib.

On our last two days, we went to Amarillo to visit Aunt Barbara, her daughter Damaris and family. We had a great time with them just hanging out.

The sunsets in Texas are lovely

We found some pretty lights on our way back to the hotel

Then we headed to Reno on the 23rd. After we arrived, Ben and I went food shopping for all the food we planned to cook. For Christmas Eve we had grilled rib eye steaks, shrimp bisque and a green salad. For Christmas breakfast we had eggs benedict with smoked salmon and for dinner we had a Christmas Goose stuffed with apricots and apples, candied sweet potatoes with pecans, brussels sprouts with pancetta and carrot cake for dessert. We also made egg nog from scratch. I enjoyed all the cooking and eating, but feel like I dont need to eat for awhile!

Gran and Grandpas kitchen floor

After that we went to a Christmas party for kids. Finley started to have a TBM (total baby meltdown), so we did not get to see Santa. We did get to see a brass band and lots of kids having fun after probably consuming large amounts of sugar.

At the party!

Gran bought Finely some adorable snowman PJs

A beautiful snow globe collection

Finely got so many amazing gifts from friends and family. We are so fortunate to be able to give her more toys and clothes than we know what do with (literally). Some of the gift highlights were a DVD player for the car, a Lampe Berger, some jewelry, slippers for Ben, kitchen shears & sheets

Finely saw her friend Makenzie and they had fun playing on the floor and sharing toys.

Finley got this sign for her Grandpa to put on his garage

Kenneth with his goose

Finley got her Gran this necklace (she did a lot of shopping this year). She loved it!

some family friends visiting with the Shryocks

On our last night we went out to a restaurant called Sezmu in Reno. It probably would have been good, but I was sick of eating and Finley was fussy. I would like to go back and give it another shot.