Wonderful Christmas

I don't know why it's taken me so long to finish this post. This will be my third and final attempt.

The whole family had a wonderful Christmas this year! Faith wasn't her full self because she is still teething, but she still had a wonderful time with our family and friends and of course, opening lots of gifts.

We started the holidays with a party at our friends house. I was a little weary at first because this is a house that doesn't have kids so we made sure to bring some of her books and toys with us. It took her a little bit of time to adjust at first but she warmed up really quickly. She went up and down the stairs with the other kids, had a great time looking at all the ornaments and Christmas decorations on their tree, and watching daddy and the guys play the Wii. Half way through the night we had to give her her binky (pacifier) because it started to get pretty loud and crowded at the house. One of the other mommy brought a Disney movie so that kept her occupied for a while. The cute thing she said that night was when we were about to have the gift exchange, I told her that we were about to open presents and she asked, "Is it Christmas already?" So cute. I've been telling her for weeks that she couldn't peek at her presents because it wasn't Christmas yet. I had to tell her that this was an exception.

Our second party was at one of the family that we met at our mommy's group. Most of her friends from the group was there. She did a great job playing by herself. I think she was a lot more comfortable with this group of adults because she is used to being around them. Also, they had a whole play room just for the kiddos. Considering how many kids there were in the room, they were all pretty tamed. I took her by myself to the party so that daddy can rest and usually when it's just me, she is extra clingy, but this time she was independently playing for most of the night. It was nice to be able to have adult conversation without a whining clinging toddler on me.

That was a busy weekend because the next day we had a wedding reception and then our long drive to Disneyland. Faith did okay at the reception. Luckily it was at a restaurant where there was an area for her to run around outside the restaurant. Refer to the "what a difference a year makes" for our Disneyland trip.

We made a great decision this year and moved our immediate family Christmas dinner to Christmas Day instead of Christmas Eve. We usually have back to back dinner on Christmas Eve and it's just too hectic and too much food for one day that we end up not enjoying it as much as we should. This year, we finally got smarter! We went to my Uncle's house in Newark to have dinner with my extended family. It took Faith awhile to warm up. She doesn't see the family often enough for her to quickly warm up to them. The first hour she spent attached to me. Once she warmed up, she had a great time playing with her uncles and aunties. Of course, her favorite time is opening presents and then playing with everything.

My husband and I agreed that this was one of the best Christmas. The whole family slept in. We opened presents in our pajamas. Once again, Faith is extremely spoiled and got more than she needs. One of her favorite present is a bounce house from Grandma. Of course, we set it up right after we finished with presents. She loved it! It's big enough for me to jump with her as well. We spent most of our morning in it. She even had her snack in there. Then it was nap time. Faith and I both went down for a nap. The biggest reason it was so relaxing this year was because my mother in law did most of the cooking. Thank goodness for her. She is an incredible woman and I'm so grateful for such a wonderful mother in law. The only traditional food items we did this year was the ham and mashed potatoes. My mother in law made eggrolls and Vietnamese salad. We had a wonderful dinner and then we decided to go to the drive in to watch Princess and the Frog. We thought the movie was okay, but we enjoyed the experience.

Our last party for this holiday season was at our friend's house in Sacramento. I've been friends with most of these people since high school. It's wonderful how we have kept in touch for this long. It's also great that we every couple, but one has children. For the most part, Faith had a great time. I felt really bad because prior to going up, I told her that this was the house with the school bus. They have this awesome school bus that Faith loves to play with every time we are there. Except, I didn't know that they sold it. First thing she ask when we walked in was, "Where is the school bus?" She remembers things from months ago, let alone just two hours, so I wasn't surprise. She was really disappointed, but she survived. Luckily daddy is so much fun and was playing bear and bear cave with her and the other kids. I really appreciate my husband so much more at parties because he alway plays with her so that I get a chance to eat, relax, and catch up with my friends. He's also really popular with the other kids. Yet once again, she had a great time opening her present. Yes, she is a little spoiled. Okay, a lot spoiled. I think I'm living vaciously through her because I didn't have all that I wanted as a child.

It was a wonderful and stressful Christmas this year. It was great having Auntie home this year. She wasn't able to make it home last year and the holidays just isn't the same without her. Can't wait for next Christmas. It's mine and now, Faith's favorite time of year.