Christmas Pretties

My Mother has the biggest and best collection of Christmas pretties you’ve ever seen. She always has a beautiful real tree decorated with an assortment of ornaments old, new, and homemade. At the top is the same angel my sisters and I used to fight over placing on the top bough. She has a huge collection of Santa’s of every shape and size. This year like most other years, Mom tried to cultivate a beautiful variegated poinsettia plant, and this year like every other it looked like it needed to be put out of its misery. She has everything but a green thumb with poinsettias. Every year my Mom goes out of her way to prepare beautiful homemade gift baskets for friends and family filled with goodies. Mom always has mountains of gifts for everyone, carefully wrapped and trimmed with shiny ribbons and adorable little name tags. She loves Christmas and all the preparations that lead up to the season. My Mom has tamed her Christmas decorating over the years for sheer lack of time and help since my sisters and I are away, but she never fails to put on a beautiful Christmas. This year was not unlike all the others. Thank you Mom, for always making Christmas magical.

White Christmas

A miracle took place this year on December 25th in Portland, Oregon: it snowed! We NEVER have white Christmases at home so this was an extra special treat for Addie’s first Christmas. There was a light dusting for the gathering of Mom’s side of the family. Everyone showered Addie with gifts and love. She especially enjoyed playing inside a big box. Before the gathering in the morning Mom and Dad cooked a wonderful breakfast while we played with Addie. Justin gave me a beautiful new Nikon camera (can’t wait to use it) and he loved his new Swiss Army watch. Gifts giving and receiving is too much fun! Addie fit into her Hokie Bird PJs that Auntie Brienne bought for her long before she was born. It was perfect timing for Christmas. The day was relaxing and full of love and joy. Just perfect!

Christmas Eve

Every year growing up I was giddy with anticipation for Christmas Eve with my Dad’s side of the family. The festivities are so quintessential with long tables crowded with loved ones; heart felt toasts, lovely odes to the past year by everyone including the kids. Speaches are given about everything from a favorite vacation, to welcoming babies, or straight A’s on a report card. Wonderful food and wine are served; and my cousin's houme is trimmed with Christmas lovelies. After dinner Santa arrives with his sleigh bells and big jolly belly. All the children sit on his lap and receive a present and a kiss. If you are older than 10 get ready to be embarrassed. This Christmas Eve was just as wonderful as every childhood memory before, only this time my own child was apart of the festivities. Addie played with her cousins and had a ball with Emme (born a week after Addie). She fell asleep right before Santa arrived but we still got a few good pictures of her on his lap. It was such a touching moment. The only complaint is that the evening flies by too fast and at the end of the night we have to say goodbye.

Christmas Vacation

We're back from our whirlwind Christmas vacation on the left coast with my family! It might have been the best Christmas yet. We spent loads of time with my parents who absolutely fell in love with their granddaughter all over again. We hung with Megan and Emily every day and played a few hilarious games of Pictionary and Apples to Apples. My parents house was full of good food, Christmas decorations, family, baby toys, laughter, and good times. It was so wonderful to be at home in Washington.

We didn't arrive until very early Sunday morning. The late nights and West Coast time were hard on Addie at first but she soon got used to it. During our trip we saw Alli and David and their gorgeous home in Portland, Talina and Pete for a movie (National Treasure-totally cool!), Heather for lunch and Powells, and all my family on my Mom and Dad's side. It was so much fun.

The vacation was fairly long with many good memories so I'll break up the trip into multiple posts. Before all the Christmas celebrations started Addie was enjoying playing with her Grandparents and Aunties.

Addie on Wheels

My baby girl got her first set of wheels this past weekend! Her Grandpa, Kathy, and Tyler came over to celebrate Christmas early with some homemade spaghetti with meatballs. They brought an adorable red, bright, noisy, music playing, car that she can ride and push when she starts to walk. For now we are pushing her on it and supporting her so she can push the buttons. She loves the car but it makes me a bit sappy thinking about her being big enough to scoot herself around the house on it. Yickes! It's all going so fast.

Christmas boo

All the simple things about the holidays are so much more beautiful when you get a glimps of what they must look like through the eyes of your child. I am so in love with my little girl.

Christmas Spirit

In the last two weeks our family has been getting in the Christmas spirit. We recovered from the horrible cold (picture of Addie sick-she's still adorable) and the computer hard drive failure (the reason for my lack of posts). Now we are really getting excited for Christmas! Justin picked out a Christmas tree this year for us on December 2. Addie and I were too sick to move so we put our faith in him to bring us back a tree worthy of all our beautiful ornaments and my daughter's first Christmas. He delivered! What a beautiful tree. It smells fresh and wonderful, the shape is perfect and the branches are strong. We decorated the tree that evening with classic Christmas carols on in the background. When Addie woke from her nap she had the tree to discover. She loves the glass ornaments that shimmer and allow the colorful lights to shine through. She's also discovered the bright colored wrapping paper and bows on the packages under the tree. With the decorations up around the house it was hard not to start to get excited. December 5 was the first snow of the year. I snapped this picture of the house in the evening before the snow really picked up. By the next morning there was at least 3-4 inches on the ground. It was a nice surprise. Apparently, it's snowed on December 5 in DC for the last decade or so. This year we weren't let down. We bundled up our baby girl when we went out the next day. Her bunny hat and mittens, courtesy of her Grandpa and Kathy, get many gooey looks and compliments from grandmas where ever we go!

In the area of firsts for Addie, she grabbed her bottle and held it herself for roughly the first time the other day. I say roughly because I know she does it often at daycare. At home she normally lets me hold it but that night she grabbed for it so I let her hold it. She sometimes misses her mouth and squirts milk on her face but she's getting the hang of it. She also cut her first tooth on Tuesday, December 11. Justin was on travel in Amsterdam and Copenhagen this past week when I felt the sharp edge on her gums. I was so excited I had to call my Mom and Mother-in-law to share the good news. Addie and I managed OK without Daddy home. We had fun playing in the evenings and I loved seeing her off in the mornings, but I definitely missed my husband and Addie missed her Daddy. My evenings consisted of frozen pizza and season two of Sex and the City (I'm late to the game on this show but absolutely love it). When Justin returned home on Friday I snapped a few precious shots of Addie snuggling up to her Daddy. I think after the week away Justin's heart melted when she smiled at him, he was a goner when she wanted to rest her head on him. So was I after he presented me with a box of chocolates from Denmark and a big hug and a kiss. I hate it when my husband is gone!

It's all about the holidays in our house right now. We've been listening to Motown Christmas thanks to Brienne! I am addicted to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by the Temptations. We DVRd It's a Wonderful Life which is officially now my favorite Christmas movie after watching it for the first time last Christmas night. I cried like a baby. I can't wait to snuggle up on the couch with some hot chocolate and watch the 3 hour classic again. The Christmas cards are in the mail (for the most part) and the shopping and wrapping is done! We even made it to church last week to give our good Lord thanks for all our blessings. Now we get to count down until we leave for our vacation in Washington.