Herzing Luv: Christmas 2011!

Christmas Eve-Eve :: Exactly 1 Year After We Discovered We Were Pregnant ;-)

Christmas was a blur. (Literally. Most of our photos of Raine are blurry like the one above because he moved so much and we couldn't ever seem to figure out the right setting on the camera to capture him. So much for buying a super fancy camera to take pictures of our kid. We never read the user manual!) And figuratively. It seemed to happen very quickly and I tried to take pictures and slow myself down mentally to enjoy it all....Savor the tastes, enjoy the conversation with friends, watch Raine observe and engage in everything. But it was hard. I was caught off guard by what felt like its ultimately quick arrival. I felt a little bit like a space cadet. I guess a four-month-post-partem-back-to-work-full-time-space-cadet. Raine and I were still struggling with thrush (GRRR) and head colds and getting enough sleep... I hope next year I feel more grounded and prepared so that I can enjoy it more.

Christmas Eve in First Christmas Onesie & Slippers from Rachel & Family ;-)

Mr Blur on Christmas Morning

I didn't really get super into Christmas because Raine was still too young to realize it was happening. But I did think a lot about what sort of traditions I would like our little family of three to have. Of course we got a tree, like usual. He enjoyed staring at it and falling asleep to the twinkling lights as I rocked him in my arms next to it. I also got Raine his own little tree to have in his room during the holiday season but this year it sat on the coffee table. I thought I would go overboard with buying new ornaments but I didn't. Really. Grandma Mary sent some from home and Raine had many gifted to him. See them all here. I did get a keen little fox and some felted balls with an "L," "D," and an "R." I suppose the "D" could be Dan or Don. I also got an "O" for hypothetical Oliver. I guess I was feeling pretty confident about that name? Well, it was only $1.50. ;-)

I am not sure what traditions will take place for us in the years to come. We will not be able to spend Christmas in Illinois with family so we will either be with friends or just the 3 of us for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Do any of my readers live too far from family to spend Christmas together? Dan and I don't have religious traditions, so I think I would like to do some sort of volunteerism as a family to focus on charity and the generosity of the human spirit during the holidays. And getting outside in nature is very important to Dan, so maybe we can have an annual outdoor event, too, in addition to getting our tree from a local farm, of course! Our first Christmas in Oregon was spent staying in a yurt on the coast and it was gorgeous. We hiked Christmas day. That was lovely but I can't always count on the weather to be so great. I have also thought about making the coast a tradition and when the weather doesn't permit camping, using a rental house. Melissa and her girlfriends found a nice little place with a jacuzzi (and Leah-luved modern decor) that I considered renting. These things are still sort of too early to think about because Raine will only be 1 next Christmas, but I suppose you can't start too early. I also want to have an advent calendar during December and I have my eye on a pocketed blanket one by David Fussenegger. What do people put in the calendar other than candy? I send one to Logan and Lexi every year that has chocolate and Logan has yet to understand you have to wait for each treat each day. I think this year he opened several of them and ate the candy while his parents were napping. (LOL. I love it!) We didn't go big on gifts either, because Raine is so young. I know we will at least do 1 toy, 1 book, 1 clothing item. Maybe 1 gift from each parent and 1 gift from both together (which probably means the big, fancy thing he'll really want, like an iPad when he is 2.) Other than that, Santa brought something and the rest came from friends and family.

We had Matt and Gayle sans kiddos over for dinner on Christmas Eve. Dan cooked in the spirit of his Polish family heritage (I think the Karpiaks always had sausage, cabbage, and pierogi on Christmas Eve... Char?? Is that right?) We FaceTimed with them and Kevin joked that Dan's pierogi were so big that they looked like calzones. Despite their generous girth, they tasted exactly the way that Dan remembered them. Success! Those who can't cook, buy, and I bought expensive decadent cake desserts like that "chocolate eruption" cake pictured here and Dan's favorite, carrot cake. Maybe that will become one of our little family traditions? Dan cooks and I get fancy desserts! ;-) Sounds good to me. For the fun of it, I also thought Rocco, Hobbes, and Raine should have festive feasts, so they got special food, too. Hobbes and Rocco got fancy meaty wet food and Raine had rice cereal for the first time. While Dan cooked, Matt and Gayle had drinks and Gayle played with Raine in his new Johnny Jumper, a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Hodel. We opened gifts from them on Christmas Eve, before our friends came over, so that we could FaceTime while my parents had Rachel, Tom, Logan, and Lexi at their house. Logan did a lot of up close and personal funny faces into the camera. (LOL. So cute!) Rachel and family spoiled the three of us with new Bears swag and cool new toys for Raine, and Grandpa Don gave him a very special autographed baseball and the next installation of a White Sox gift train set. We also let Raine "open" one gift from us on Christmas Eve, which just so happened to conveniently be a "first" spoon and fork for him to eat his rice cereal with. ;-) You can see all the photos of Raine's "first" gifts here. I may have forgotten to write thank you notes but I at least remembered to take pictures to keep track. LOL. Christmas morning we did more FaceTime. Almost all of our family is outfitted with Apple products now, so we were able to FaceTime with everyone, including our new nephew, JD, who was totally hip for a 1 week old by having an iPad. In fact, Grandma Mary was lucky enough to get her very own iTouch from Raine for Christmas so that we could FaceTime her. And if Tom and Rachel don't get on the bandwagon by next Christmas, you can guess what we will be getting them....Anyway, Christmas Day we opened the rest of our gifts and went to Carmen and Lorri's for some pizza and Chicago Bears and Bulls games.