merry christmas eve!

this is what our house looked like two weeks ago:

ripping up all the carpet and scraping the tile off of the entire house and laying new tile down has turned out to be a bigger job than expected. tomorrow is christmas and the house is still not finished. but... i'm totally okay with it. it feels right being here. and that's a good feeling. the first morning i woke up in our new house, it was so nice to wake up to the chilly air and get a cup of hot cocoa and sit on my ugly couch and stare out this huge window. knowing we no longer lived in that apartment complex, in that area of town -- everything felt so fresh and new. we have closed another chapter of our lives and have opened a brand-new one. and right before the new year! i love beginnings. it feels good. it feels really good.

i felt like a nomad for a little while when we were between staying at our friends' ben and erin's home. we were all over the place. seriously, we were spending $10 a day in gas just driving the three miles between houses. poor river -- naptimes were done on makeshift beds and between car rides. but we managed, and finally, we are here. and it's almost done. john took a break for christmas, which was wonderful, because i missed him! he has been working so much on this house the last few weeks, so i really needed him to pause and enjoy the holiday with us. it has been enjoyable. mind you, the entire ordeal has been stress-packed and cuh-razy, but like i said before -- it just feels right, being here. and it has been the best christmas gift.

we finally did it. last week, amidst the chaos of have our house still being "under construction," we put up our christmas tree. it is quite lovely and it's been cloudy the past few days, so the lights have been on pretty much non-stop. it will be interesting to see what our electricity bill will be next month.

river loves the ornaments. it's been tricky trying to discourage him not to take them off and yell, "BALL!" as he throws them across the room... without laughing.

this boy loves putting things around his neck. ribbons, necklaces, cell phone chargers. i never quite understood how a kid could strangle themselves with a mini-blind cord before river came along. let's just say all mini-blind cords are out of reach in this house.

today our friend james brought us san antonio holiday food -- tamales! and if you know river, you know he's not crazy about food. he'd rather nurse all day long. but this kid loves texmex!

guess what else has been an awesome christmas gift?!? our friend's mom gave this to us. as in, totally free. we were spending about $50 at the laundromat every month when we lived in the apartment complex, and now that we've moved to a house, the closest one is two miles away. she really has no idea how amazing this gift is.

a very merry christmas to everyone!!