You might recall that I did a lot of planning for the holidays this year. We had several traditions we wanted to start. But that was before the morning sickness hit. I have to say, we still did well. I’m quite pleased with what we managed to do this holiday season, despite my morning sickness and Andy coming down with a bad cold the weekend before Christmas that lasted through the holiday.

Aria and I read a Christmas book almost every night between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Or, to be more accurate, we read one sometime during the day. Approximately 1/3 of the time Aria got bored and slipped off my lap to go do something more engaging while I read. That was no problem – she was still hearing me. One time she did leave me altogether, and Andy laughed at me because I finished reading the book aloud to myself. What? I wanted to know how it ended. All in all, this was a very fun little tradition we started, and I look forward to continuing it next year.

We didn’t take a special trip just to look at lights, but I wasn’t married to that idea this year, anyway. Aria’s too young to get that concept. I did drive Aria past the giant Santa and his sleigh, and we saw lots of other lights over the season. Maybe this is one we’ll do more formally next year, if she seems to “get it” then.

We got our real Christmas tree, and it was beautiful. Andy helped me decorate, and Aria only drove me slightly crazy pulling the ribbon and lights off multiple times a day. By a few days before Christmas she had managed to unplug it and play with the strand so many times that it shorted out completely and we had a dark tree over Christmas. Oh, well. It was quite lovely while it lasted.

We took Aria to the Holiday Pops concert, and it was a success. She was happy and entertained through nearly the first half (over an hour), and after intermission lasted for about 15 minutes of the considerably shorter second “half”. She did great and we had fun. I look forward to doing it more in the future.

Our last big new thing was going to be our Christmas morning breakfast. I had been looking forward to it immensely, but as we approached Christmas it became clear it wasn’t practical this year. For one, Andy didn’t feel well enough to care what we ate, let alone want to cook an elaborate meal. And then there was me – from one morning to the next I couldn’t tell what would make me gag. We had a late night on Christmas Eve, so we ended up letting Aria sleep quite late and not even eating breakfast at all. We opened presents, got around, and went to spend the afternoon with family. It was a great day, and I didn’t miss the breakfast this year. I’m sure it’s something we’ll start in the future.

All around, our holidays were lovely, and I was quite pleased with what we were able to do given our limitations. We had a loose plan, and we modified it to fit where we are right now, and it all turned out quite nicely. I think the only thing that could have ruined the holidays would have been to become uptight about them, and we didn’t do that at all. It was fun!

I hope your Christmas season was as enjoyable, festive, and reverent as ours. And now, here’s to the new year! 🙂

Katy