San Jose Christmas (i.e. Christmas 2009 Part 1)

I have way too many Christmas pictures to put into just one post, so I'm actually splitting it into three. I've been a little intimidated by the greatness of our Christmas posts, which is why it's been so long since I last posted. And currently I'm getting more and more behind.

We decided to buy an artificial tree that was on sale and that would last for several years instead of having to buy a new one every year. We absolutely loved decorating our tree and purchasing a few new fun decorations for our first year married. Our apartment was so festive. I love the holiday season!!

Another part of the holiday I have always enjoyed is the Christmas lights. It's just so sweet and romantic to read or sit under the lights. So after we put up our tree with lights, Mark and I set up our air mattress right next to it in the front room and slept out there for a few weekends. Here we are enjoying the glow of the Christmas tree.


We attended a fabulous Christmas party thrown by the Walton family. We were able to eat yummy food and hang out with fabulous people. We also participated in a white elephant exchange and we ended up with these fabulous gifts (definitely a bit geared towards me rather than Mark... we were sad to lose the Seinfeld trivia game at the last turn).


Another view of our almost fully decorated Christmas tree (sans the upcoming tree-topper star that we purchased in Utah).


We attended the San Jose Christmas in the Park party.


Mark is the cutest Christmas tree ever!


They had the hugest tree!


We each picked our favorite exhibit. They are so awesome because they play songs and move around. I loved the cute elves at Santa's workshop, while Mark (surprise, surprise) liked the tropical warm scene best.



Fake snow?! These crazy Californians are so cute.


Umm, what kind of rides are these kids playing on at the Christmas in the Park??


Then we had our first Christmas "morning"! Or, we needed to open some presents before leaving on our many travels because we didn't have room to take everything. First of all, we opened our stockings that we had picked out for each other. Can you tell that we love our candy? Aren't the stockings I found for us this year so adorable?!



We then opened the first of our presents that we gave to each other. We had so much fun picking things out for one another.