I have always loved Christmas. The lights, the music, the shopping, the traditions...all of it. When it's over, I'm always sad as all the glitter and light disappear from my living room. It went by so fast this year. I could've used an extra two weeks of Christmas this year. And that's what I'm realizing about life with a little one, especially at this time of year. It FLIES.
Christmas was so much more fun with the little guy running around. He's not old enough yet to understand any of it, but to see Christmas through a child's eye...that's the magic.
As I get older, Christmas is still a magical time, but has become a little bittersweet. Spending Christmas at home in the house I grew up in, so many memories flood in of Christmases past. Can it really be that long ago that I was sitting under the tree opening up my gifts from Santa? And now I'm no longer the child, I'm the mother. But, I still feel like that little girl inside. How can it be that I'm the MOM and almost 30 years old?? Is that right? You mean Santa isn't real...huh?! :)
Pardon me, I think I'm just having a quarter-life crisis. Thank you John Mayer for giving a name to my special kind of craziness.
And I missed my Papa this year. More than I have in a long time. I missed the smell of the log cabin and the pipe tobacco. I missed his hugs and his voice. And I think that's another part of Christmas that changes as we get older. We miss all the people that we've spent it with in the past. And I wish he could have met Henry. They would've been best buddies.
Sniff...sniff....alright I'll get back on track, I promise.
We were blessed to be able to spend a whole week at home. Usually, Henry and I will go down for a week, and Marc is only able to come for a couple days, but this year he got to spend the whole week.
Instead of the 12 days of Christmas, I'll call it the 7 days of Queso. I believe we injested that beloved blend of Rotel and Velveeta at least once a day for 7 days straight. Awesome.
Besides gorging on Mexican food, we spent a lot of time just relaxing and playing with Henry. His walking improved like crazy over the trip. When we first got there, he was still a little shaky on his feet but by the end he was practically running. Running like a drunk, but running still.
He LOVED his Uncle Jojo. Now, he rarely meets a stranger but he walked right up to Joey and nestled up against his chest like he was his best friend. Um, he's never done that to me!
We watched the movie, The Other Guys, twice. If you are into quotable Will Ferrell comedies, you must check it out. We were dying laughing! I even got a present from one of the characters. It got a little out of hand. Why I got scratch off lottery tickets from "Dirty Mike and the Boys" (aka Marc), I will never know. It doesn't even make sense. And why I received scratch off tickets from my husband...that's also strange.
We tried to go see Santa on our yearly trip to Bass Pro Shops, but there was a two hour wait! Seriously? It was just like that part in The Christmas Story where Ralphie and his brother get in what they think is the line, only to have that mean old man tell him the line starts back THERE! That was us...I thought it looked pretty short. Dur.
The closest we got.
We rode the carousel instead. Henry tolerated it. I think he's inherited his mom's hatred of rides that go round and round.
This is blurry, but you can see the joy on his face. Ha!
By the time it was time to leave, I really just wanted to stay and have Christmas at Bass Pro in that front lounging room with all the deer heads and the roaring fire. So cozy. I think this longing to spend the night at Bass Pro goes back to one of my favorite memories from childhood. When I was in Girl Scouts, we got to have an overnight campout in the MALL! Best idea ever. I love the idea of camping, but not so much the outdoors. Why not camp indoors in one of my favorite places to go as a 7 year old? Genius.
I think Henry's favorite present was his 4 pack of Chuck trucks. It's a fire truck, a blue pick-up truck, an ambulance, and a dump truck. He kept saying, "Whoa" as I was unwrapping them for him. Although, it seems his favorite toy lately is not a present he received at all, but my very own red CVS card. If we're out shopping around and he's fussy, the CVS card works everytime. He's actually really studying me when I swipe my credit card in the machine. Give him a couple more days, and I think he'll actually be able to do this. He's pretty smart.
"Mom, why are you always talking smack?"
This will go down as the Christmas Marc fell in love with his Droid. And the love affair continues....I might need him to leave the Droid at home when we go on our Bahamas trip. It's getting pretty hot and heavy.
So excited for our Bahamas trip! Here's the place we're staying, A Stone's Throw B&B in Nassau. I have been working out and watching my diet like a mad woman to try and get ready to get into a bikini. Normally, those areas don't see the light of day till at least June so there's some work to be done. I won't be able to wear my pajama jeans on the beach. Just kidding, I do not have a pair of pajama jeans, although they are tempting. Hey, at least I didn't buy the Shake Weight to get my arms in shape!
Happy New Year to you all!! Here's to a wonderful 2011!
Cheers!
Love,
Lyndsey, Marc, Henry, & Betsy
