Isaac's First Christmas!

Our first Christmas with Isaac was so, so fun! There were so many moments when I paused to realize (once again) that our family has been blessed with such a little miracle! This Christmas was such a contrast to last year's Christmas...though we had a great time celebrating with our family last year, we were in the middle of a fertility treatment and were really struggling as to how to grow our family. It's hard to believe what can change in a year, and we truly couldn't be more grateful for Isaac.

I'll try not to make this Christmas post too long...though there were a lot of fun Christmas activities in December...(starting with our visit to Santa).

A few nights before Christmas, the three of us drove downtown to see the Fort Worth Christmas tree! We thought it would be a lot busier downtown than it actually was, but we had a fun time walking around and looking at all the Christmas decorations. Hot chocolate was the perfect ending to the evening. We hope to make a visit to the Fort Worth Christmas tree an annual tradition for our family.
On Tuesday, December 22, we celebrated Christmas with my immediate family! My mom made a delicious meal of salmon (one of her specialities), and, after dinner, we all opened gifts. This was our first time (of what was to become many times!) for Dave & me to open Isaac's gifts for him. (I'm sure next year will be a different story!)

The first gift we opened for Isaac was a sweet little lamb from my parents, which had special meaning due to Isaac's story. My mom said that she had purchased this gift long ago, even before Dave & I were trying to grow our family. (If you know anything about my mom, you know that she had an entire dresser filled with baby clothes--all sizes and both genders--just waiting for a grandbaby!) After opening gifts around the fire, we roasted s'mores and watched "Anne of Green Gables" (both Bergstrom tradtions). Those of us who live in North Texas had a huge surprise on Christmas Eve Day....a white Christmas! This was our fifth Christmas in Texas, and the first time that we actually had snow. (We actually heard that this was the first time in 83 years that north Texas had a white Christmas!) Driving to the Christmas Eve service at Keystone was all the more special due since the weather felt truly "Christmasy!" We were disappointed, though, that Dave's parent's flight from Denver into DFW was delayed 7 hours due to the snow. While we waited for them to land, Dave, Isaac, and I had a great Christmas Eve at my parent's along with my Uncle Jon and cousins Nate & Anna. Dave's parents finally arrived around 11:00 on Christmas Eve night (after being rerouted to Austin)...and since they missed all of our Christmas Eve festivities, we made up for it with extra celebrating on Christmas Day!
After cinnamon rolls & coffee on Christmas morning, we opened stockings and presents with Dave's parents! Isaac's sweet birthparents had sent a lot of presents for Isaac...each one was individually wrapped, and it took Dave & me nearly half an hour to open them all!

Around noon, we all drove up to my parent's, where we had a huge Christmas Day celebration! After a delicious Christmas feast, we played games...Apples to Apples, Phase 10, and Rummikub. The highlight of the day, though, was definitely jumping into the (unheated) pool. Under usual Texas weather conditions, this wouldn't be quite as big of a deal...but the high for the day was 39 degrees (and the water was only 47 degrees). The charge into the pool was led by my dad...and followed by Uncle Jon and Nate...and then Emily, Anna, and I were in next. (I am very proud of the fact that I was the first girl in the pool!) Dave was last, but only because we girls needed a little "encouragement." :) We decided that this may need to be our new Bergstrom tradition! We hope that your Christmas was full of wonderful memories, too...though we doubt your memories include jumping into an ice-cold pool! ;)