We were a little late getting the tree up this year on account of our trip to Mexico the first week of December. We were also a bit delayed when we found that our water heater was leaking and had flooded the basement! Saylor was so excited when we finally got the house looking festive. The only hard part was that Saylor wanted to add all the ornaments to her toy collection instead of putting them on the tree. 
We decided to do our own thing for Christmas Eve for the first time. After dinner we made cookies for Santa, wrote/drew a Thank-you note to Santa, and read the Nativity from the bible. We also opened our Rudolph's (gift bags decorated like reindeer containing pajamas from Snow's Mom) and donned our new PJ's. It was such a cozy evening at home.
Saylor was so excited about Santa this year which was really fun. She was delighted to find that he had taken some bites of the cookies she left him, and even more excited to find the pet frogs that he brought her. It was a pretty magical Christmas!
We went on the trip with some friends from Tucson: Patrick and Erica. We had the best time! We visited Puerta Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo and I seriously think I could live in Mexico. At our first stop in Puerta Vallarta, we went snorkeling, kayaking, and exploring a private beach. 
We also sampled some killer fish tacos. At Mazatlan we did a canopy adventure where we rode zip lines all across this jungle area--it was awesome. I know something like that is totally out of character for me, and no I didn't sample the regional agave tequila before doing it--it was scary at first, but we all ended up loving it.
Our taxi driver took us to this awesome restaurant where the four of us ate for 10 bucks--again, I could live in Mexico. In Cabo we visited Lover's beach and did a little more snorkeling. This time Snow and I had shrimp tacos and they were delicioso. I know you guys are wondering why we were so excited about the food when we were on a cruise gaining 2 pounds a day. All I can say is that we have been missing Tucson's authentic Mexican food so we couldn't resist sampling the local fair. We also had plenty of time for games of Settlers of Cataan and Killer Bunnies. We got our groove on in the dance club, played a few game shows, did some sunning, and a lot of eating. Snow's big disappointment was when he barely missed winning a medal in the on-board putting contest. 
His defeat was especially bitter because the winner had gotten into the final round by cheating. Luckily he was able to console himself by winning the spelling bee!!! My only regret is that our camera ran out of battery halfway through the trip. We got a disposable one, but even photoshop could not rescue the photos that piece of trash produced! Anyway, we had an amazing time--I hope Santa delivers the same gift next year!
The actual day of her birthday was an eventful one for my family because my sister, Jan got married. Congrats Jan and Danny!! We still had cake and ice cream for 
I can't believe my baby is 3! She is such a sweet smart girl and we are so proud of her!
