It's a Holy Jolly Christmas

Christmas in Tucson, AZ

 Hank surprised us last weekend with a trip to a nice resort in Tucson.  We really needed the break from packing.  We got all dressed up and went to an Army Ball on Friday night while his brother watched the kids.  Saturday we ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant then spent the day lounging around at the pool and shopping.  We ordered pizza and watched a movie in the room, then drove back for church first thing Sunday morning.  It was a really fun trip!

Hank and I at the ball.  I thought we had been to our last ball since we are out of the military, but it was fun to go as civilians.  

Since we're moving the day after Christmas we didn't get out many of our decorations.  We just hung up our stockings and put out a little 3 ft tree.  Since we didn't have any ornaments we decided to make some.  Jessica and I made these fun cinnamon ornaments.  We mixed 1 cup applesauce with 1 1/2 cups cinnamon and rolled it our like cookie dough.  We cut them out and used a straw to poke holes then baked them for 1 1/2 hours at 200.  We just let them sit in the oven overnight to completely dry out, then added string and hung them on the tree.  

Then for family night we cranked up the Christmas tunes and strung popcorn and cranberries on dental floss.  

Now we have a pretty festive little tree that smells good!  We'll leave the garland as a treat for the birds when we leave and we won't have to pack anything.  Whew.  Actually, I've noticed that since we haven't had much time to spend on Christmasy things this year we've had a really nice, relaxing holiday.  We've really cut out all the unnecessary things and the things we are doing are simple and bring us together.  After admiring our little tree I think that maybe I will have to remember this simple Christmas in the future and try to stick to the basics from now on.  Today we'll write a letter to Santa and soon we'll go visit him at the mall for the first time.  Our kids are young enough that we can really create whatever traditions we want and they won't know the difference.

Our plan for moving is to have a nice Christmas on the 25th (in a pretty barren house) then pack the truck and start a four day journey to VA on the 26th.  Wish us luck!