Holiday Recap

Christmas was a whirlwind of excitement and chaos and I am missing it already. We have been so busy lately that I did not have time to put together separate posts for each of our activities so I am going to mush them all into one big ball of holiday cheer. Enjoy reliving our holiday festivities!

Last weekend we went to go see Santa. I knew since it was nap time and she had just sat down for an hour long brunch followed by a wait in the Santa line that we had entered the Bermuda triangle of toddler meltdown situations. Right as we hit the front of the line she began getting fussy and as soon as we walked over to Santa she squirmed and held on to me with a toddler death grip. I had tried to explain to her that Santa is a nice man that brings presents but she is just shy of the age where she understands such things. Needless to say she was in no way going to cozy up to the guy in the red suit so we all sat down with Santa for a family photo. Then Santa whispered his magical plan for me to slowly move her onto his lap. At this point, somehow reason escaped my mind. Maybe deep down some part of me thought she might actually enjoy being abandoned in a strange place with an oddly dressed man. So, I did it and thus began the Christmas tears of 2013 followed shortly after by high pitched screams of terror and disapproval to insinuate that we were in error for attempting to place her in the very temporary custody of a stranger. I wish they had allowed us to take personal photos but they were forbidden this side of the North Pole so we only shelled out the money for the happy family photo but trust me when I say there we some great bad Santa photos as well.

 

 Then came Christmas Eve and our traditional visit to Thomas' mom's house (aka Mimi.) This tradition started out small with just us and Thomas' twin brother and his family. We started the tradition before we had Emma and when they had just one child. Then somehow over the years the festivities morphed to include our expanded families and Thomas' step brothers and their large families and some of their friends and his aunt and uncle and a few of his mom's neighbors and some of her co-workers. Oh, all in a one bedroom apartment. You really have no choice but to feel the love and the energy of the kids literally bouncing off the walls. Everyone was in great spirits except for the elderly woman who lives in the apartment below. I'm guessing by the sounds of her pounding on the ceiling she was not having a peaceful Christmas Eve....hmmm wonder why. Even though it is overwhelming and I do not recommend it for anyone with crowd anxieties it was still a fun time. Emma enjoyed playing with all of the big kids and of course it was great to see all of the Thomas' family. 

After the thrills of a chaotic night at Mimi's house, exhaustion set in. We made it home sometime around 8:30pm and then the real adventure began. The one I had been waiting for since I found out I was going to be a parent (and even before that.) I'm not going to come out and say exactly what I am talking about for all of those believers out there but for those that have gone before you know what I'm referring to. No matter how exhausted or how much work you know lies ahead, the reward far out weighs anything else. Of course this year as noted before, Emma is still not 100% on board with the whole Christmas thing but Santa Clause did come! I have it on good authority he worked really hard to make this Christmas a special one for Emma. Of course with all of the excitement and anticipation for the magic to unfold I was up at 6:30am and had to wait for everyone to get up. After a crazy Christmas Eve Emma sleep in until almost 8am...go figure. So with extreme excitement and anticipation I got her out of bed. Her dad was ready to record the whole thing... only we are in the process of transitioning away from the binky and well on this particular morning of mornings, the day of the birth of our king, lord and savor...behold, what could be heard from the Patterson household but not sounds of joy but rather tears and a tantrum! Leave it to stupid old mom to dare to take a binky away upon this day! Doesn't she know that's all that matters? Not the magic of the day but the dependency on a piece of plastic!

So our first video was of a screaming child. Seriously what kid wakes up Christmas morning to go out to the tree and bursts into tears... After some coaching Emma finally caught on that there were presents for her. Once again a few grandmas went overboard with the gifts so it looks like an obscene amount of stuff but Santa brought just a few things.

 

 

The final stop on our holiday tour was at my mom's (Nana's) house. Emma had napped and was ready to go but once again I was not prepared for what it would be like having her try to sit still for hours while people opened presents. Luckily she got some pretty awesome gifts to play with while the adults enjoyed their time together. She was spoiled once again and we really need to move now just to accommodate her growing toy collection.

All in all it was a very merry Christmas and I am truly grateful for the time I spent with family and friends. My only heartache comes with not having more time off to spend with my family. I worked a half day today and I am back to work a full day tomorrow. It was fun spending time playing with Emma this morning. Actually engaging with her, my husband, and all of her fun new toys was the highlight of my holiday. It brought me back to my childhood. I was honestly more excited about her gifts than my own! I guess that's part of the transition into parenthood. It really isn't about me anymore. It's about being with and doing what I can for my family and right now because of that my heart is full.

I hope you and your family had a happy holiday and will ring in an awesome new year!