Better (Extremely) Late Than Never

I still haven't gotten to Christmas.  Here it is in a nutshell:

Oliver- his reaction to us telling him we heard Santa in the living room while we were sleeping was jut priceless, and his reaction to finding what Santa left was perfect.  This was a really fun Christmas with him.

Owen- he was in such a wonderful mood for this, his first Christmas.  He had just gotten to the stage where things are beginning to get interesting to him, so he had a positive reaction to several of his toys.

Me and BDNP- we were just so happy to have given our boys the most wondeful Christmas.  And pretty proud of ourselves that Santa's spread was all ours.  Unlike the year before, we were able to give the kids plenty without needing to use the Xmas eve gifts from family to create the massive toy drop.  AND we were so very happy that Oliver's favorite gift was the train table that Santa and his elves stayed up very late making in order to meet the deadline (because you know how Santa procrastinates)!

Xmas eve in NJ

Xmas morning in CT

And now that I've FINALLY posted about Christmas I feel like I've burst through the wall keeping me from my blog.  It just felt wrong to move on without getting this on here first.

Time flies...

...when you're having fun.

Seriously though, it does.  All of a sudden the holidays are over.  2011 is over. 

Someone hit fast forward and I never got to post all of our pre-christmas adventures.

Like that time we spent the afternoon and evening in downtown New Haven- letting Oliver walk around like the proud big boy he is, finding Santa for a family picture at the Yale bookstore, grabbing some burgers, and checking out the enormous tree on the green.

And then there was the time we decorate gingerbread cookies.  It was a train kit.  Broken of course.  We made the best of it, and it was probably better for Oliver this way.

And that time we went to the Musical Folk holiday sing along.  Oliver and I danced.  He smiled and I melted.

Oh.  And how about that time Oliver made a donation to the Salvation Army...

...and then refused to return the bell.

So all of that and I haven't even gotten to our Christmas yet!  Maybe by the 4th of July I'll be caught up.  Hopefully a little sooner than that!

You Light Up My Life

Every year the Easter Seals sets up a huge light display at Lighthouse Point.  It's called "The Fantasy of Lights" (I kept calling it "Festival of Lights" until I remembered that's Chanukah).

Nate and I went two years ago with our friends and their two little ones... Oliver was technically there, but from my belly I doubt he had a good view.  So this year we were excited to bring our little big boy to see the lights.

This was a really neat thing to do.  Totally appropriate for his age and cooperation level this holiday season.  Remember, I keep having these big plans for him to get into the Christmas spirit, but the truth is he's too young to really get it.

We got dinner at Panera, Oliver's favorite, then made the ride over.  He loved seeing the lights and decorations on the houses and kept "Oooohing" at them all, so Nate and I just knew he would get a kick out of what he was about to see!

Look at his face!  Look at those eyes!  Christmas magic or what?  I'd say he was pretty impressed with all the lights.  And I had a blast watching him take it all in.

Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart

Here is a little Christmas Flashback for you... Oliver's First Christmas

FYI- I'm crying right now, how can so much change in one year?  How can one year pass so fast?  How can I love someone so much?  Most importantly- how can I stop him from growing up and leaving me?!?!?!?!? MY BABY!!!!!!!

Whew...sorry.... dramatic moment passed.

Here we are at my mom's Christmas Eve. 

I felt so happy to be able to keep up this tradition. We went down to NJ that morning, and left that night to be back in CT for Christmas morning in our own house. And we are doing it again this year. I just don't have the heart to alter our Christmas eve tradition. I feel guilty changing things. My Aunts, Uncles and cousins all gather at my moms for dinner laughs and presents. And it's wonderful. I felt bad thinking we would stop traveling down for that once we have kids...like I was ruining everyone else's Christmas. But the truth is everyone is more than understanding that traveling is getting harder for us, and they are all willing to end this tradition. BUT I'M NOT! I just can't give it up. There is something about Christmas that turns me into a child and the thought of gathering and seeing WAY TOO MANY gifts fill my mom's living room excites me. And being goofy with my family just feels so wonderful. I am so thankful Nate knows how much this tradition means to me and is willing to keep making the drive as long as possible. Afterall, it's not even 2 hours.

Nate and his brothers had cardboard Santa Clauses with their names on them to separate the gifts on Christmas morning. My sister and I had shoes. Before going up to bed we would put our Christmas shoes (later slippers) under the tree. In the morning the gifts by my shoes were mine, and the ones by hers were hers. Easy. And in the middle was usually a big gift for us to share.

Putting Oliver's Christmas shoes under the tree was monumental for me. I snapped a cell phone picture and sent it to my mom and of course she cried. I NEED to remember to get shoes for Owen (I don't bother with shoes for a baby... but for this I'm going to have to)!

I could have stood back and looked at Oliver's Santa set-up forever!  I was so overcome with joy to see the abundance!  And I was so very thankful that 1) he was given so much by my family and 2) he is too young to realize that Santa was leaving him presents he had opened the night before!

Having a huge mountain of presents was important to me (even for his first Christmas) because that's what I remember about my Christmas.  I am so glad we decided to go down to NJ for the holiday because we just couldn't have pulled off Christmas without the help and generosity of family.

