Merry Christmas, friends!
I've been looking forward to this holiday season since I found out I was pregnant in February. Since my due date was early November, I knew I'd get to spend all the holidays with our brand new daughter without worrying about taking time off from work.
What I didn't anticipate (naively) was that not working would be the least of my worries, and that the holidays would look a lot different for us, and not always in the romanticized way I'd initially imagined:
- It took us almost three weeks to get the tree completely decorated, with large storage boxes full of unused ornaments and decor hovering around the living room for days, adding to the mental chaos that we were already feeling with our baby who was fighting her daytime naps.
- As much as I wanted to make Christmas treats and cookies, it turns out that finding recipes, going to the grocery store, and actually making something was a project that I simply did not have the energy for after all.
- Outside of a secret Santa amongst Ryan's family and buying a couple gifts, we really dropped the ball on Christmas gifts this year. By the end of each day, I hardly felt like looking for anything online, and we didn't have much time to shop in person.
But even though things looked and felt a little different in ways I didn't expect this year, there was also so much joy to be had, like:
- Saying goodnight to the Christmas tree with Claire every night. Calming Claire with the Christmas tree lights. Plopping Claire in a swing in front of the Christmas tree lights so I could throw back a cup of coffee or clean a bottle. Basically anything that involved Claire + our Christmas tree.
- Walking Claire around downtown St. Pete, showing her (more!) Christmas lights on our walk back to the car after our first happy hour out with her.
- Watching Christmas movies at all hours of the day, even on weekdays.
- Finally finding my favorite holiday coffee creamer (Silk dark chocolate peppermint almond creamer), because mama neeeeeds her coffee. I'd rather have a nap, but coffee is a close second.
- Getting to have a few hours out with work friends for a holiday themed Christmas happy hour.
- Having a few weeks off with Ryan, as he took the rest of his parent leave + PTO this month. It's been wonderful having him here to fully co-parent with me vs. working from home!
I get so excited (and borderline emotional? ...hormones!) when I think about all of the holiday seasons to come, the traditions we'll continue, the new traditions we'll start, the activities, the baking, the gifting, the magic. We can't wait to watch this little lady grow up, and I know that having her around during the holidays will make them even more special as the years go on.
