Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Yada Yada Yada

Well, I know everyone can relate but it's just been a whirlwind since Thanksgiving!  Plus, I've been having some blogger troubles and...well, what's a post without pics!?!?  Thankfully, I've got that figured out now!

So...what have we been doing other than Christmas shopping, decorating, playing with Luke, wrapping up the year at work, travelling, spending time with family and friends, cooking, cleaning....yada, yada, yada?  WELLLLLLLL....  I took off work from the December 21 through January 2!  It was UH-MAAAAAY-ZING.  I honestly wondered if this much time at home with a crazy almost toddler would send me running back to work relieved, but (*sigh*) no such luck.  It just made it harder to go back!  Kels's comment was that "some people don't even take that long after they have a baby!".  Touche, my love.  Touche.

But I digress..... back to The Holidays!

We headed to OKC for early Christmas celebrations with that side of the family.  Luke decided he wants to watch a 3:00 minute movie trailer, on repeat for the entire three  two hours.  Which of course is really convenient because I don't have one of "dem fancy DVD player thingies" in my car.  Um, hello, my car is almost as old as my college diploma-- I love it, but never really saw the need for a DVD player.  So, I sit in the back with the iPad (in the seat originally intended for the dog!) and start and re-start the 3:00 Angry Birds Star Wars trailer for the majority of the drive.  Okay, so it wasn't that bad, especially since the movie kept him busy, but I certainly added a DVD player for my car to NEXT year's Christmas list!

Disclaimer:  This MIGHT actually be from our Thanksgiving trip up.  Who can remember at this point!?!?!?

Luke got lots of loot from his cousins and Grammy and Pop and he loved spending time with everyone!  We played at his cousins house during the day and cuddled with Grammy and Pop at night.  He even got to meet one of his daddy's friend's new babies, and he actually was really sweet with him!  Luke didn't take Pop up on the fillet we had for Faux Christmas Dinner, but one day soon, I'm sure we're in trouble!  We didn't think to get a group shot with all of us together so, maybe soon!

Luke playing with his cousins and Aunt Kristin

He had so much fun out of town that he actually slept on the way home.  SCORE one point for mommy!

Next up was Christmas with our local side of the family.  We went to church on Christmas Eve (where we promptly took up a whole row to sit together, yes we are that family) and as long as Luke could stuff yogurt melts in his mouth, he was fine.  So, when we ran out of melts just as communion was about to end, daddy quickly rushed lil dude out of the service.  We hustled home, changed clothes and headed to nana and papa's for a yummy steak and lobster dinner!  (No turkey this Christmas!  We rocked beef tenderloin at both sides of the family --- which is FIIIIIIIINE by me!)

I swear, it doesn't matter that we get together with my extended family almost once a week...all eight adults and three kids, nearly every Sunday for dinner.  It's still crazier on Christmas.  And to compare this year to last, when Luke slept or cried the majority of the time, is just crazy!  The boys were all over the place but my niece does a great job keeping them in line!  That being said, we didn't get a group shot there either!

But, guess what?  The next morning, we woke up to realize that Santa left stuff at our house for Luke -- AND at his Nana and Papa's!

We celebrated at home and opened gifts, pretty quickly actually since Luke just wanted to play with the last thing he had opened.  Then we joined back up with the fam, for more gifts.  Talk about spoiled!  Some of the best gifts for Luke were:

his tunnel/ fort

his school bus with a slide for the "emergency exit"

a huge sucker

another play tent with Thomas the train

lots of toy cars, a car wash station, a guitar and trains...all things boy, this boy loves!  The tunnels and forts have been a blast so far, and they keep him busy and literally laughing out loud, forever!  If you need a gift idea for a 1 - 2 year old I definitely recommend the fort and tunnels and tents!!!!

So, Dallas actually had a white Christmas this year!  We got between 4 and 5 inches of the good powdery stuff up north by us.  Typically it's just ice, so we of course had to bundle up the "baby" and take him out to "play".  So, my "baby", my bald baby, doesn't like hats.  At all.  By the time we got him bundled up enough to go "play", he was so mad he threw a fit outside and landed in the cold snow.  And he was DONE FOR.  No snow for Luke, this year.  Total time spent preparing to play in the snow = at LEAST 30 minutes.  Total time outside in the snow = 2 minutes.  Mommy FAIL.

The good news is, we did document it, so we can relive the laughing!


Basically, between the time off work, and the nasty weather that limited getting out and about, Luke and I got lots of time to play with his new toys!  Daddy had to work most of the time, but we came up with a plan to put the toys in big baskets in his closet and we'll switch them out to keep the newness of the toys and avoid ADD from the whole, look at this, play with this, what do you think of this!  We laid around in the mornings and watched movies at night.  See?  He even likes to sit sideways in the chair like his mama.

That's his feet in the footed jammies, kicked up on the armrest next to mine.  Hilarious that he lounges!

And we danced.  Not much makes me happier than a dancing baby!  It's hilarious.  Of course the one time I tried to video tape him dancing to jingle bells he started to act all sleepy but...we left the singing Santa out in hopes of getting a video before Santa goes in the attic till next year.  Cross your fingers, k?  Here's a mild booty pop on the off chance that we can't get him to break it down on camera soon!

We were also lucky enough to have several dinners out with friends that we don't see as often as we'd like.  We laid around, ran errands and just spent time as a family.  With all the sadness (from Sandy Hook to the stories on Facebook that leave me bawling and wondering "what I can do?"), I took the opportunity to do something.... to do something for my family and spend time undistracted and relishing in our little accomplishments.  I'm typically a "grass is greener" kinda gal but my goal for 2013 is to soak in the details of our life.  Speaking of goals, New Year's was low key and we did fun things like pose dinosaurs on sippy cups.  but we are so blessed for a great 2012 and look forward to what 2013 will hold. 

OH!  And, since I ended up rushing on our cards and not sending out as many as I would have liked, if you didn't get yours, please know that we still love you.  Here's your virtual card--- it's a little blurry since it's my proof but ya get the idea!

As I look towards the new year, I feel like there's a lot of sadness "out there".  Between the daily news and the never-ending updates on Facebook and other social media, my heart has hurt lately.  From Sandy Hook, to a high school friend who's wife (she's my age) is fighting for her life (a great life with her husband and their four young kids), to a friend-of-a-friend's son fighting cancer (he's just 18)....it's all around us.  It's like we take our news intravenously and it's always there, ever present.  Everyone knows someone going through some crisis or another.  I'd like to propose we all try to spread some random joy in whatever way possible.  I know with Anne Curry's idea of 26 random acts of kindness, there's got to be lots of good going on.  It just seems like sometimes it's more sensational to focus on the bad...or on a personal note it's my nature to be a bit pessimistic.  I'll try to blog about things I am doing to spread cheer...not to toot my own horn but because I think we need some joy to be creeping into our daily lives.  As an example, check out my friend's amazing blog at  Long Live Happy.  She posts her random acts of kindness and it always makes me smile. THAT'S the good stuff.  And THAT is what I'm determined to live, share and spread in 2013. 

So, here's to the New Year.  May we find more joy in each day and more ways to share it with those around us.  I find joy in my family daily...now, it's time to share it with the world and spread a little happy!  Happy New Year!