It's going to be a long one! BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!! I know, I know, I said that last year too. Well it was even better this year. The girls loved presents, Santa, the Christmas spreads, being with their families (especially all of the cousins: Haley, Mariah, Shaylah, Olivia and Owen....oh especially little "Ownen"). I've spent the past two weeks of Winter Solstic and Christmas celebrations overjoyed. It's true what they say, seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child is almost better than it was when you were a child.
Pre-Christmas - the tree. Not exactly Charlie Brown but we tried to thin it out a bit and we made it work. My friends know my idea of a beautiful tree is a stick with a few branches on it. The girls helping decorate:
Two weekends ago we celebrated Christmas with Royce's Brother, Chad, Mimi, Haley, Royce's Mom and Ken. It was fun, the girls LOVE Mimi and their little french bulldog, Lokki. Chad and Mimi have a "love nest" at their house which is like a massive bean bag chair without the beans and the girls love climbing on it and being thrown into it. They love going over there. Haley (8) is growing up quickly and is as beautiful as ever, sweet as can be too.
Winter Solstice my parents came over to celebrate with us. We ate by candle light and burned a yule log as part of Solstice tradition. We enjoyed good food and drinks and let the little girls entertain, which they love to do. The girls were initially afraid of the big candle at the dinner table until I told them it was safe and it symbolized light which is a very good thing. Now before dinner every night Adia insists that I light all of the candles so we've been eating by candle light every night since!
So this pic is like take number five. I just had my old camera (aka Royce's new camera) and the battery was dying. Every time I took a shot my Dad was like "my eyes were closed!" while trying to stop laughing and the girls were squirming out of their arms. Rasa looks like a mini-granola like her Momma with that hippy band she's got on. Love it. Gotta give a shout out to Chris - thanks Hun for the birthday packages for the girls which, to the girls delight, included two Birthday Girl t-shirts, one of which Adia had to put on immediately over the top of her other shirt. Thanks Chris!
Christmas with my family is always a mess of good food, drinks, lots of conversation and laughter and enjoyment for everyone. The little cousins are wild and love chasing each other all over the house so you hear constant squeals and screams. You can't sit there without a smile on your face. Everyone has fun and hours and hours pass like minutes. This year we got there at 5 and left at 11! The girls had fun playing with Shay in their new (and amazing) wood kitchen my parents got for them. Shaylah loved it and showed them how to use everything. They played dolls in Nana's doll house, colored, stickered up everything and got to spend lots of time with their favorite baby cousin Owen. For about fifteen full minutes Rasa and Owen were both on their bellies on the floor, face to face, mimicking what each other was doing, both laughing and smiling like nothing better had ever happened to either of them! It was hysterical! Rasa is a momma bird to the core. Adia loves Shaylah and watches her every move and Shaylah is wonderful with her. Olivia likes to play along with everyone both kids and adults.
Royce, Me and the Girls spent Christmas inside, cozied up and enjoying each others company. We were all so tired from all of the excitement the days before. The day after Christmas we had a wonderful evening out as a family. We went to our favorite little stretch of NE Minneapolis on E Hennepin and shopped at my favorite baby boutique, Pacifier and then ate at our favorite little restaurant, Pizza Nea. We had brick oven pizza's and of course wine! Pizza Nea is very special to me. Royce and I have had many, many moments there. We've celebrated big birthdays and anniversaries there. We've dined over the heartache of our first failing attempts at starting a family. We also celebrated my pregnancy there and the girls first taste of pizza! I love those walls, the food and the fact that when we go, even with the girls now, it always feels like the only people who exist in the world are sitting at our table.
On Sunday we went early for dinner and we were the only people there. Adia's pick was the cheese pizza with garlic and basil and Rasa's was mine; chevron, artichoke hearts and sun dried tomato = heaven in a slice. The girls are SO good at restaurants and after they finished eating we let them run around the place and burn off some energy before we sugared them all up with a cupcake from Lunds next door :) Rasa & Adia please forgive me for the major static hat hair you are experiencing in the next couple of pics.
To put a cap on the Holiday festivities and start off a new week properly my Mom and I brought the girls downtown Minneapolis on Monday and did a tour of The Mill City Museum. It was FANTASTIC! Royce and I go to the organic farmers market outside of the museum in the summer and have been in the lobby of the museum but I had never taken a tour before then. It was really cool to take this massive elevator up eight stories all while real footage of the Mill and sound bites from former workers play when you stop on each floor to see a simulation of an event take place. When you get to the top you go into this enclosed glass patio and look over the Stone Arch bridge and the river. After that there's a big children's area where they can explore, play in water tables and even eat bread or cookies baked fresh from the kitchen lab. It's a lot of fun and my girls were completely captivated for an hour and a half.
After our museum adventure we headed to my favorite co-op in Uptown for lunch and then homeward for nap time. It was another beautiful girls day, they ALWAYS are.
I can't resist mentioning that Royce gave me the most beautiful and thoughtful gift I've ever received (aside from my girls of course!). Royce calls me Momma Bird so it's very fitting that he got me a beautiful handmade locket necklace that has a Momma bird stamped on the front and inside is a nest with two fresh water pearl eggs symbolizing my two little egss, Rasa and Adia. A momma bird and her two babies. It makes me a little teary every time I look at it and it's so very precious to me. I will cherish it forever.
You might have noticed the lack of Christmas pictures and to be honest I intentionally left the camera at home. Fall was a long photo season for this Momma and sometimes you just have to sit back and live completely in the moment allowing yourself to just be.
Love to my family and friends who give me the motivation to continue blogging for my girls. I love sharing moments with you. Telling the story is living it twice.
Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas.
1 comment:
love!!!!
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