Our Christmas was a little different this year. Of course, it was our first Christmas as a married couple, which was fun and exciting! Then, with Harris getting his promotion, and since they wouldn't have hired his replacement before the end of the year, he agreed to work a few days in his old job. Two of those days were Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Now, it ended up not being a big deal at all - he ended up not really even having to work at all on Christmas Day, but it did mean we were tied to staying in Norfolk. We were very excited about getting to spend this holiday together, and, while we would have loved to see all of our extended family, it was also fun to start some of our own traditions this year.
Santa had left an early present under our tree withe instructions that it should be opened on Christmas Eve. Inside, we found new pajamas for the family, hot chocolate and mugs, a box of popcorn, and copies of Elf and It's A Wonderful Life! You may have seen on the Christmas post, or on Instagram, for that matter, but, Lucy was not a fan of pajamas! She will wear a sweater or what have you, but I think the PJs on her legs was just too much for her. She was pitiful, but adorable.
Cookies were baked on Christmas Eve from the cake mix cookies recipe, and, after our traditional Thai takeout for Christmas Eve (fa-ra-ra-ra-ra, anyone?), we settled in with some eggnog and cookies to watch It's A Wonderful Life. Oh, that Jimmy Stewart. Just simply one of the best movies ever.
Christmas morning started off bright and early around here! Harris & Lucy were up at 3am (I woke up, and then proceeded to doze in and out of consciousness for another hour or so). We made some cinnamon rolls, turned on the tunes, and then set about the business of opening presents! Lucy was very helpful in the opening of all presents and stockings, not just her own. We got some really great stuff, including almost everything on each of our wish lists (Harris, Courtney, Lucy)! Harris said his favorite gift was the gift set from the Art of Shaving that I gave him, Lucy's was clearly the blue bone-like toy with taggies that was on her wish list, and mine was a Pandora bracelet from Harris!
Harris did such a great job of giving me a meaningful and special Christmas present (FYI - he is the best gift giver in the family). The charms he chose for my bracelet were: a flip flop (to represent our first date at the beach), a puppy (for our first child), a hot air balloon (for our engagement), and, for our wedding, a passport and a red pave heart. I loved it! (and cried, of course).
We made it til 10am before the Champagne was popped, and then it poured freely until lunchtime (when the wine was opened!).
Later in the day, when catching up with my friend Michelle about Christmas and her kids, I got the following text (just a bit of humor for any of my coworkers who read this blog):
We spent the remainder of the day eating, napping, talking to family via FaceTime, and so forth. Overall, it was such a wonderful day, and we created lots of fun family memories. The rest of this week, Harris will be working, and Lucy and I will be alternating between working hard (around the house), and hardly working (also around the house). It will probably be much more of the latter, but, shhh...don't tell!
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