A common greeting this past week or two seems to be, "So, are you ready for Christmas/the holidays?" It's a perfectly friendly, well-meaning question. Nevertheless, I am not sure how to answer. What does "ready" mean exactly? Emotionally prepared? Gifts bought? Wrapped? Food planned? Centerpeice arranged? Even writing those all out makes me feel a bit overwhelmed...
There's no way around it; a lot of "work" goes into celebrating holidays. I use quotation marks, because is buying and wrapping gifts really work? Not so much. But yet, it is. Work in the sense that it takes effort and organization. I go back and forth: on the one hand, I think it's important to keep things low-stress. But at the same time, I want both us and our children to experience special holiday traditions, and those don't just create themselves.
The past several years since I've been married, I haven't gotten around to making our Christmas holidays as tradition-heavy as I would like. I always have grand plans, but never get to many of them. Somehow though, this year, we managed to make lot of things happen, despite having a new baby. I think time took care of things...the past couple of years Willa hasn't been old enough to participate much in traditions, but this year she has been so excited about everything.
Here are some pictures of our holiday activities so far. And once I get my wrapping done, I'll be officially ready for Christmas!
^^spinach balls! a christmas tradition since i was little, and i'm so excited willa enjoyed eating a few this year!^^
^^tree decorating! i missed out on most of the ornament hanging this year because i was on the couch breastfeeding, but willa did a great job with a little help from her dad. our tree is from whole foods again this year, and i think it looks good!^^
^^many hours have been spent making three batches of cookies (sugar + gingerbread). the first batch of sugar cookies had natural food coloring for the frosting. tasty, but not pretty (in the photo above, willa's attempting to make green. puke green, i suppose?). willa's favorite part is licking anything she can get her hands on. she's not as interested in eating the finished product, but she is very excited to leave some out for santa!^^
^^last saturday, we rode the bus downtown for a family adventure. we'd thought about checking out the carousel at denver pavilions, but decided to first go to union station for a hot chocolate. union station was so festive that it ended up being our only stop before dinner. we had hot drinks and cake pops from pigtrain coffee, which we enjoyed by the huge christmas tree. santa ended up being there and willa was initially really excited to see him, but as soon as it was her turn she went and hid behind a chair. i don't really blame her! he scared me a little too (he wanted to sneak up on her in her hiding place so i could get a picture? and when i declined to that plan, he suggested "photo bombing" via a different angle? chill out, santa!) after a quick dinner at illegal pete's, we took the bus home after dark and admired the christmas lights along the way.^^