And the Christmas posts begin...

I am home with a very sick boy.  Hudson has pneumonia and unfortunately, it has gotten worse the last couple of days.  In addition to his pneumonia, he has also developed an ear infection.  Needless to say, our little Hud bud is out of sorts.  Travis and I were suppose to be gone this weekend in Vegas for a free weekend getaway in exchange for modeling for a photo shoot at WPPI.  We decided to pass up on the opportunity because of how tight Travis' schedule was and God knew best considering that we would have been gone while Hudson first came down with pneumonia. 

Back to the Christmas post...

I haven't posted in a while, although, I have noticed I am not the only one in the blog world posting about Christmas in February... So, Merry Christmas! :)

We love the smell of a real tree and the whole experience of going to the tree lot to pick a tree out.  However, a few years ago we bought a fake prelit tree on craig's list and we have loved the inexpensive option of using it at an expensive time of year.  Plus, we often travel at Christmas, so it has been nice to not have to worry about our house burning down. We plan on getting a real tree once Hudson is old enough to enjoy it, but for now we pull out the big fake tree box.

Hudson was very excited about helping:

We got Hudson a toy nativity set and he LOVED it.  The camel and the donkey were definitely his favorite part:

Travis played in a series of "Christmas Together" concerts with Jadon Lavik and several other artists.  They were so much fun to watch and they were definitely a big hit with everyone who went.  It was just nice to enjoy a night of Christmas music performed by several different artists focusing on why we celebrate Christmas. 

Our sweet friend, Amy joined Hudson and I for one of the concerts:

Since Travis and his brothers didn't get to go back to Ohio to celebrate Christmas, we decided to have a Collins' family Chrsitmas celebration at our house.  We ate a delicious meal, talked, laughed and skyped with their parents and sister in Ohio while we opened gifts: 

Hudson and I... and the fabulous deer sweater:

We also went to the boat parade at the Dana Point harbor.  It was a fun relaxing evening:

We spent some time up in Wrightwood with my family and we had a white Christmas.  It was the first time Hudson has been old to enjoy the snow as it was falling:

Travis even got Hudson to stick out his tongue to try to catch a few snowflakes:

Travis and I were the first to arrive out of all my sisters, so we left Hudson with my parents and headed down town for a date:

And it started snowing while we were out... which was just so much fun:

My dad reading a book to Hudson:

Hudson watched "The Sound of Music" for the first time.  I love that movie and it brings back so many memories:

Hudson helped to pass presents:

One of the gifts Aunti Summer and Uncle Bryan gave Hudson was a ball... and he was thrilled:

more Christmas to come tomorrow...