Christmas in Las Cruces

We spent our Christmas this year in Las Cruces, NM with Charlie's parents and our sister in law Cassi. It was a fun couple of days and we were glad to be able to go. Charlie took a half day at work on Tuesday and we drove to Scottsdale, then drove the rest of the way on Wednesday.

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For Christmas Eve we had posole and tamales for dinner and Charlie set up all the luminarias in the yard. Those are some of the Wood family Christmas traditions that come from living in New Mexico. Isaac opened up his new Christmas pajamas and we read the Christmas story form the Bible and watched a short video of the nativity.

Isaac in his Christmas pajamas with Grandpa Wood

We started out Christmas morning by opening all of our presents. Isaac had fun tearing the paper off of his first gift, but after he saw what was inside (a little train he can ride on) he didn't care about opening anything else! We eventually opened up all of the other toys though and he had fun playing with all of his new stuff. He was very spoiled with gifts from Dad & Mom, Grandpa & Grandma, and Santa. The rest of us got some very nice gifts too.

Isaac and his new train

For breakfast we enjoyed Cassi's homemade cinnamon rolls. They were some of the best we've ever had! And Isaac absolutely loved them too. Karl, Charlie & I all went on a quick 3 mile run. No offense to Isaac, but it was really nice to run without him! It is much easier without having to push a stroller or stop every few minutes to pick up dropped items or hand him sippy cups and Cheerios.

Cassi came over later to open gifts and we all got to talk to Kelly (Charlie's brother & Cassi's husband who is in Afghanastan right now) for a bit. Karl & Charlie put together a puzzle that is a map of Las Cruces. We had an early prime rib dinner, got drinks from Sonic (my favorite place!), and that night Charlie & I went to a movie while Isaac was sleeping. It was SO nice to have grandparents there to baby sit. Thank you again Janelle & Karl! This was the first movie we had seen in probably two years. We saw Marley & Me. It was good, especially since we have become such dog lovers... but the ending was just TOO SAD! I was crying my eyes out.

Carrie, Janelle & Cassi

Janelle serving Christmas dinner

On Friday Janelle & I headed out early to try and catch some after Christmas sales. We picked up a few things, but didn't really find any great bargains. Charlie and I got to go on another date. This time we went to Old Mesilla and had lunch at La Posta. Later on that afternoon Karl took us down to the University to show Isaac all of the farm animals. Isaac loved them! We saw cows, pigs, sheep, horses, and one rooster. One of the horses was very friendly and came right up to us so Isaac could pet him.








Saturday Charlie & I left Isaac yet again and drove out to White Sands. It is a national park that is supposed to be beautiful. This was my fourth trip to Las Cruces and I still hadn't seen it! Unfortunately, once we got there we found out that the road into the park was closed because it was "icy" (it actually seemed to be completely dry). So we didn't get to go very far. We didn't get to the true white sand, and the sand we did see didn't look very white next to the snow. So White Sands is still on my to-do list for next time we visit!

Carrie & Cracker at White Sands

We didn't make it this far in, but this is what we should have been able to see!

We came home and all had Robertos for lunch. Karl, Charlie & I kept working on puzzle #2. Later on we met up with some of Cassi's family and went shooting. I had been once before in college, but that was several years ago. Karl brought his pistol & his rifle and we took turns shooting at targets.

Karl & Cassi

Charlie shooting the pistol

Carrie shooting the rifle

Saturday night Cassi came out shopping with Charlie & I, then we picked up Isaac and went to see Christmas lights and get ice cream. We saw a few houses that were all decked out with lights. This one that does "Christmas in Cruces" was our favorite! They had tons of lights and they flash on and off to music that is broadcast over a radio station. Very cool.




Sunday we drove home. We decided to do the drive all in one day. That was a very long day. Twelve hours in the car and Isaac slept for a total of 25 minutes. Thank goodness for his DVD player though. It actually wasn't that bad, but we were definitely glad to be home.

The second finished puzzle

Thank you Karl & Janelle for such a nice Christmas and for watching Isaac for us so much. It was great to see Cassi too. We are looking forward to Janelle & Cassi coming to visit us in just a few weeks. And tomorrow we are headed to Vegas to see Chris & Carly's family for New Years.