Dear Adeline, 
It is New Years Day and we just came back from a gorgeous hike to Andrew Molera beach and to the Point Sur Lighthouse with friends. You loved playing the the grass with your sweet baby friend, licking the wind and lying in Mama's arms to look up at the crystal prisms in the lighthouse where the Fresnel lens used to be. You love light & shadows. You expressive brows show your entire thought process on that little face of yours. Like this:

"Stairs!?! Papa!!!!"

We had a great Christmas this year. Some traditions happened by accident, and some we thought would be interesting to try. We didn't grow up with a whole lot of traditions, but we knew we wanted to start a few for our little family. It was really important to both of us for the holidays to feel full of light and cheer. With you around, it's easy. What we found at the end of it all is that after being with our family, all the rest is just sweet sweet icing on the cake. Here are a few traditions we will be continuing next year along with a few that we "tried on" that just didn't fit.

Traditions to Try Again:

Attending a Tree Lighting Ceremony: This year we went to the one in Pacific Grove at the park across from the Natural History Museum. It was held the first week of December and it really set off the holiday season. We dressed you up in your warm Patagonia synchilla full body suit and tiny knit reindeer hat with the red Rudolph nose because it was so cold out. We watched the PG Middle School Choir sing Christmas carols and then sat on a bench holding you in our arms while the town counted down. 5---4---3---2---1--- you were so mesmerized by the lights. Afterward, Papa and I warmed up with some apple cider and cookies at Chautauqua Hall while watching kids wait to meet Santa, do circle dances and a few play holiday piano songs for the rest of the attendees. I don't think it really matters which tree lighting we attend in the area so long as we go in early in the season. Whichever day you are up for it will be the one we will go to!



Making Christmas Ornaments: Papa and I bought a few ornaments for the tree this year, but really wanted to try to make our own so that we could fill up the holes on the cheap. (A Charlie Brown Christmas tree looks way better dressed to the nines.) So one night we went out to the craft store seeking some inspiration and came back with the idea and supplies for glitter ornaments. Awww yeah. We spent a really fun evening listening to Christmas music and making our ornaments together. They ended up looking rad!

Final Product: Way f*in cooler than I pictured... We used "Glitter It" (google it) which was simple, quick to clean up and fun.

I also made a few "Winter Wonderland" ornaments with tiny model trees and fake snow using a glue gun and tweezers. A couple of them looked great but then I got cocky and decided to try to get a plastic reindeer in there too. But the whole reindeer wouldn't fit, so I thought it would be a good idea to cut the reindeer's head off and hot glue it inside the ornament. I thought it would look like the reindeer was emerging from a peaceful snow drift.  It looked absolutely horrific. Kind of like a severed reindeer carcass massacred on an icy tundra. Thankfully my neighbor fell in love with it so I pawned it off on her as a Christmas gift! Hah! I'm so excited to make ornaments with you next year Liney! But no reindeer massacres next year. I think we might try stamped salt dough ornaments. Good for little hands.

The ornament I made for you with your hospital hat inside. I knew I would find a way to use that tiny "preview" birth announcement they sent me!!!

Christmas Morning Tree. We had lights that switched back and forth from colored to white. The awesomeness of this was not lost on you.

Candy Cane Lane!!!!!: Candy Cane Lane is a neighborhood that gets decked out for Christmas every year. This year, we went walking around with Grandma Janet, Papa & the Aunties. We also accidentally cut in front of an entire line of patiently waiting people to take a family picture in a sleigh. There is nothing like awkward hostility during the holidays!!! This video speaks for itself I think. Even if we just do a drive-through next year, a visit to Candy Cane Lane will be worth it.

Christmas Eve Crab Dinner: Papa and I made a delicious crab dinner this year, after wondering for days what we were going to eat for the holidays. At first I was thinking we would try a raclette & potato dinner (a la francais) because that is what a girlfriend and her husband do for the holidays and I thought it sounded lovely. But then I realized I'd never done raclette and we don't have a cast-iron yet because I've been choosy about the one that I want. Also, I didn't want to end up with something I'd never cooked and a bunch of stress on Christmas Eve. So, we took a chance on 3 juicy crab legs, Papa worked his magic on garlic mashed potatoes and we set out some drawn butter. I don't think we've had a better dinner since. It was so magical with the tree lit up, Christmas music blasting and you sound asleep in your snuggly Christmas jammies.
 

