A VERY Merry Christmas

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Christmas season! One that was filled with many happy memories that will last a lifetime. I know that I will hold onto and cherish some of the moments from our Christmas this year.  Our holiday was simply wonderful. I am really glad how it all came together. Colin and Meli are both at an age where it just brings so much...magic. Meli was starting to catch on to the idea of Santa, the Christmas trees, lights and of course - presents. The only thing that made this one a little less happy, was not being able to see my Virginia family. It has been seven years celebrating with Will's family and I had come to cherish the traditions that we had created with our little family and his. It is hard having two people together who are from different parts of the country. I was so excited to have the opportunity to celebrate with my family (it had been way too long) and to see them interact with the kids, but it still felt like a big part was missing. Love you Liz, Michael and the rest of the in-laws.

We started the week by heading down to my hometown to enjoy the holiday festivities with my mom's side of the family. Here is a picture of Meli acting sad (have I mentioned that we have two very dramatic kids) with Uncle Greggie. The truck she is holding was a gift for her daddy but she took hold of it and still has not given it back to him!

 

 

 

My mom came up to stay with us for Christmas Eve. It was so nice to have her around and to share our family traditions with her. My mom and I spent the day cooking and doing final wrapping needs. We also watched a few of our favorite Christmas movies: Charlie Brown's Christmas and of course A Christmas Story. I watched my favorites, White Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life the week before. I also had the chance to go see the play, It's a Wonderful Life with my dad and Michele. It was cute.

 

For dinner, we had the traditional ham and fixings. I made sure we had my mother-in-law's corn pudding and sweet potato casserole to bring a little of Virginia to us.



My little buddy

Christmas Eve dinner

After dinner the kids were allowed to open two gifts: this year's ornament and their Christmas pajamas. Colin's ornament had theatrical mask and Peter Pan written on it, to represent his first ballet he went to. Meli got a Minnie Mouse ornament since she is obsessed! I personally think that I did a wonderful job with the pajamas this year (I love pajamas). Meli got a set of the cutest penguin ones (see one of them below) and then the cutest reindeer set. Colin got teenage mutant turtle set that included a robe and then a set of Batman ones.

 

Then we set out the cookies, milk and carrots (for the reindeer), plus a note for Santa. 

My babies!

Bill sent the kids a Lionel train. Colin was so stoked when he came down the stairs and the train was turned on. That was one of the perfect moments. Colin got to open his stocking before we woke up Meli and Grammie. The kids were so overwhelmed with all the gifts. With all of the grandparents, aunts/uncles and us they made out very well. We emphasized this year with Colin how it is not about the gifts but it is also about giving and doing good deeds. Colin wanted to go through his toys and clothes and donate to those less fortunate. He also helped me pick out some gifts for boys his age and a couple girls Meli's age. I was very proud of him for understanding the importance of giving and not wanting to keep all of the toys. That is a hard thing to grasp at his age.

Colin's Captain America mask

Meli was very excited with her kitchen

Colin got some gear to take on our hiking trips this next spring. Mission: Explore Oregon

Meli slept in her new big girl bed!! No issues so far...



Christmas morning was great. We ate cinnamon rolls and opened presents. This took a lot longer than usual. Years prior Colin would just plow through the gifts, but this year he wanted to put each one together then move on to the next. Then Meli just wanted to play with her kitchen. Towards the end, I was opening Meli's gifts for her then showing her what she got. She was already in need of a nap.

My brothers came up for Christmas appetizers. The kids adore their uncles. Uncle Greggie got Colin a Darth Vader mask that changes his voice. He also got a Darth Vader that is taller than Meli. That one has scared me a couple times at night when I check on Colin.

 

We spent Christmas evening at my dad and Michele's. Christmas dinner was delicious! Michele did a great job... It was so nice to see my uncle and cousin.  It has been too long since I have had a Christmas here. The house was so full of people. Reminded me of Christmas at my Grandma's as a kid.

There also two new babies in the family: Miles and Abel. Meli was very jealous whenever I would hold one of the boys. Ever since then, she has been wanting to pretend to be a baby. She has Will or I rock her and she pretends to sleep.

 

This really has been such a wonderful time. Will had a few surprises up his sleeve (like BIG surprises) that I did not expect at all! So much has changed in the past year. I think we made the right  (difficult but right) choice and I think we are at a good place. I am so blessed  to be surrounded by so much love.

 

Hopefully next year we can work it out to see both sides of the family.

 

 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family