Christmas time
Christmas has come and gone and the only trace of it in our house are the straggling decorations I’ve yet to put away. In a very uncharacteristic move of mine, I took the tree down the day after Christmas. While I love the beauty of a Christmas tree, ours was beyond a fire hazard it was so dry. Plus it was such a temptation for Quinn. I was done pulling her away from the tree for the 453456532 time in fear that she’d actually chomp down on the little lights.
It was a year like none other for me. It was the first time in my life that I did not spent Christmas with my parents. It had long been a request of Jake’s, even before Quinn was born — that he wanted us to have our first family Christmas, together, in our house. I was both excited and a bit sad at the idea. And while I know that as a family we will spend many many more holidays seasons with my parents, this year was a passage into the next season in our life. I was happy to be able to celebrate the holidays, with just us and our new family.
Christmas morning came and we plopped Quinn down in front of her gifts and let me say, this girl knows what to do when you put paper in front of her. She happily tore the gift wrapping off and was thrilled at the prospect of all of this delicious paper. Luckily, what was inside the colorful paper was a good distraction from her unending pulp cravings. She loves her new toys and is especially thrilled with this one and this one.
While the day started out almost like any other day, it quickly got into full swing. I began preparing our first family turkey. Thanks to Arctic Blast 2008, the city of Portland had been basically shutdown for the past 5 days. However in spite of the weather, we invited Jake’s folks over for dinner. And there was no way his parents were going to set a rubber tire on the roads, but Jake was more than happy to venture out in the all wheel drive Volvo.
It was during this time that Jake was gone, I checked on the little 13 pounder turkey and had a momentary freak-out when I saw the little “button” had popped out. WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO? After being unable to reach Jake or his parents by phone to have them answer this question, I took a couple of deep breaths and got my bearings. I placed the ever hovering baby in her highchair (who can by the way say “HOT” but does not yet really know what “HOT” means), and took the bird out of the oven. I double checked the temp with our trusty thermometer and sure enough, it was ready to devour. Jake returned with his parents and we had a great time. I don’t think I was ever so excited to see family members. Being cooped up in the house for over 7 days straight was really wearing on me.
Our Christmas continued yesterday when we headed over to my in-laws for a celebration with Jake’s brothers family. Quinn had a blast, despite barely napping prior to the event. She is in awe of her older cousins, and loves watching them run circles around her. The day was not without it’s baby milestone either. Quinn took 5 steps on her own. And can I just say that it was very cool of her to tackle such a milestone in front of many family members. We kept trying to get her to take more steps, but she’d do the baby-lung-forward thing where she just falls into whoever is closest to her. But still, she did walk on her own.
So today is Sunday and the Christmas celebrations are finally over and done with. Even more importantly, the snow is FINALLY melting, which I am very thrilled about. I can now continue my rigorous routine of running to Target for a never ending need of baby diapers, wipes & other miscellaneous super essential must have items.
Jake and Christine- Quinn is so beautiful and I loved reading about her first Christmas and first steps! Great job on the turkey, Christine, and maybe I’ll see you at Target one of these times (I am there at least three times a week! I should just work there so at least I’d get a discount).
Happy New Year!
Elisabeth