Making Merry

Happy Holidays everyone. We are feeling merry today. It's a rainy, windy Christmas in Bellingham and we're drinking lots of coffee and opening presents.

Ceci was just a wee nugget at this time last year.

Merry Merry

Christmas Baby

Here's Ceci working my Christmas bib from the 70's. It's just a little too big, but I can tell she feels sassy in it. Her Grandparents are heading up in the car as I type, having driven 900 miles or so from California with their two cats in the car.
Tomorrow we're going to bake pistachio cookies as gifts. We've been trying to get this done for weeks but nothing seems to get done around here unless it involves sleeping, eating, or pooping. I'm thrilled to have my parents here for the next month so I can get back into some semblance of a regular routine as well as have some help with Ceci when I go back to work next week. I'm not sure I will even remember how to do my job.
Anyway, it will be our first Christmas with baby. Hopefully it's laid back and full of good food, cheesy Christmas movies, family and friends.
Lots of love to you.
Emily

Home Alone

Matthew took the baby out today for a few hours, and while I puttered around the house a revelation  struck me- I was home alone for the first time since Ceci was born! What a luxury. What silence, what peace, no one hanging off my boob or pooping on my bed (this could be the cat or the baby). The leisurely opportunity to sip tea and paint my toenails. I also tried on all my favorite jeans, and no amount of elbow grease, prayers, or expletives would make them fit over my flabby postpartum pooch.
Still, those few hours were my very own Christmas miracle.
I finally found the time to make this chai pumpkin bread, and it is delicious even though my sleep-deprived brain left out all of the spices except the cardamom, which I tripled.

I also pulled this little gem out of my creepy picture collection.

Don't worry, I've already faxed a copy of this to the FBI. Obviously, this is not just a photo of a creepy man dressed as Santa. This is photo evidence of a vile, soul-sucking Golum wearing a man suit that is in turn wearing a Santa suit. Clever no? I can see right through it. Look at the dead eyes. The child looks happy though, which is another Christmas miracle. Every photo I've ever seen of a human baby with Santa involves lots of tears. I can, and have stared at this picture for hours. 

Conquering Christmas

So, like most bloggers I read several blogs myself. One of the blogs I follow put me in a odd mood this week. Said blog posted a piece called "Clipboard Christmas". The subject of the post was how to organize oneself for Christmas, and the blogger made hand drawn charts that she then clipped onto clipboards with headings like "crafts", "gifts", "cooking", and "decorating". You get the idea.
I can't quite put my finger on why this bothered me, but it did.

I've been pondering how I want to frame Christmas for Ceci, and what types of traditions we should have as a family.
For instance, do we want to make a ritual out of making Christmas cookies, or guzzling eggnog and passing out drunk under the tree? Do we want to encourage hand made gifts over store bought? Should we blast Bing Crosby records and buy a giant inflatable snowman for the yard? I guess what I'm getting at here is that I've been thinking so much about trying to create a perfect Christmas for my family that I've managed to suck the joy out of it.
I don't want to point the finger at the aforementioned blogger and say that that type of anal-retentive Christmas planning makes the holidays stressful, because for her that may work well to organize her thoughts and tasks. As for me, I think I need to let the holidays unfold organically with no more obsessing over how it should go. If we feel like making gingerbread then we will. If we decide to dress up instead and re-enact Star Wars, then so be it.
After all, Christmas is simply about enjoying family right? (or about baby Jesus if that's your thing).