Christmas....is there a better time of year? Is there a happier time of year? Is there a more exciting time of year? If you ask me, I have to say no to all. I'm seriously the happiest person between Halloween(time) through the new year!
So Christmas: The Plan went a little like this:
Get Christmas shopping done by December 5th (ish) and get packages ready to ship by that weekend
Drive around neighborhoods to look at lights and decorations.
Take Cara to see Santa and get a cute, possibly crying picture of her with him to keep for forever
Go on a lovely Hawaii trip to celebrate being so far ahead and de-stress
Come back, maybe bake something just because it seems like a good time to bake. Maybe even throw in doing a gingerbread house
Watch ALL our Christmas movies, and most of them with Cara just to start that part of the holidays
Take Cara to play in the snow because the first one is so much fun!
Make Christmas eve boxes with matching pjs, movie snacks, and a toy or something for Cara
Wake up Christmas morning, open gifts, see family, and just bask in the joy that is this holiday!
I DID end up getting us matching PJs...but no box with
Treats or toys
Our tree by the 23rd...we got SPOILED!
Setting up Cara's big gift after she was asleep
How cute is this? All the kitties were curious
Christmas: The Reality went a little like this:
Christmas shopping was technically done by the 10th ish, but we had to wait for deliveries that didn't get taken care of until we were gone so we had to wait until after our vacation to actually ship gifts out...oy!
I realized this one (driving to decorated houses) doesn't work with a baby who likes to sleep once she's in the car seat in the car and so she wouldn't really see the lights AND it would probably throw off how well she slept at night. This one will have to wait for future years. We did drive through our own neighborhood one night when she hadn't napped a whole lot during the day so we figured if she napped a little it would work.
We were so busy before Hawaii that we didn't get to go see Santa. So that only left us with Christmas eve weekend. It wasn't TOO busy (at the one place we went), but it was outdoors and started snowing while we were in line and THAT was when I realized Cara didn't have a winter coat (we just bundled her in layers) and so we didn't want to risk her getting sick so Santa picture is out this year
The trip to Hawaii was lovely, but we weren't as far ahead as I would've liked. But I did de-stress and that was totally worth it!
Baking...never happened. We had so many treats from early gifters at this point and, again, I felt like there was no time with all the shopping, wrapping, and shipping I had to do. I just didn't feel like adding to my list.
We watched a good chunk of our Christmas movies, and I was even able to sneak in some Hallmark ones...which was nice. I wish I could've watched more, but I realized that I wanted to do more with Cara rather than just being in front of the TV.
Um...what snow? We didn't get snow until this morning. And by the time we were done unwrapping gifts it had mostly melted. This one will have to wait till Winter actually hits!
Christmas Eve boxes I kind of accomplished. We had matching PJs and there were snacks in the house and Cara definitely has toys to play with, just nothing was put into a box and the snacks and toys weren't exactly new or anything. I'll tweak this one as years pass.
Christmas morning was magical (I actually slept in!). I got to live my dream of having Cara come down the stairs (with daddy) and walk into the Christmas Tree Room with all the presents, the fireplace going, and music playing. It was Awesome! However, I think it might have been nice to actually go see family (some did come to us), but all we did was Skype with most of my side. I think next year it might be worth driving out to see them all.
SNOW!
Blurry, but this happy face was amazing!
Opening and enjoying new toys!
We also played new games
While Cara got a comfy setup
Cute new Christmas outfit thanks to
Grandma [Taylor]
Cara seems very interested in the ball pit, I had a surprise carpet cleaner waiting for me (Larry totally gets how much those surprises on Christmas morning mean to me), and I got to see snow in the background (which made it easy to convince Larry that the fireplace had to be on). We opened gifts (including Cara who kind of opened some of her own, though she was more interested in ours, especially when they were bigger), paused for breakfast, and went back to gifts. We got everything opened by her first nap and she loved playing with her toys...sure she also loved scooting to the movies on the shelves and then pulling them off, but the toys were played with!
Oh yeah, did I mention: Cara is officially a crawler! We were playing one of our games this morning and I look down and she just crawled. Just like it was nothing. First thing she went after was the kitties. Last year Larry got to feel her move for the first time in my belly, and this year it's her crawling for the first time. Christmas is just so magical!!
This year was a bit harder...Not emotionally or anything, but more difficult to get everything I wanted in. I'm realizing starting new traditions is going to take patience and maybe you just have to accept what will work versus what won't. I know the ones I want to do (like the pajama boxes and baking) will work eventually, but I think I'll skip the vacation mid month in the future ;) Either way, I learned your first Christmas for traditions probably isn't going to go according to plan so you just have to take what you can and make notes on how to improve in the future.
Anyways, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!
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