In Mid-December we must make a trip to the mountains to find the Hoke family Christmas tree. Even though this is only the second year, I think it is now tradition. We also attempt to take some family photos for our holiday card. Below are a few we didn't use.
This is one of my favorites.
This is one of the photos we agreed on and used in our electronic version of the card.
But....the more important part of this trip is the tree. Wow, it took a long time to find the right one this year.
Then it is Layne's job to do the cutting...since she only cuts a tree down once a year, she isn't getting much better. It is fun to watch, though.
And it is quite a mess when she is done.
So, we get the tree in the house and have to make some cuts to get to look nicer...Heath just throws them on Sully and he just lays there with the branches all over him. You will see in another photo below that this isn't unusual for him.
December went fast, as it usually does. The club was going full speed ahead and then all the holiday stuff. We had another holiday party at out house. I remember being very stressed about squeezing it in, but it was really worth it. It is so nice to gather with friends and just have a good time. I think it is needed more.
So, I will start off with a great pictures of the girls...I really think they enjoy getting their picture taken!
Me and June.
Sonia, Colleen and Jess.
Joe and Nela.
Me and Layne...super cool.
Next up was our USAV holiday party, also another great time to spend with co-workers outside the office. This year it was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and was very nice.
Me without Heath...I think we had to meet there because he was busy doing something? Club probably.
He did arrive.
Heath and I by the beautiful tree in the lobby.
So...all of that brings us to Christmas morning. We, again, decided to stay in Colorado Springs for the holidays and not travel. Heath needed to be in town for the USAV High Performance Holiday came that starts the day after Christmas. It is kinda weird and lonely staying home, but the time off is very nice.
Layne and her surprise...she still doesn't get up on her own.
Pedro hanging out by the fireplace on Christmas morning.
Me and my snow shoes. The only sad thing about this is I haven't even used them yet (I am writing this on March 30.)
We went with the REI gift card for Heath...you can never go wrong with that.
Layne was kinda confused at first by this gift but very excited once she figured it out.
We were all going to Hawaii in March!!
Like I just mentioned, it is currently the end of March and hard to believe that our trip came and went.
At Christmas it felt so far away!!
We tried our annual holiday photo with Layne and the dogs...it took many tries and still this was about the best one we got. It was a good time with lots of laughing and yelling.
I don't have many pictures of our holiday meal....in fact it was just a lot of little things all day. As I noted at Thanksgiving, we no longer eat meat and our Christmas meal included no meat. I can't complain and I didn't feel awful after I was done.
This photo was taken the day we were removing the Christmas tree from the house. Sully was just laying in our way and ended up with a bunch of pine needles on him, so Heath just started vacuuming him up. He just laid there and let it happen....crazy dog.
I try each year to make the holidays less about the gifts and more about the people in your life. I think I am doing better about creating memories and such, but still buying too many gifts. I will keep at it.
