holiday wrapup

oh my oh my, what a whirlwind christmas weekend. it flew by in a flurry of fun and tissue paper. emma thoroughly enjoyed the experience but i know she had no real understanding of what was going on! to her, it was a time filled with all her loved ones, yummy munchies, and a bunch of cool new things to play with. she didn't quite grasp the concept of opening her gifts but we helped her along and she was impressed with her lot of stuffed animals, learning toys, and her first car! aaaaah the good old cozy coupe!!

we spent the holiday, as we usually do, spread between 3 households.  we are lucky enough to live in the same town as all of the grandparents. this means alot to me. i remember growing up getting to visit my grandparents who lived 3 hours away and it was the best thing ever.  i can still see my grandmother standing at the top of their red steps with arms wide open.  and my grandfather in his recliner handing out werthers originals. my other set of grandparents later moved to florida from new jersey and into our same neighborhood which was even BETTER. i have vivid memories of my grandfather picking me up from school with a bag of chocolate chewy chips ahoy cookies and a diet soda with a straw. heaven :)  so, it's special to me that emma's grandparents are all here and are all involved in her life in a very active way. (and may or may not sneak her bites of cookie here and there!)

that being said, it was EXHAUSTING.  being a little frazzled from work and recovering from surgery, we didn't get it together to host our first holiday at home this eyar.  next year, though, this is definitely  the plan. i want to do one christmas and i want people to come to us. i want to read "the night before christmas" to my baby and fall asleep in holiday pjs. i want to get up on christmas morning and make homemade cinnamon rolls. i want to set my own christmas table despite the fact it will never be as beautiful as my mom's. call me greedy but it's hard work traveling all over town with an almost one year old, people. especially OUR almost one year old because all she wants to do is move, shake, and explore! this holiday was no different....case and point, the picture below capturing one VERY excited emma claire.

{she's got the right idea!}

{beep beep, here comes trouble}

these are good problems to have and i am so deeply grateful for my family and their involvement in our lives. it was pure delight to get to spend the holiday with everyone and i know i am spoiled beyond belief.  all i am getting at is that it will be nice to start traditions of our own now that we have started a family.  i think next year will be just the right year to do it....emma will understand more. and i'll have a whole year to prepare, which i'll need ;)

christmas in my eyes is never in the gifts {althought they're fun!}. but, this year, i'm very excited about one of my gifts in particular. my parents purchased a copy of adobe lightroom for me. i've wanted it for SO long. for those who don't know, its a professional photo editing software that lots of professional photogs use. i'm about as UNprofessional as they get but i'm looking forward to learning the program and making some beautiful edits to our bajillion photos. i'm also hoping that it will inspire me to get out and use my camera more creatively.  i'll share the learning process here, of course!

for now, i'm receiving a belated christmas gift in the form of the flu. it has systematically hit every member of my immediate family so it was only a matter of time for me. tissues, tea, and lots of throat lozenges in store for me. i haven't even gotten out of pj's yet today....be jealous. not really. 

happy monday y'all!

oh, and in case you're interested....this is what i looked like this time LAST YEAR. just looking at it makes me ache all over. {cue ryan saying "oh my god, you're HUGE"} :) gotta love it! i'll let you guess which christmas i prefer!