We sure did; it was pretty much the perfect Christmas. This year, we were headed to West Texas for a nice Christmas break. Before we left, little E. had her own very lovely Austin Christmas at my mom and stepdad's house. Lots of WAY too generous presents for all three of us, more vino, delicious food, and 3 sets of grandparents and great grandparents doting on her every second. This little girl lives a very charmed life.
(rare headband appearance...I generally prefer her to rock her sweet little bald head, but I loved this one. It came with this precious outfit from her stepgrandmother.)
Eliza's least favorite gift: the babysitter money - a gift of a "night out" from my mom to us.
Everytime my grandmother sees Eliza: "Ohhhh, you PRECIOUS thing"
The nice thing about a Christmas away is, you get it all done early and once you leave you can just enjoy the season. Of course, the morning we left was a true low point in our marriage (as most mornings before we leave for big trips are). We are very different creatures - 95% of the time to our advantage as a couple - but packing for trips is one area where we are just flat out NOT compatible. Maybe that's something we can work on in the new year. Once we are in the car it's always as if it never happened, but let's just say at 8 AM on December 22nd the Christmas spirit had been sucked right out of the Miller house.
This sums up our pre-Christmas travel meltdown nicely:
A few snippets of our Panhandle Christmas:
Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go:
Mulled wine and a little shoe eating over at Auntie Em's new casa
Playdate with Lisle, E's Amarillo friend (just 6 days younger). They hold hands.
Christmas Eve is my favorite Eve in the whole year. I just love it, and I become a total sap; I've been known to drag my very own Saint Nick to two Christmas Eve services in one night. I am so overcome by the joyful music, the celebration, the singing choirs of angels, the sweet Silent Night. Last year during Christmas Eve service, I was tearing up listening to the music, thinking of the baby I was just starting to feel wiggling around, and prayed for it/her to be safe and healthy. One year later, with my happy, healthy baby girl wiggling restlessly in my arms, chewing anything she could get her chubby little fingers on, I counted every single blessing, prayed for each little and big worry on my mind and just burst into tears, almost beside myself in the middle of the service. In other words, a blubbering Christmas fool. Overcome with emotion, and all the many blessings and people I am thankful for this year.
{especially this}
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I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted of Eliza's first Christmas morning. While I love attempting to capture the little every day moments of our life with my camera, sometimes I need to be IN the moment. Thus, I totally neglected my camera and I'm really kicking myself now. Mama fail. But it felt right at the time, so, c'est la vie. Thank goodness for the iPhone, and our new video camera - one of Eliza's Christmas presents from us. She'll thank us one day!Ah, Christmas Eve: a time for little ones to stay up way past their bedtime in their fancy Christmas best.
And for parents to stay up even later, enjoying
Ho Ho Ho. Party winds down. Watching It's a Wonderful Life. Santa makes an appearance. Ho Ho Ho. More wine? Don't mind if I do...
Ah, Christmas morning: Managing the repercussions of the previous night's poor judgment, clouded by festive merriment making, is slightly easier with a wide-eyed baby. Even if they are the reason you don't ever. sleep in. again.
Wrapping paper. Score.
Surrounded by the haul. She has no idea what it all means, but as witnessed at her playdates and parties, girlfriend loves her some new toys.
This is where I add in my obligatory disclaimer that Christmas is, obviously, TRULY, not about the haul. My wheels have been turning on the best ways to introduce giving to those in need into her Christmas traditions when she gets a little older. But this Christmas was all about our families coming together around the new baby, and I'm very proud of us, and all our families for keeping the "haul" under control. With four sets of generous grandparents/great-grandparents, and the first baby on all sides' first Christmas, I was bracing myself, imagining an epic IKEA run on December 27th, returning home with numerous new toy storage solutions for Saint Nicholas to put together while he watched bowl games.
Oh, and it also took a LOT of self-restraint on Santa's part; I heard at one point he actually returned a large plastic thing or two to the North Pole, citing a lost mind as the reason for return. The mantra of the season: Babies do not need one bazillion plastic things to keep them busy! Repeat.
Anyway, she received SO many sweet, thoughtfully chosen, timeless gifts she will have now and much longer from now, and of course, plenty of nice new toys too. But we are not overrun and our living room still looks like a living room, while still providing hours more fun for the sweet gal of the moment. Thank you, thank you to our wonderful families for all her precious gifts!
Christmas with your own little baby, and your family, is an entirely new experience. So special. So different than any Christmas before it.
And hard to put into words. But, it looks a lot like this:
And hard to put into words. But, it looks a lot like this:
(Reading our big Christmas gift - an Eliza photo book from us to our families).
A magical first Christmas, from start to finish.
Hope yours was equally wonderful. Part 2 coming as soon as I can get the rest of the pictures uploaded; camera is being finnicky...just finish off the song in the title and you'll know where it's headed. This little lady really DOES lead a charmed life - her first white Christmas right out of the gates?! I waited 30 years for a proper white Christmas.Wishing you all many merry and bright days in the new year ahead! xo
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