It has been many years since Christmas has truly excited me. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my family, my brothers especially, but Christmas lost its luster for me quite some time ago. This year was different. For so many reasons. Max (oh my god. I just ran upstairs to find the largest amount of thrown up milk in Max's crib. He has had a sour stomach all day. He is back to sleep, all warm and swaddled in his chair. He will be spending the rest of the night in our room, close to me, until he is feeling better).
So....Max is the obvious reason. I found myself excited to decorate the tree, the mantle, hang the stockings and have Christmas carols playing throughout the house. I wanted Max to feel the joy of Christmas time, even though he is too young to really know why it is such a nice time of year. Neither Damien nor I are religious so for us Christmas time is just about family and spending time together. This year it was all about Max. Not just for Damien and me but for my family too (Damien's parents were in Texas visiting his sister and our niece Jayde. We missed them dearly but are happy they got to have such a great vacation!). We slept at our house and woke up super early and headed to my mom's to open gifts with my brothers and their girlfriends. Max made out quite well. Some of his highlights were a great BPA/plastic free rattle (made from cornstarch!) from uncle Dan's girlfriend Ashley, some Beatrix Potter books from his uncle Dan, a Fisher Price record player from Santa, a colorful paper weight from his grandfather, a ray gun Christmas tree ornament from Damien and me, a savings bond from his grandmother, and a lullaby written for him by his uncle Johnny. He also got some great new clothes and socks and some puppets, other rattles, a tambourine, some books and some automoblox. All in all, it was a pretty good first Christmas.
Damien and I both broke our monetary limit for one another, as we do every year. He got me some smartwool socks, a Modcloth gift certificate, which he cleverly created on his own as you can only get online gift certificates from MC, and an old fashioned looking iPod dock. I got him a porcelain coffee cup and a record player that also converts records to MP3s. I just felt that he and Max both needed their own record players this year.
The rest of Christmas day was spent with family and friends. We had an open house at my mom's house for my friends and we were there well into the next morning.
I am already looking forward to next year and all the years to come, celebrating this special time of year with my new little family.
