An awesome dollhouse. A girl out of her shell. Lost tooth #5. Too much food. There was never a dull moment during Tracy's Christmas
What's better than Christmas morning with matching pajamas?
To keep on trend with all the end-of-the-year best-of lists, here's a listed recap of our fabulous holidays:
10. The weather: Frolicking in the leaves at the park on Boxing Day? Hard to believe that was us. I know it’s a global disaster, but I have to admit I loved the above-zero temps that allowed the kids to play outside without bundling up. I think it helped to get the crazies out so everyone had a great time.
9. The dollhouse: Yes, it’s amazing. And huge. I’m so happy with the quality of it and glad we spent the money for this one. The girls love it and I look forward to it providing many years of entertainment. Christmas morning really was a blast. They got some Disney princess dolls and Barbie accessories, so it was a very Barbie Christmas this year. They’re thrilled.
8. Avery: My second-born is often on the shy side, especially in big groups, but sometimes even in small ones. But this holiday season she was quite the jolly little elf and I loved seeing her chatter and giggle away with people who don’t get to see that side of her very often. She even posed for a few pictures with a big, giddy grin. I’m sure it was fuelled by all the sweets, but who cares?
7. Matching jammies: I don’t do the matching thing often (both my girls enjoy a steady stream of hand-me-downs) but I saw the adorable purple fleece nighties at Joe Fresh shortly before the holiday and could visualize my Christmas morning pictures then and there. Love them.
6. Family: We spent six days at my parents’ house, surrounded by sisters, cousins, food, fun and laughter. I joke that I love being there because my mom takes care of everyone and everything so I get to relax a little, but being with my family makes this holiday so incredibly special for us. The girls love playing with their cousins and grandparents; I love having time to sit around the table until the wee hours, catching up, playing games, and just embracing the moment. My dad also rents some ice time on Boxing Day for a Chappell Family Skate, and it’s become a great tradition to have our family and friends come out and have some fun. It's no easy thing having two additional families (including four kids and two kittens!) in your home for a week. It gets pretty crazy but my parents wouldn't have it any other way. Their' generosity is beyond words.
5. Anna’s first hockey injury: It took place in the driveway, not the rink, but I felt Anna really hit a milestone by losing a tooth during some road hockey with Dad. I’m still a little sketchy on the details but a stick hit a mouth and…at least they caught the tooth. Luckily it was already loose. (A little loose, anyway.)
4. Girlfriends: I only had a few hours with my girlfriends this time, but how I love and miss them. We were all too stuffed to even have drinks (!) on the night of Boxing Day, but at least we got a short and sweet catch-up night during the busy holidays. Too short for sure, but I’ll take it.
3. Food, glorious food: Somebody stop me. I went out today and bought one of those huge pre-made salads at the grocery store because I knew if I bought all the separate ingredients, I’d look at them, think of all that cumbersome chopping, then order pizza or something. You all know I’m defenseless against the sweets, and at some point over the past two weeks I just waved the white flag. So bad, but so good. Add me to the list of people resolving to get back on track come January.
2. Coming home: Anna was very opposed to leaving all the fun of her grandparents’ house, but said to me this morning “I’m actually happy to be back in our house now.” I know what she means. I loved being away, but it was nice to come back to our home, our beds, our space. At my parents’ place I fall back into the role of the child a little bit. Being back here reminds me of how far I’ve come — how much I’ve learned and grown and taken what my parents taught me to build a life and family that I’m really proud of. Though I’d still prefer to have my mom come and cook all my meals.
1. Feeling like we’d done it right:
Me: “What was your favourite part of Christmas, girls?”
Anna: “Watching everyone open the presents I made for them!”
Avery: “The whole thing, I think!”
Your turn! How were your holidays? Hope they were beautiful.
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