Christmas

We can go the entire year rarely texting our loved ones but when it comes to the days leading up to December 25th, we are in constant communication. "What does Mom want for Christmas?," "Should I make ham or pot roast for Christmas Eve?," "When do you want me over on Christmas Day?".  

That's what I love most about this holiday. Aside from all the traditions that I totally feed into like ugly Christmas sweater parties, the festive decorations, holiday baking, caroling, Santa photos, picking out the tree etc., I truly enjoy having this excuse, this reason, to be with all the people I love.

I spent time with friends that I see far less often than I'd like to (totally needed that dopamine fix).

 

After waiting 2 hours to see him, Santa asks my Mom, "When was the last time you sat on Santa's lap?" ...Easy now Mr. Clause. She slept over Christmas Eve in Kylan's bed up until Molly peed all over the sheets. Despite all of the chaos, she graciously exclaimed "Thank you! That was one of the best Christmases I've ever had."

                

 

Indeed it was the best Christmas. I had plans to drag everyone out to a church to listen to some Christmas caroling but instead we brought the caroling to our house Christmas Eve. Maggie Lu as the conductor, we all sang "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" in perfect pitch over our authentic Irish coffees Steph had taught us all to make and the remaining magic cookie bars that Molly didn't consume.

Would you like some cookies to go with that sugar?

       

              

                     

And yes I took approximately 28 photos of my table setting because I was swooning over it.

Christmas day was filled with more joy. More food. More wine. More gifts. More this:

And now I have a KitchenAid to help make fancy desserts like these.

     

My mom asked Matt when we are going to give her another grand child so that happened...

Since everyone enjoys "grand" gestures over the holidays, we treated my Aunt and Uncle to a night at the Mountain View Grand Resort in Whitefield, NH. 

We pre-gamed together with wine and vodka in the small hotel room. We went to the theater room to watch "Elf" (Ky's first time - she loved it) until a tween-ager asked us to "quiet down." Kylan practiced her diving skills over dinner almost crashing into the table next to us. "She's fine" the family assured us. How could you get upset with an innocent looking girl in a beautiful dress over the holidays?

I watched my daughter boldly walk on up to a little girl at the hotel pool and ask her if she wanted to be her friend. I observed closely as she tried joining in on an adult game of Taboo making up questions "what do you do when you love someone a really really lot?" the answer was "give them a kiss". And on Christmas morning her first response to seeing how very similar the tree looked to last night was "Santa didn't come. This is the same wrapping paper Mom." She's growing up. And it is equally as blissful as it is painful. So I will continue to be overzealous over the holidays, folding napkins into Christmas trees and switching out picture frames to more "Christmasy" photos because it is only for such a short period of time that this Christmas magic stays.

Thank you friends and family for your presence in my life which was my greatest present this holiday season. It is because of you and all your support that I am ready and recharged for 2018.