Ethan's First Christmas

Todd and I were so excited to be with Ethan on his first Christmas. There is something so much more magical when you have a baby involved.  It started the first weekend in December when we started putting up Christmas decorations. This is actually late for us because we usually start decorating in November. However, spending time with Ethan was a little more important to us this year instead of spending hours on decorating. So, we decided to still decorate of course but just scale it back a bit.  We still put up our outside lights (just not as many) and we put our Christmas village up over the fireplace. We still put up our two trees - one in the formal living room and one in the family room. This is our favorite time of year.  Putting that Christmas music on and getting out the decorations just puts the biggest smile on your face. Todd and I will banter back and forth about who is going to put the village pieces up first and who is going to put the favorite ornaments on the tree  We are like kids ourselves.  Just thinking about how Ethan will know what is going on next year since he will be over 1 years old and how he can be involved with the decorations just warms our heart already.  My mother in law Jacki was able to come down from Jacksonville to be involved with the Christmas decorations. I think she laughed to herself a lot hearing Todd and I banter back and forth about who gets to put the favorite ornaments up. Let me explain a little more. As I mentioned before we have two Christmas trees. The one in the formal living room is a themed tree and the theme is basically the colors of blue and silver with lots of crystal ornaments. It is gorgeous. Our family room tree is the tree the represents all the memories of our life. Todd and I will get ornaments that mark every occasion or special event. Whether it is the puchase of our new home, bridal/baby shower, trips to France, Italy and Switzerland, trips to all of the islands we have been to, ski trips, and even funny purchases. For example - when Todd got his new grill when we moved into our new home my mom got him an ornament of a grill. Every Christmas we relive these memories and feel blessed beyond measure for the life we have. See the thing is that life has its ups and downs and we know that we are currently in a very special up in our life (having a baby makes you want to sing from the rooftops with happiness)  and when a down comes around in our life we can always smile when we decorate our family tree. Todd was funny this year. We got this beautiful set of baby's first Christmas ornaments from Jacki's friend Evelyn. When I noticed them towards the bottom of the tree I asked Todd why they were down there? I wanted them in the middle of the tree! He said that he put them in order of our life. So the top of the tree was the bridal shower and the wedding and honeymoon. Then the middle of the tree was the purchases of our old townhome and some of our island vacations. So on and so forth.  Let's just say I can see why Todd is an engineer. Very analytical.

Christmas Eve we went to my grandma's house and Ethan got to be with both grandma's and both great grandmas. What a treat! This was very special as well because Todd's grandma came down from Pensacola and met Ethan for the first time. We had just a lovely visit and to see the smile on great grandma's face was so wonderful. Christmas day was filled with more love and lots of cooking since we were having nine people over that day which consisted of my mom, my dad, my mother in law, Todd's grandma, Aunt Caren, Uncle Frank, Jamie my cousin, and Todd and I.  We made lasagna and it came out so delicious! We also made baked ziti, garlic bread, salad, and for dessert my mom brought over an assortment of muffins and my aunt and uncle brought over a pumpkin pie. We opened all of Ethan's gifts on Christmas from Santa and of course he didn't know what was going on but he told me later that he felt lots of love. :)

Tis the season!! See pictures below...