Griffin's First Christmas

Griffin's first Christmas proved to be the most exciting time of the year for us all.  At long last we got to meet our first little Nephew, Adrian, who was born just a few days before Griffin.  Dave's grandparents also came down from Oregon to spend their Christmas with us.  The house was full of people, but more so, excitement--lots and lots of it.  Not only was it Griffin's best Christmas yet, it was mine too.

After getting settled in, we all made a voyage out into the cold evening to look at the mesmerizing Christmas windows downtown.  Even though it was absolutely freezing, the company was great.  And as usual, Griffin slept through the whole trip.

Christmas Eve rolled around rather quickly.  We spent the afternoon with the Jeffers' side of the family.  Dave's mom made the most delicious Christmas dinner of standing rib roast and corn pudding and cranberry chutney...oh...I wish I could go back and have that meal a thousand more times.  After dinner we listened to the Christmas story got ready to open gifts.  Griffin seemed to have a bit of a tummy ache later in the evening, so he didn't care for much of anything.

For the last couple of years Dave and I had been celebrating our Christmas at midnight after we get home from his parents.  We found no reason to change that this year, so we continued on with our tradition.  Griffin was feeling a little better and was finally ready to play with a few of his toys.  Griffin and Dave made sweet music with his new little keyboard.  After a while of playing and realizing that it was way past bedtime, Griffin doozed off probably dreaming of sugarplum fairies and whatnot.  Being like I am, I found this to be the perfect opportunity to do this:

Early Christmas morning my mom and brother came over to celebrate.  Dave cooked breakfast for all of us and Griffin was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.  Maybe he realized that there was something special about that day.

Around noon we headed to my dad's house to continue the celebrating.  There was a full house there as well. I managed to forget GV's diaper bag, therefore feeling like a terrible parent.  He slept through most of our time over there, so as luck would have it, I wasn't the worst mom in the world.  We woke up to play with his Grandad, his uncle, and all of his sweet aunts.

It was a long week, but well worth it.  Griffin got lots of awesome gifts and I'm excited to see him playing with them soon.  Like I have previously mentioned, family took on a whole new meaning this year.  It was so nice to celebrate as a little family of three this year; and it really felt so fabulous to be the mom of the greatest little gift I've ever received.  At the same time, it was unbelievably amazing to celebrate with the loving families to which we belong.

Merry Christmas!

This year has proven to be much more merry and bright than the years past.  I am defining "family" a bit differently now, and to me, that's the most important part of the holidays.  This morning (Christmas Eve) Griffin woke up with wide eyes and just kept smiling--I think he may just know what's going on.

Merry Christmas!  I hope yours is filled with lots of love and yummy food.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Griffin may not realize it now, but we LOVE Christmas.  Especially his dad.  If he could he would light our entire house and yard with lights.  I really can't wait to see Griffin get excited about Christmas too.  I can't wait to see him and Dave on the roof hanging lights or for him to help pick the year's tree or hang his own ornaments on the tree.  I know that I'll be seeing all these things happen before I know it. 

I believe that my favorite part of the holiday season is tradition.  I love counting on certain things to happen their certain way each year.  My family didn't really have any Christmas traditions that I remember, except that we had to stay at the top of the stairs until Dad got the camera cued. But I enjoyed that.  Sometimes I find myself missing waking up early Christmas morning running down the hall to wake my parents; but soon I'll be the one being woken up.  Soon I'll be starting our own family traditions, and that excites me.

Dave's family has tradition of giving each child an ornament every year.  Dave has all of his including his first.  So we've continued the tradition with each other.  Our tree is mostly all Dave's ornaments and only a few of my own that I've acquired in the last five years and the dogs even have a few.  And now Griffin has his very first ornament hanging from the tree.  This is just the beginning of his collection that I am excited to add to.

Last year Dave and I did Christmas pictures of us and the dogs.  It was our first Christmas as a married couple, so it was fun to do.  This year I almost didn't want to send cards, then I kicked myself and realized what holiday it was.  I would have been sad for ages if we had not taken pictures of our first Christmas as a little family.  I will post the final picture of this year's card soon, but for now I'll give you an outtake.  I didn't even think of how difficult it was going to be to pose a baby and two dogs.  Difficult, but worth it.

Griffin, who had been calm for the whole weekend, decided he wasn't happy about the camera being out.  Jack, who's usually the photogenic one, wasn't in the mood either and kept trying to run away or lay down and sleep in the middle of a shot.  But Lucy was pretty good, except for getting easily distracted by Dave or Griffin or the voices in her head.  After what felt like 1000 pictures, we finally got ONE that worked.

Griffin has been impressing us with his development lately.  Not only is he making eye contact with us all the time, he's following objects with his eyes more consistantly.  I didn't realize that one day I would be so astonsished with someone staring at things like I am with him.  I've also caught a few smiles.  In the evenings while Dave is working on his homework, Griffin and I will have conversations that consist of him cooing and we'll work on his leg and neck muscles, and a couple of times he's smiled right at me.  Can't wait for that smile to be permanently glued to his face.