Christmas, 2016

This holiday season and our traditions felt much sweeter with the addition of Owen. And while I tried (and failed) and capturing our Christmas photo at the Christmas Tree farm -- a comedy of so many errors, we both count family and the spirit of the season our greatest blessing. 

We went to Wild Lights at the Zoo, replete with friends and spiked hot cocoa. Watched Home Alone (1, 2, and 3!). Gave to those less fortunate. Grandma and Owen went to see Santa and had pancakes. Turning some of my race medals into ornaments, a simple way to personalize our tree and recall some truly memorable races. Sending out our Christmas card and filling our wall with the beautiful families of our friends and loved ones -- I love holiday cards so much I often leave them up until February. Having Eggnog French Toast (swap the milk for eggnog)  at home, just us Christmas morning and finally convinced Mark to try eggnog for the first time. Having dinner with my side of the family (we swap sides each year). And my personal favorite, donning family holiday jammies, bringing back fond memories from my own childhood.

We had some dialogue about children and instilling the importance of the season, and not gifts, deciding upon a rough guideline (something they: want, need, wear, read) to "try" keep the holiday about giving and family, not the number of presents under the tree. Owen loved the opportunity to shred tissue paper, bang on boxes, and his gifts from Santa: a few new books and a pair of winter boots. As he grows older we also love the idea of experience gifts (vacation, zoo membership, etc).

For NYE {2016/2017 resolutions} I was on call so we stayed in, ordered Thai take out (Owen loves their curry!), watched the new Ghostbusters, and had a little fun with noise makers. Both of my guys were asleep by 10:30 so I got the treat of total TV freedom (and peace & quiet), which was truly a treat.