As a kid my Christmas morning was AMAZING.  So many gifts!  We were really spoiled...so much so that my main argument (and I argued it for a VERY long time) for the existance of Santa was "My parents CANNOT afford all that!"

My mom made Christmas happen... and she made it happen hard!  I was in middle school when I finally said "Mom, are you Santa?"  But I probably knew a few years before that and was just in denial.  I still am actually.

I still, as an adult, believe in Santa.  The magic of the season is so real to me... and I still hold onto this last bit of hope that one day I will wake up a mountain of gifts.  It happens in the movies right?!  (although I have an issue with movies where Santa is real and the adults in the movie don't believe...e.g. Tim Allen's Santa Clause... because the logic is flawed.  In this world Santa EXISTS so don't the adults realize they aren't the ones doing the gifting?  What is there not to believe in? oh Hollywood....get it right!)

I can't believe last year we were celebrating Oliver's first Christmas, and this year it's Owen's first Christmas.

It's going to be such a different "first Christmas", Oliver was 10.5 months old and able to participate in the holiday.  Owen's participation at 2.5 months will be far less, but my little little baby is growing so fast!  When I hold him he is pushing himself from myself and looking all over the place...enjoying all the holiday lights and decorations maybe? I like to think so.

Christmas Catch-up

Haven't posted in a while...been so busy trying to stay awake I just haven't made it on here.  So, hello blog...I've missed you. 

We crashed a holiday parade and tree lighting in Madison, CT a little while ago.  Seriously, it was such a small parade we drove about 30min for that we felt kind of silly, and I totally felt like we were intruding on something private and intimate...like everyone was looking at us and wondering what the heck we were doing in their town.  Whatevs.  That's just how we roll.

Like I said...parade was suuuuper small, but it was Oliver's first parade (scratch that... he did see a parade when we went to Sesame Place for halloween in 2010 but he was like, 9 months or something so it doesn't count as a memorable experience for him).  Anyway.  He seemed to enjoy it.  There were dogs, drums, tractors, and Santa Claus... his current faves.

There were hayrides being given after the parade.  He wasn't so sure about getting on so we let him stay back and watch it drive off, planning to get him onto the next ride.  The whole time it was gone he was making his "trrrrrrrrrrrrr" noise that he makes for basically any type of vehicle, and he was excited to catch a glimpse of it.  Next ride...Nate gets on with him, I am being helped on with Owen in his snap-n-go, and Oliver is trying to jump off the back into my arms.  Ok, maybe next year.  We really should have expected that based on the previous day's Touch-a-Truck experience.

We had lots of time to kill between events that day, and no opportunity for Oliver to nap, so by the time the tree lighting was getting underway we had a very antsy and borderline cranky toddler on our hands.  He was probably a little too young to care much for this event.  He wanted in and out of Nate's arms and wasn't really entertained with standing around and singing Christmas songs he doesn't even know.  He did pretty good though, considering (I'm learning to lower my expectations to his level....I was turning into the "This is fun dammit so have fun" kind of mom this holiday, so I had to put myself in check).

FINALLY.....the Big Guy arrived on a firetruck (thankfully! because sleighs just don't excite Oliver like a good firetruck does!)  When it was being announced that Santa was on his way to help light the tree Oliver started calling for him in his own high pitch language that only Nate, myself and his Nana understand: "Eayayaaaa?" Translation: "where are you?" 

And when Santa was getting down from the truck Oliver smiled and waved and it hit me that he is beginning to recognize this big red icon (it's only being crammed down his throat everywhere we go), and I was hit by a wave of emotion and Christmas spirit...so happy to be able to experience Christmas Magic through the eyes of my little boy.

He was pretty impressed by the tree lighting up and the size of it.  It turned out to be a very nice family day...and I didn't even have to force everyone to enjoy it.

Wordful Wednesday link up with Parenting by Dummies

Oh Christmas Tree

Trim up the tree with Christmas stuff Like bingle balls, and whofoo fluff
Trim up the town with goowho gums and bizilbix and wums

Our day started with How the Grinch Stole Christmas and ended with putting lights on the tree.  Oliver was totally into it.  It was pretty adorable, I must say.

Christmas Pictures

I have really enjoyed taking my own pictures of the boys instead of doing studio sittings... reason 1- we aren't in a position to spend money on that, and reason 2- I like being creative and pretending I can take good pictures.  Well it was easy when Oliver was a wee li'l babe... got a little difficult when he started rolling and crawling... got REALLY difficult when he could walk... and now that he's a little lunatic jumping around, it's just about impossible to sit him in a small space for a picture.

So here is what I got out of my Christmas "photo shoot" of the boys...not at all what I hoped for!

I was so angry!  Nate was trying to be my voice of reason "He's nearly 2...you're not going to get him to sit still...he's doing very well for hardly napping today"

Yeah yeah yeah.  But I wanted to get a picture that makes everyone tear up at the beauty of my two little ones this holiday season... so I was pretty bummed that my vision and the realities of having a toddler were (once again) out of sync.



At least I have Owen who is too little to ruin my photography aspirations.

I didn't get what I wanted but I did manage to get some passable photos for a Christmas card.  I can't wait for them to get here and to send them out!

Here is a sneak peek...