Dec 31, 2014 | Holidays |
Every year at this time people are sharing their top moments from the past year and announcing their word for next year. Then there’s me, bringing up the rear with late Christmas posts. This year is no different.
We drove up to Massachusetts for Christmas with my family. I’m sure you’re thinking, “Traveling 20 hours in a car with a baby is the most fun I can imagine a person having!” I had the same thought. I set my expectations VERY LOW and expected 19.5 hours of crying. I assumed Annabelle would cry a little too. The whole thing went much more smoothly than expected. The baby cried a grand total of 30 minutes, thanks in no small part to the steady stream of crackers I handed her. She mostly cried in New Jersey but who wouldn’t cry going through NJ?
I spent most of last Christmas Day throwing up in a hotel room. I’m thankful to say this year was vomit free and truly delightful.
My aunt married her boyfriend on Christmas Eve. It sealed the deal that my second wedding/vow renewal/ Pinterest wedding will take place at Christmas time. (Yes, I’ll be marrying Christopher. People always tell me to clarify.)
Annabelle wore her fanciest party dress to the festivities. She considered it a dress rehearsal for her wedding to George.
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Suddenly her face is half the size of mine.
WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN AND WHEN WILL THIS NONSENSE STOP? |
I searched high and low for the perfect first doll to give Annabelle. When we got the doll out of the box and handed it to AB, she pulled it to her and kissed its head. Try not to slip on the puddle my heart made when it melted on the floor.
I bought this dress last Christmas before I knew I was having a girl. It’s too big but I don’t care. It’s 3 billion times cuter on her than I ever imagined.
(Just to clear the air- people have said, “Oh, isn’t smocking a southern thing? You are becoming a southerner?” The answer is a resounding n-o. I am not. Smocking, big bows, and love of fried okra are where any similarities between myself and southerner begin and end.)
Everyone says Christmas is so much better with a baby. I’m not going to lie. I thoroughly enjoyed the 24 Christmases I sat around without having to change a diaper, pick up puffs of the floor, nurse a baby or put someone down for a nap. But this Christmas with my baby and her baby was pretty special.
Dec 28, 2014 | Holidays, Sesame, Uncategorized |
A plaid Christmas dress. Could anything be more perfect? I don’t know why she’s not wearing a bow. I must have temporarily lost my mind.
No tears of our first visit to Santa! Things can only go downhill in future years.
All dressed up for her first Christmas party with A Soldiers Child. She wore sparkly shoes and the whole outfit was perfection.
Santa baby!
We bought this dress before I was even pregnant because I fell in love with it. My aunt got married on Christmas Eve and Sesame was the best dressed guest.
Yet another dress I bought before she was born. I can’t help buying cute clothes! I love this sweet little bald girl.
Dec 25, 2014 | Holidays, Uncategorized |
Dec 24, 2014 | Holidays, Uncategorized |
Random pictures from the night we decorated our tree that have nothing to do with this post.
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| AB’s Baby’s First Christmas ornament |
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Since we’re traveling for Christmas this year we celebrated our little family Christmas over the weekend. We started off by walking through the Christmas lights downtown.
Sometimes you ask someone to take a family picture and it causes a traffic jam on either side of you while the photographer attempts to figure out the camera. You end up with a precious picture like this.
The next day we went to see the Christmas decorations at the Opry hotel. I loved the poinsetta tree. It made me ashamed for having difficuly keeping my 3” poinsettias alive and thriving.
Occasionally a stranger does take a good family picture.
Found this cute baby over by the fountain. Wonder who she belongs to.
We did our stockings and let AB open the remaining gifts from the Solier’s Child party. She is FASCINATED by this Minnie Mouse car. She can’t believe we let her live on this earth 8 months without telling her about light up toys.
Dec 19, 2014 | Holidays, Uncategorized |
* tap tap* Is this thing on?
It’s no secret we’re a family who loves multiple Christmas trees. This is our fourth Christmas together and we’ve had 11 trees. We put all our family ornaments on the fake tree and choose a theme for the real tree. We have five threes this year which is a new record.
Annabelle and I put together a Charlie Brown tree for her room. I assembled while she tasted the box.
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| Keeping expectations low by giving her a personal tree with only one ornament. Things can only go up from here in Christmases to come. |
We put together our fake tree and as in years gone by, we had issues with the lights. It came lit but we’re always surprised that we have to add our own lights even though we do the same thing every year. I don’t know why couples in pre-marriage counseling aren’t required to put up Christmas lights together before they head down the aisle. It’s an activity that can make or break a marriage.
We couldn’t find the fake tree stand so Christopher said we could use the real tree stand instead. I said it wouldn’t work. He said it would with some cardboard and duct tape.
Look who was right.
Three days and one new tree stand later…
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| It looks like I have metalic curtains. I do not. |
The next day we went to pick out a real tree. I’m very picky when selecting a tree. If I’m going to have a giant piece of the outdoors in middle of my living room I want it to be straight, smell nice, not have gaping holes, and be symmetrical. Is that too much to ask? Apparently. The trees at Home Depot were only so-so. The trees sold in the Olive Garden parking lot were too expensive. The Walmart trees were pathetic. The Christmas tree odds were not in our favor. We went out again after church the next day and discovered that either everyone in this town goes to a tree farm or the people who live here have no Christmas spirit. (Based on the faces I saw last night while shopping, I’m going with the second option.) We drove around for over an hour and not a tree seller was to be seen. (Could I be making this story any more drawn out? Yes, yes I could.) Back to the place by Olive Garden we went. After a few deliberations and sniffing of trees, I we decided on a tree that fit all the requirements. It was bigger than we normally have but go big or go home.
It’s about two feet taller and three feet wider than we expected. It was so fun to put the lights on!
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I told Annabelle I needed her to sit in front of the tree to provide some sort of scale.
She had other ideas…like CRAWLING. OMG. |
I am now in love with our larger than life tree.
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| It has a “White lights only because we ran out of time to do anything else” theme. |
Dec 15, 2014 | Holidays, Sesame |
We had a busy Saturday. First, we dropped AB off at parents day out at MOPS. I was really proud of myself for signing her up because I still don’t love leaving her with other people. (Except on the days I want to break outta this house like a criminal escaping prison. Then I’d hand her off to almost anyone.) Christopher and I had a breakfast date then walked around the mall. In other words, we partied hard during our childless two hours.
In the afternoon I took Annabelle to a Christmas party put on by A Soldier’s Child Foundation. She wore the second dress in her Christmas dress rotation. It’s a real shame she’s a shabby looking child.
The party was held at a church downtown and a grand total of 800 children were signed up to attend. I like kids but that’s A LOT OF CHILDREN in one spot. Every family got a blanket, a book and a bag of gifts specifically bought for each child. I’ve always been on the giving end of these events so it felt extremely weird to be the one receiving. I almost didn’t sign Annabelle up for it because I felt so odd. Annabelle didn’t feel odd at all. She waved at everyone, pulled on the pompom hat of the girl in front of her, ate a container of apple sauce, and loved the music. Basically, all her Christmas dreams came true in one hour.
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| I managed to get most of our faces in the picture. My selfie skills are improving. |
I wish we could met the family who picked out gifts for Annabelle. They wrote us the sweetest card and gave us this big bag. It was so generous of them.
She opened one gift yesterday and we’re saving the rest for Christmas. Not that she notices there are more in the bag. All they needed to do was give her the gold bow. She played with it for 15 minutes straight.
