Hi there. I hope 2012 has arrived in style for you as it has for us. As always there was a rush to the finish line of 2011. Getting ready for Christmas, celebrating Christmas with both of our families, and ringing in the New Year all happened so quickly, it is incredible I remember any of it. It is so hard to imagine that we have celebrated Christmas twice with Anna. Each was very special and entirely different. Our first Christmas we were still getting to know each other, Anna was sleeping anywhere and everywhere in that magical way newborns have, it was a beautiful snowy day, and did I mention she was snuggly and sleepy? Our second Christmas we’ve gotten to know our beautiful little girl and her personality, there was very little napping on Christmas Day, it was warm enough to take Anna out for a spin in her new wagon, and seeing the magic of Christmas in her eyes was simply amazing. I tried so hard to capture that in a picture but failed miserably. Sure the pictures show joy or excitement, even a little wonder, but the magic was in person only. That’s ok though. I won’t forget it anytime soon. There are plenty of pictures that give a glimpse of her enthusiasm for presents, especially the box they came in.
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| Anna and Blossom, her new doll from my aunt and uncle. |
We DID. IT. UP. for Christmas. My parents, my sister, and Marc (my sister’s boyfriend ) were here to help us celebrate. We are pretty sure Santa’s sleigh tipped over here at our house and he was in too big of a hurry to get to your house to pick up what he dropped. After opening presents, we realized Santa visited via three houses! Anna was very interested in what Santa left in her stocking until she spotted the new riding toy Santa left under the tree. She grinned and went straight for it. She eventually came back to her stocking and then put everything from her stocking into the wagon part of the riding toy. In and out, over and over again. She would have been happy stopping there.
If you remember, I mentioned the smorgasbord we normally have for Christmas breakfast. Well, everything turned out fantastic, if I do say so myself. We happily munched on all the breads, fresh fruit, and a new sausage-egg-apple casserole, all morning. We took our time opening presents which suited Anna perfectly. She got to play with each new toy after she opened it, something she wanted so badly to do at her birthday but being mean parents, we didn’t let her. :)
Dinner was only an hour and a half late. An improvement from last year. There was way too much food but all of it turned out well, even if it didn’t look so pretty. Ha. There were a few issues but it all tasted good, and that’s what matters. We ate Christmas dinner leftovers until New Year’s Eve’s eve.
During the dinner delay, Allen took Anna for a ride in her new wagon outside. Pop and Nona brought her a real Amish made wagon and it is a HUGE hit. We’ve gone out probably half a dozen times since Christmas because it’s been so warm and nice here. Anna is happiest when she’s on the move and stays seated taking in the sights along the way.
Christmas night we brought a PA tradition to NC. We had some friends stop by for dessert. It was great to see them and fun to start that tradition here.
Oh gosh, I forgot to talk about Christmas Eve church. We took Anna last year to church on Christmas Eve for the first time. We went to the late candlelit service. This year we went for the opposite end of the spectrum, we attended the family service at 5 o’clock. It was a nice service, however every kid in there was either hungry, tired, or just plain excited about Christmas so there was a dull roar throughout the entire service. Our church reads the Christmas story from an illustrated Bible and invites the children to come forward to listen and see the pictures. We then sing carols and hymns that fit into the story as they go along. Like I said, it’s nice and I can’t wait until Anna can get more out of it. This year she was perfectly behaved and ate more pieces of cereal in that one service than she had eaten all week at home. Go figure. She was antsy and I offered her a puff and another and another and another. She was content to eat them one by one, and I was happy to oblige to do my part in keeping the roar to a minimum.
Allen’s family came up the day after Christmas to celebrate with us. It was great to see them, and Anna got some time to play with her cousin. Of course, she was afraid of the toy they gave her. But it didn’t take that much time for her to warm up to it. She now loves it and plays with it daily. While my family was here, we did some local sightseeing. We ventured to Seagrove, NC to some of the pottery studios there. It was a beautiful day, and we saw some really nice stuff.
Ok, so I think I’m going to stop there. I could blog a bit more but I have a few things I want/need to do before Anna gets up from her afternoon nap. Yes, it’s almost dinner time but this is when she usually takes her afternoon nap.
Sorry this post about Christmas is so late. Things have been busy around here. I don’t really have a good excuse though. We did have Anna’s first sick visit to the doctor. :( She had a virus that caused a rash and a mild fever. She wasn’t that bothered by it but her Mama was a little worried on the third day of the rash when it was still getting worse and spreading to her face. Anna’s getting a dozen teeth at the moment. Slight exaggeration, but not really, she’s got at least four coming in. Possibly six. While my blog posts have been slacking this year, my journal entries have not been. I was pretty good last year, but hope to be even better this year. I have a journal that has a small space for each day. A day planner, if you will. I have enough room to write a few sentences about our day so that I can remember all the little stuff. I try and write things down that are random. Maybe a sweet smile she gave me when she got up from her nap, or a giggle she giggled in her bath, or a new trick she learned like giving five! I hope that one day it will remind me (and her) of these sweet moments.
Ok – so we’ve run out of space (again) on here so I’m using Shutterfly to share pictures. I don’t think there will be a problem viewing them but let me know if you have one. I’ve only gotten through pictures from about half of Christmas break so there will be more coming.
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