The worst part about Christmas is its conclusion

All was very merry and bright around our home as we celebrated Christmas this year and we hope that was the same for all of you who are reading. We loved receiving the cards and photos from our family and friends and looking through them together kindled our Christmas spirits. We're sorry to see the holiday come to an end.

Even though it's over, I've still been trying to eat as many cookies, sweets, goodies and treats as possible since the baby really enjoys them. God bless parents. The many sacrifices they have to make for their children and so many go unnoticed. I'm not asking for any credit here, but I really feel it's the very least I can do at this point. If it's for the good of the life inside of me, of course I'm all for it. And if that means three of something delicious isn't enough, I'll force another two or three down the hatch. Our little one sure has been active and Jeff and I love feeling all of the movements coming from my belly. Actually seeing the thumps and bumps has brought a lot of added entertainment for us too! When our substandard belting of "Baby it's Cold Outside" doesn't get that baby going, no doubt all the sugar will.

Our families were so thoughtful and made sure the bundle already had some gifts this year. We're all very excited for the day we get to meet him or her and it was fun knowing that in just a couple of months, those gifts will be put to use.


Friends thought of our baby too which was also so sweet.


This rocking horse has been in Jeff's family since he was just a baby and maybe by this time next year our baby will be at Vince and Tricia's riding on it (with a little help!).


Noelan wanted to help Jeff open the baby's gifts at my parents' house...pretty soon he'll have a new cousin to read to.





O Christmas Tree...

Not the best planning on our part when we decided to fit in a very large window replacement project just before Christmas. Although the windows look fantastic, the cleanup before having both of our families (including my relatives from my mom's side) to our house for Christmas Eve was no small task. We were a bit frazzled by the mess and all there was to do to prepare and get our house back in shape. We had almost succumb to the fact that maybe this year would be our first without a Christmas tree. The thought provoked mixed emotions, but we reasoned with ourselves...this year was different, we fell behind, there was too much to do now, people would understand, we'd still have everything looking nice and decorated, just no tree. The Thursday before Christmas (Thursday, December 18th) I was driving and really thinking about not having a tree, not decorating it together just the two of us for one last time before our baby arrives. Turns out that it bummed me out more than I thought it would. I know that things will only get better over Christmas as our family grows, but thoroughly savoring our final moments as a twosome has taken on such importance to me. However, I let the thought of not having the tree go knowing that we wouldn't let its absence detract from our Christmas.

So imagine my surprise when the very next day (Friday, December 19th) I came home to a house filled with the melodies of Christmas songs, my husband sitting and waiting anxiously for my arrival and a beautiful Christmas tree already covered in lights (my eyes well up as I write, just as they did when I walked in the door, because of the impact it had)! The house was completely dark except for the glow coming from the tree (and somehow I didn't even catch a glimpse of the it as I pulled up to our house). Jeff had taken the afternoon off to arrange getting a tree to our house with his dad and once it was inside, he worked to get it prepared with lights for when I got home from work. It was the sweetest surprise. How could we have even contemplated not having this beauty? We sat together and stared as we sipped our favorite egg nog; we were mesmerized. We cherished the conversation that followed and what a memory to hold onto.

Jeff's parents came to help us dig ourselves out of the mess that had become our house the next day so we could concentrate on rounding out our weekend with the fun stuff: decorating the tree and the rest of the house. Our Christmases will never be the same and the changes we expect will be spectacular. But our final Christmas as husband and wife, independent of Christmas as mommy and daddy too, was specially marked by that extraordinary moment I will always treasure, courtesy of my husband and a lovely Fraser Fir.






(The photos aren't our best and turned out blurry unfortunately, but I hoped if I put the family ones small enough, no one would get mad at me for posting them!)