This was such a special holiday season for us. Everything seemed to go so quickly that I really had to make myself stop, slow down, and enjoy it in the moment. Nick didn't really understand what was going on with all the decorations, Christmas music, Santa Claus and presents. I think next year he will understand much more which will make it more fun for him. Its been a while since I've posted, but I'll try to give a rundown of the highlights of the past two weeks.
For us, I think the season really kicked in the weekend before Christmas. That Friday, I left work early to attend the Christmas Party at Nick's daycare. I'm glad I went as it was nice to see Nick interact with the other kids. I was hoping to meet some of the other parents but that didn't really happen, mainly because there weren't many parents there. The minute I got there Nick started showing off, for my benefit I think. It was slightly strange and I was glad to leave and go home to enjoy the last weekend before Christmas.
On Saturday morning Bill, Nick and I went out Christmas shopping. It was fun and festive and we were very efficient (we bought in every store we went it, Bills words BTW!). We were able to get most of the Christmas gifts for Bill's family and some for mine. Nick is good for shopping for about 2 hours, so I went back out Saturday afternoon alone. This time the shopping was frustrating and the traffic was crazy. I was completely unsuccessful which meant that I would be out shopping Christmas Eve. Oh well, whats a girl to do?
I spent most of Sunday finishing decorating the house and cleaning in preparation for lots of company. Bill spent the day making 2 lasagnes for a dinner party and cooking a special Georgian (Russian) dinner of Khatchapuri (a bread stuffed with salty cheese) and a Spicy Georgian Pork Stew. While in Moscow we really enjoyed the Georgian restaurants we visited and the dinner Bill made was fantastic. It brought back so many memories from our trip. Nick loved the Khatchapuri so that will definitely be on his rotation for meals. We are going to make the Georgian meal a pre-Christmas tradition!
On the Tuesday before Christmas we participated in a progressive dinner with our neighborhood friends and had about 20 people at our house for the dinner portion of the evening. It was fun to have everyone at the house and the dinner was a great success. In retrospect, hosting a large dinner party two days before Christmas, on a day that both Bill and I were working, on the night before another workday, probably wasn't the best call. Oh well, live and learn.
The net result of all the pre-Christmas activity was that I ended up having to leave work on Christmas Eve at 11am to do my Christmas shopping for Bill and Nick. I usually do my Christmas shopping late in the season, but I can't remember being so far behind, so late in the game. Somehow, it all came together and I wasn't even the last parent to pick up their child at daycare, thank goodness!
We had Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's house with my nephews, dad and stepmom. It was a nice evening although by the time we got around to exchanging gifts, Nick was on his last leg. So we opened gifts in record time and made a quick getaway. I spent most of the rest of the night wrapping gifts and watching Christmas movies, which is a Christmas Eve tradition for me. It was fun and I was up late!
We had a low key Christmas morning with just the three of us at home celebrating. Bill's Mom, Dad, Sister and Brother-in-Law came around lunch time. Nick took an extra-long nap and didn't wake up until 4pm. By that time, my dad and stepmom came and joined us for dinner and it was really great! Bill made garlic and herb rubbed filet mignon, roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary, sautee'd green beans and homemade parmesan and roasted red pepper bread. I think we were all exhausted by the end of the day.
I worked in the morning the day after Christmas, but was able to leave early and spend the afternoon with everyone at home. We had a nice afternoon opening gifts with Nick, eating and playing games. Nick received so many wonderful gifts. We had put musical gifts on his Christmas list, so there was no shortage of musical gifts. I think his favorite was the Little Tikes Guitar, it plays Message in the Bottle and Rockstar, too cute!
On Saturday Bill's family left and it was time to spend a little more time with my family. My brother -Pat, sister in law-Linda, and nephew-Jack, had flown in on Friday and were staying with my sister Jill. On Saturday afternoon I (it was during Nick's nap time, so I went alone without Bill and Nick) went to lunch at TJ's at The Jefferson Hotel with my family. The hotel looked spectacular and it was nice spending time with my family. Sunday afternoon, my brother's family came to our house to open more gifts, watch football, make cookies, play WII, and eat!
Nick handled all the company, attention and gifts really well. We definitely tried to space out the gifts in order to not overwhelm him. By the end of the weekend, we had gotten through most of the gifts from other people, but Nick hadn't opened one gift from Bill and I (long boring explanation that will go unexplained). We thought it was more important for him to open the gifts from our visitors. So now it is one week later and Nick has almost opened all of his gifts :-)
We had a great first Christmas together, the Christmas cards aren't yet mailed, but the Holiday letter is written, and hopefully I'll get everything in the mail on Monday! I truly hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and wish you all the very best in 2009!
 |
 |
| Make a Smilebox scrapbook |
3 comments:
Great photos -- Nick looks like he is having a blast! Glad you had such a merry first Christmas as a family of three!
Loved the Christmas photos. Great Chef's hat. Nick is so adorable. What a little hottie you have. I loved his train sweater vest. Too sweet.
Happy New Year.
Nick looks like he has grown already!! What great photos and it sounds like you had a wonderful holiday. The neighborhood dinner sounds great, although tiring!!
Post a Comment