Christmas this year was a blur of family, food and driving. T handled it all like a trooper and was rewarded heartily by Santa! (aka GeeGee and Nana). She even got her own little sled!
We kicked off Christmas with my family. A celebratory engagement dinner and party (for my cousin and mom's god daughter who met at my wedding!) and a brunch for my extended family was a hectic (but fun!) lead up to the main event. On the 23rd we packed up and headed to my family's cottage, about a 4 hour drive from the farm. It is the best place in the world to be for Christmas. A log cabin, crackling fire, beautiful tree and a gorgeous view make for a pretty magical Christmas setting.
We moved Christmas up a day (I think this may be the last year we can get away with that with T) so on the 24th we opened gifts and had a wonderful Christmas dinner (my mom absolutely nailed the ginormous turkey she insisted on buying... it was the BEST!)
At the crack of dawn on Christmas Day (actually, I think 2am qualifies as the pre - crack of dawn) we hit the road so that we could be back at the farm in time for morning chores... slowly. After nearly no snow all of December, Mother Nature decided to unleash a freaking snow storm on the day we had to drive 4 hours. Beautiful, yes. Convenient, no. But, we made it back to the farm safe and sound in time for morning milking. This is a tradition I hope to continue with T. There is something so special about everyone coming together in the barn bright and early Christmas morning, sharing Christmas hugs (and a little Bailey's in the barn coffee!) and milking the cows.
The rest of Christmas Day was just a wonderful as the start. A hearty breakfast with J's family followed by gift opening and in the afternoon we headed to my sister and brother in laws for another Christmas dinner (I may have to do some sort of cleanse after the amount of food I have eaten over the last week!) and birthday celebration for my niece (Yup, she's a Christmas baby!)
Christmas this year was full of ups and downs. It was really awesome to share my family traditions with my daughter, and watch her soak in the magic of the season. As she grows up, I am really looking forward to creating some of our own family traditions too. The tough part was the palpable sadness that hovered around my family, knowing that my Dad was not there to take part in all the traditions he and my mom had created. We soldiered on, and while there were tough moments, I really feel like we did our best to celebrate the season and cherish these moments as a family.
J and I are off on a belated honeymoon (2.5 years and a baby later!) so this space will be pretty quiet until after the New Year. I'm hopping to post a little more regularly when I get back. I do find this space kind of therapeutic for me (as well as a pretty good way to document memories for T!)
Bring it on 2013! Can't wait to see whats in store.
p.s. My amazing husband bought me a DSLR for Christmas. I definitely have a lot to learn, but I think it is a vast improvement over the iPhone photos that normally grace these posts, no?
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