Yesterday we celebrated our first Christmas in our new home, but this whole month has been full of holiday activities for our family. Although the weather here in Southern Nevada may not align with traditional views of the holiday season, there’s still a lot of activities to do and plenty of Christmas spirit all around. Most importantly, we’ve been lucky enough to spend time with several family members (some of whom don’t live here) this holiday season, so things don’t feel too different after all.
I know I talked about it in my last post, but having Kristy, Beto, and Madi here for Thanksgiving and Ava’s 10th birthday was a great way to kick off the holiday season. We did a lot of fun and memorable stuff that weekend, then a week or so later Grandma Amy and Grandpa Tom made a bit of a surprise visit. Tom surprised Amy for her birthday by taking her to a couple shows in Vegas, so we met up with them one night and had an excellent dinner at Border Grill in Mandalay Bay. Jessica and I were excited to eat there because we’re big Top Chef nerds and the two chefs who created that restaurant were on multiple seasons of Top Chef Masters. The food was excellent and luckily for Jessica and I they had a Vegan Relleno on the menu so we didn’t even have to cheat. Elise then knocked it out of the park by ordering dessert for the table to share.
Another fun activity for us this month was our visit to Enchant at Las Vegas Ballpark. We actually had the pleasure of visiting Enchant in Seattle a few years ago, so we knew what to expect, but it was still really fun. We brought my Mom along and enjoyed checking out all the lights, displays, and finding all of Santa’s reindeer. Oddly enough we ran into our neighbors there, and they’re one of the families we’ve become closest with since moving, so that was a nice unexpected surprise.
Speaking of neighbors, there have been a couple of neighborhood gatherings this month and we continue to feel so lucky to have landed in such an awesome neighborhood! There’s so many friendly people around, the kids have made friends, and overall the little community we landed in is great. You never know how that’s going to turn out as a home buyer, so it’s a bit of a gamble, but things have worked out better than we ever expected.
Devin has also hosted a couple get-togethers this month, and luckily his brother Brian, along with his new fiance Jane, were able to come out here from Europe for a visit. They’ve been living in Berlin for several years but are currently in the process of moving to England, so it’s been cool to catch up and hear about that whole process. We’re planning on hosting a dinner at our house before they take off in January.
Last weekend Jessica and Elise ran the Henderson Holiday 5k race. They had been training for it by running in the neighborhood, and the rest of us came to watch and cheer them on. It was really fun and Elise was so proud of herself; she carried her medal around the entire next week.
The kids had a holiday fundraiser event at their school this month, which they enjoyed very much. I wasn’t able to make it but Jessica took them and of course ran into so many other families from the neighborhood. Apparently Enzo didn’t stop dancing the whole time, and he’s got his little red leather jacket on so he looks like Michael Jackson. I wish I could have seen it but Jessica said it was amazing. We’re trying to get him to check out a dance class and he’s not sure but I think he’s willing to try at least once. Hopefully soon…
The kids have been enjoying their 17 day break from school via various activities. Yesterday for Christmas Ava received a softball glove, bat, and ball, so we went out to the park in the middle of the day as a family to play catch and practice hitting. Ava actually commented at one point, gesturing up towards the beautiful sunny blue sky, saying “can you believe this is Christmas Dad?” There was a foot of snow at our old house in Snohomish, so 60 degrees and sunny is a pretty big change for us.
Earlier this week we took the kids to see “Sing 2” in the theater, which was our first family trip to the movie theater in about 2 years. Then on Christmas Eve we went over to my Mom’s house for dinner, presents, and a movie. She surprised us by having Chef Kenny’s delivered for dinner, which was amazing, but there was so much food that I literally haven’t had a non Chef Kenny’s meal since then. It’s really nice to be able to regularly spend holidays with Nana again so hopefully Christmas Eve at her house can be a tradition.
Christmas morning started early for us – the kids rudely awakened us at 6:30am and the madness ensued moments later. As they get older it becomes more difficult to shop for them, but I think they were all happy with how Christmas turned out. Some of the bigger presents include:
- A new mountain bike for Elise
- A hoverboard for Enzo
- A new bed for Ava – she will get to pick it out
Additionally, we finally got to break the news to the kids about some shows they will be going to in a couple weeks. Before even moving to Nevada, we found out about Katy Perry’s upcoming Las Vegas residency at Resorts World, and Jessica was able to get tickets. We’ve been holding onto them for 6 months now, but Saturday January 8 is the day. The theater at Resorts World just opened a month ago and it’s the biggest stage in Las Vegas. It’s supposed to be an amazing show and I’m so excited for Jessica to be able to take Ava and Elise to see it. Talk about a memorable first concert!
Since the girls already had plans for Saturday, January 8, I figured Enzo and I could go out and do something fun that same night. There’s obviously no shortage of options here, and he said he wanted to see a magic show, so I got tickets to David Copperfield. It’s the biggest magic show in Vegas, and I still have great memories of my Mom taking me to see Copperfield at the Paramount Theater in Seattle when I was a kid. I feel like it’s coming full circle now with me taking Enzo to see him.
We’re looking forward to the shows big time, but before that (actually in the next hour or so), our niece and nephew Anna and Kallan are coming for a short visit. They were in Southern California for Christmas visiting with Dana and Brad, but wanted to make the drive over to Vegas for a couple days. Anna turned 21 this month so it makes sense that they would want to come check things out. Kallan just made his first trip ever to Las Vegas about 4 months ago, so it’s nice to have him back so quickly.
I’m working on heating up the swimming pool so we can all do a little Christmas swim. I figure if I’m going to maintain the pool all year long, then I might as well heat it up a couple times in the off season. As long as you’re in the water you’re fine, it just takes forever to get it warm enough. It’s fairly chilly here right now, but when I look at weather around most of the rest of the country it puts things in perspective.
Although the kids are missing snow a bit, it’s still been a great holiday season, and the first of many in our new home. We’re really thankful for how things have turned out in our lives this year and looking forward to seeing what 2022 has in store. Wishing all of our friends and family a very happy holiday season and new year! Here’s some recent pics.
