Holidays 2013

Since I haven't really been blogging much aside from monthly updates on Allie, I thought I would back up a little and give the overview of my holidays this year.  Obviously this was an important Christmas, since it was Allie's first!  As per usual, Christmas was celebrated multiple times because of family schedules.  Normally my brother picks a weekend in between Thanksgiving and Christmas to come visit, and this year, we actually picked the weekend before Thanksgiving to do sort of an early Christmas get together (Confused yet?  Yeah, me too).

Our visit was fun as usual, but two little ones in the mix made for a different visit than past years.  Much more planning around naps, and less time out exploring and doing other kinds of activities.  We did a bunch of lunches out, scheduled around naps, and had all our dinners and breakfasts in.

My mom had the idea to have the girls do a cooking class at The Liberty, so we did do that, while the guys watched the babies.  It was pretty awesome to be out enjoying food, wine, and good company.

The theme of the cooking class was Thanksgiving and everything was delicious!

Most of the weekend revolved around Allie and my niece.  They were pretty cute interacting.  At one point they were sharing Puffs!  We all can't wait to see what their relationship is like as they grow up.  They are exactly a year and a half apart in age, so we all think they could be close!

One of the highlights of the weekend was when my friend Lindsay took pictures of us.  She got some great shots of everyone, including the first in this post, plus this one of the girls...

A bunch of good ones of my little family...

Our Christmas card picture!

Also some cute ones of Allie and I...

I love that Lindsay got so many cute shots of everyone!

Next up was Thanksgiving, which I spent in Hilton Head, as usual.  Last year I didn't run the Turkey Trot because I was pregnant, but this year I decided to do it, even though my running could be described as pathetic at best this past year.

I actually surprised myself and pulled out a time of slightly over 28 minutes, which isn't too far off of my PR for a 5K (a little over 27 min).  I think I tend to run 5Ks when I'm really not trained to do any other distance, so my PR is not great.  Anyway, I was glad to keep the tradition alive, but I can't say that it was one of my better races.  I've resigned to the fact that I'm just not in a place where I have time to dedicate to my once beloved hobby.  I hope eventually I'll get back to it.

The rest of the Thanksgiving weekend in Hilton Head was spent doing the usual walks, shopping, and eating.

I thought Allie would be into some of the Thanksgiving foods, but most of them were not a hit.  She did have fun though.

Fast forward to Christmas.  In early December, I met Kelly at the mall for pictures with Santa!

This is a picture of a picture, but Allie did okay.  They took four pictures, and the first three were complete deer in headlights.  This was the fourth shot, which most resembled a smile.  She melted down and started to cry in the fifth shot!

We actually did a second attempt the following weekend with less professional pictures and a smaller setting.  She did much better, but I still kind of like the first picture better.

Greg was off from Saturday, December 21st til Monday, December 23rd.  I took the 23rd and 24th off to watch Allie since daycare was closed, so we ended doing our family of three Christmas on the morning of the 23rd.

This year we set up our tree in our "formal" living room instead of the family room, because it's an area less traveled by Allie and since we have a play yard set up for her in the living room where the tree normally goes.  It worked out pretty well having it there, although I probably did kind of miss seeing the tree from the kitchen and other parts of the house since the family room is more centrally located.

Allie wore a Christmas themed outfit for the occasion.

Then settled in to opening presents.  We didn't time things very well, as she had already been up a couple hours before we started.  She did well during the stocking opening portion though, and really loved the rubber ducks she found in there (she's very into ducks right now).

We ended up taking a break and putting her down for her morning nap and then resuming things later.

Clyde enjoyed his presents too.

That rubber chicken was a hit with both kids.  Allie keeps trying to steal it.

The lamb in this picture of us was a big hit.  It tells nursery rhymes and was sent to Allie by my in-laws.

Allie is pretty fascinated with it...  It was a low-key, but nice Christmas for our little family.  Greg was gone on Christmas Day, but my parents were here and we got to do the whole thing again.

Ok, I think this is officially the longest holiday recap ever.  Anyway, I think Allie enjoyed her first holiday season.  I'm sure every year it'll get more and more exciting as she starts to understand what's going on.  Even so, it was fun to watch her experience it and it definitely made the holidays more special for me and my family having her here with us this year.