Reading Twas The Night Before Christmas, Opening a Present on Christmas Eve, Christmas Jammies & String to the Grand Finale
Some of the best things we did on Christmas were kind of random. Papa had Christmas Eve off, so we decided to open one present each that night. It made the whole Christmas experience seem a little longer and more exciting. We'll definitely do that next year. I happened to buy new pajamas for Papa & I that were red, so we wore those and put you in your sweet little Santa jammies. You wore them a bunch during the season. It felt really festive & I think that's a fun way to start off December. We opened present Christmas morning (one for baby, then one for Mama, then one for Papa) and a string was tied to the tree, which we all followed to the biggest *grand finale* present. This year, it was Papa's PS4. Papa almost had a freak out when he saw it outside on the front deck!!!

So intent...

Wrapping paper thief!!!

This face. Also known as: the reason for the season.

Me decorating you amongst "the wreckage" as Papa called it.

We followed the string outside to find this little gem. I'm pretty sure he would have believed me if I said unicorns were real at this point, he was so damn giddy

 Elf-on-the-Shelf: I saw this a couple years ago and thought it would be fun to try "one day" when I had kids. Apparently that day is now. Elf was fun (mostly with me trying to "out weird" Papa in the places we hid the elf. I have serious reservations about how we'll make it work for the long haul though. I don't think we'll be able to follow the box instructions to a T. Maybe we'll keep the spirit of the elf, but ditch the book so you're not super confused when we can't remember where the elf has or hasn't been yet. It was pretty poorly written book in my opinion anyway. It seems like a pretty weird way to try to keep kids compliant... "BE GOOD OR SNARKLE THE ELF WILL SNITCH TO SANTA, OK?" Nope. Not my style of parenting. But don't quote me on that, haha. There was a good four or five day stretch where he just sat up in the same spot. Poor dude's crotch was probably burning from sitting on our track lights for that long!!!! I'm not sure how  he'll make an appearance in our home next year, but he'll definitely be around.

Francisco the Elf.

 Which leads me to the:

Never Again Traditions

6) Making Christmas Cookies on Christmas Eve & Hot Cocoa from Scratch on Christmas Day---
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. I'm not really sure why I decided I needed to bake on Christmas Eve AFTER I put together a crab dinner, but I felt like I *needed* to have a letter to Santa and cookies out from a 6-month old who was already asleep, doesn't know the meaning of Christmas and doesn't know a cookie from a coaster. Yup. Super sane. But I guess every holiday needs a little insanity. So there I was, fingers covered in cookie dough, burning one batch while I checked on the babe. Thankfully another batch turned out well, so it wasn't completely in vain. I think next year I'll bake cookies with Adeline a few days before Christmas, and then just help her set out our pre-baked cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.  SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY Much saner.  Pathetically, I reprised the chicken-with-my-head-cut-off routine on Christmas morning in order to make Tal  & I from scratch hot-cocoa before we opened presents. We were all ready to start opening, but I had the crazy idea that we needed cocoa first so I made him wait while I "whipped it up". (It took a good 15 mins.) I'll definitely mix some up beforehand and just have it on hand to warm up for the day. It was fun to sip on cocoa while opening presents, but definitely not at the expense of my sanity or patiently waiting husband.

This photo even looks crazy! On the plus side, they were crazy delicious.

 So, my sweet one, that was your first holiday in a nutshell. Some beauty, a dash of crazy, but a whole, whole lot of love. It felt so good to wake up Christmas morning with you and Papa, a tree with some presents underneath and just our little family. So, so good and right. You had so much fun ripping up and trying to eat the wrapping paper. Your favorite "present" was the redwood branch attached to one of my presents from Papa. Hahaha! You also got a stuffed animal rat from our wonderful next door neighbors and friends that you have loved on ever since. We are so blessed.

I love you my rizzy Rat. Thanks for being a part of my best Christmas ever!

Love,
Mama