I love Christmas and have the most wonderful memories of my childhood Christmases.
I was particularly excited about Christmas this year figuring C would be old enough to enjoy not just Santa and the presents, but all the festivities leading up to it. In addition to cutting down our tree and decorating it, we found pretty lights in the neighborhood, checked out Christmas in the Park in San Jose, baked cookies, wrapped presents and listened to lots and lots of music. Every morning C would wake up and ask to put the tree lights on. And throughout the day she would decide we needed 'happy holidays' and would go to the stereo and turn on some music. Ahh...warms my heart to see her embrace the traditions that mean so much to me.
J is a total sport about it too. While he'd like the Christmas CDs to disappear for good, he let's C play them to her heart's content. He is also starting to learn some of the Christmas tradition 'rules' such as family presents are opened Christmas eve, Santa presents are opened Christmas morning, Santa presents are wrapped in special Santa wrapping paper (not to be used on any other gifts), card exchange is not required, an orange at the bottom of the stocking, etc. The list goes on and on. I have my Mom to thank - she rocked out Christmas.
Lots of presents arrived in the mail from family and friends which we put under the tree. On Christmas eve (and the day before), we let the kids dig in.
Baby Alexander from the Ozols:
Polo fleece from the L cousins:
Matching irish sweaters from aunt erin & uncle matt:
When C was going to bed on Christmas eve, I tried talking up Santa..."maybe while you're sleeping Santa will come and leave presents". C thought about this for a few seconds and then decided that she did not want Santa to come. Who could blame her...a strange man coming into her house while she was asleep. I don't think so. She did tell me it was ok if he came for K though.As it turns out, Santa came after all and left presents - and trains!
Eventually we succeeded in redirecting C's attention towards her own stocking. After demanding to put on her doggy slippers she decided it was time to eat breakfast. At this point she didn't really 'get' that there were more fun things to find.
After pulling out a few more wrapped presents she started to get the hang of it and like most kids on Christmas morning, wanted 'more, more, more'.
After pulling out a few more wrapped presents she started to get the hang of it and like most kids on Christmas morning, wanted 'more, more, more'.Once K woke up, we ventured into the living room where the kids found lots of presents under the tree. C did a great job not only opening her presents but 'helping' K open his presents too:
Leading up to Christmas J and I spent a good bit of time discussing what Santa should leave under the tree...how many gifts, how big, etc. In the end, C got a collection of games and puzzles and K got his own baby & stroller. But a few of the cheapest and most simple were the favorites:
I must have been a good girl this year too. Not only did I get the beautiful yellow camera bag that I wanted but I got a new camera too!
Every year we struggle with the decision not to go back east to spend the holidays with our families. While we hate the idea of traveling 1. during the holidays 2. to cold places 3. with 2 kids under 3, we still get a bit sad being so far away from everyone. Luckily we were able to Skype with our families this year so at least we got to send everyone Christmas wishes in quasi-person. It makes such a difference not only hearing people's voices but seeing their faces too.
We are also very fortunate to have made some wonderful friends in CA. The GVZs came over in the afternoon to have Christmas dinner with us. We split cooking duties so no one was overwhelmed. And the kids are old enough now that we could send them away to play while we chatted at the table over dessert. Speaking of dessert, Janet made a pumpkin cheesecake that was to die for. Not surprisingly, the leftover pie didn't make it past breakfast the next day. Here is a picture of Norah & C after dinner:
We are also very fortunate to have made some wonderful friends in CA. The GVZs came over in the afternoon to have Christmas dinner with us. We split cooking duties so no one was overwhelmed. And the kids are old enough now that we could send them away to play while we chatted at the table over dessert. Speaking of dessert, Janet made a pumpkin cheesecake that was to die for. Not surprisingly, the leftover pie didn't make it past breakfast the next day. Here is a picture of Norah & C after dinner:
All in all, a wonderful holiday season. We are truly blessed in so many ways. Merry Christmas!
Click here for more Christmas pictures.
You look just like C (or vice versa) in that first photo!
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