With all the anticipation of the holidays, the rush to buy gifts and prepare for the celebrations its easy to get caught up and well stressed. This year there is a little more heaped on with the move and finishing my dissertation.
But somehow, we managed to get a tree, gift shop and visit ALL, thats right ALL of our relatives over three days.
Not gonna lie, going into Christmas eve, I had my doubts that it was going to go smoothly with all the driving and Isabel transitioning to one nap.
We ended up showing up late almost to every stop to accommodate Isabel and prevented an overtired toddler (aka disaster).
Was it relaxing for me? Not really but there were some moments of down time I did appreciate greatly!
Here are the moments I will savor:
Our Christmas tree
Watching Isabel marvel at our Christmas tree, it was small, sweet and perfect. Picked out by my mom and me and decorated humbly with her toys but every morning when I would turn it on she would exclaim "oooooh"
Opening gifts
Isabel opened mine and J's gifts' first. It was so fun to see her actually get into opening them. She had more fun opening packages than what was in them most of the time. I loved seeing her opening her stocking handed to her by great-grandpa. Sweet!
Adorable outfits
We went through 2 Christmas pjs and 3 Christmas dresses. It was fun to see her dressed up and looking like a doll. Seriously though, she could've worn anything and looked adorable! It did inspire me to dress up a bit more for the holidays and I have to say, I enjoyed it!
Precious moments with family
Watching her play peekaboo with my IL's on Christmas morning, playing bag on the head with Auntie Jackie, dragging her grandma, aunts and uncle up and down stairs in search of her fur cousins (hiding smartly under the beds) poor kitties! Watching her color with crayon and hit my sister's couch without even seeing my sis flinch (she must LOVE Isabel ;), watching her get fed dinner by her Auntie Jolene. I just love how she singles family members out and snuggles, hugs, plays chase or leads around the house. She is such a loving little girl and I am overjoyed!
Watching her dance
Isabel has rhythym. If you just say 'lets dance' she does, we clap and she bogies. Its the sweetest to watch and so fun its hard not to join in.
During all these visits I got a chance to sit back albeit briefly and take it all in. Isabel is transforming our Christmas gatherings. She brought so much joy to everyone she visited. Sure, I was tired but it was so fun to see everyone enjoying her and doing so much for her. Love Love Love, thats all I can say.
I look back to what I wrote about last year here and I knew it was best to stay home but it was lonely and not the same. This is the Christmas I was hoping for. Carrying on traditions, complete with stockings from my mom complete with clementines in it and new ones we are starting thanks to Isabel.
J and I are definitely stretched thin these last few weeks and we rush to pack and get through the holidays but he still found a way to make me feel special. He surprised me with a Kindle! It went over the budget we chose for gifts but it made me so happy! He really is a sweet guy!
Merry Christmas!
2 comments:
I LOVED spending so much time with Isabel this year!! TWO days in a row no less! And feeding her was so so SO cute. I was melting into a little pudlde of love ;-) And I was impressed Jess didn't flinch at the crayon too hehe!
I love how she singles each of us out whenever she visits. LOVED chasing her around the table and into the living room - the look on her face was full of glee and joy and I just wanted to scoop her up and snuggle her to death but I knew she was loving the play time so I continued on. :) And of course, she can color on my couch anyday, I love her too much to ever care about that stuff!! <3
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