ho, ho, holidays 2016

It's February and I am just now posting this?  Oops.  It was written last month and I never got around to hitting post.  So, better late than never...


I had plans to give each holiday its own post.  But between all the other birthday and milestone posts I've been working on these past few weeks the holidays kind of fell by the wayside...  So, here's a combo post with a little bit about the entire holiday season of 2016.

thanksgiving

Our theme, if you want to call it that, after Oliver was born, has been to keep things as simple as possible.  We didn't plan a lot, or anything really, in the months that followed his birth.  We decided before he was even born that we would stay home through the holidays this year, and invite family to come to visit us.  In years past, we have always traveled to DC to be with Erik's family for Thanksgiving, and Tennessee to visit my family for Christmas.  Keeping in the tradition of spending Thanksgiving with Erik's family, they opted to come to our house.  His parents flew down, as did Scott and Caitrin.  We were also lucky enough to have our friends Anne and Zach join us.  Anne and Zach are both vegan and Zach is also a food blogger who loves to cook.  So when he volunteered to make most of the Thanksgiving feast, I happily agreed to it.  And feast it was, there was no shortage of plant-based deliciousness on our table.  I think there were three different kinds of "meat" plus all the usual fixins.  And pies, three delicious homemade pies (thanks Zach!!)  Even the non-vegans agreed it was a wonderful meal.  And during the gathering it was realized that we had all sort of matched our outfits, completely unplanned.  So here is the photographic evidence of our well-coordinated gathering...

family pic minus the babe who was napping

Arlo, me, Erik, Caitrin, Scott, Jill, Rich, and a Lucy head

plaid boys

grey girls

The rest of the long weekend was pretty low key.  Erik and I got to enjoy a date night out with Scott and Caitrin while the grandparents watched the kiddos.  Arlo was sad to have everyone leave, but no one was more upset than Lucy, who entered into a full 24 hour depression after Papa Richard left.  He spoils her with two walks and more attention in a day than she receives all week.  She has fully recovered thankfully and I know we are all already looking forward to their next visit.

christmas

Before the holidays even hit this year, Erik and I planned on a very low key Christmas, keeping the gift giving as simple as we could.  Even though it doesn't feel like we buy much for the kids throughout the year, the little toys here and there, combined with gifts and free secondhand toys given to us by friends and family really seem to add up.  I spent hours in the weeks before Christmas clearing out toys and books from the playroom, and packed up several grocery bags worth of stuff to donate.  I knew more toys were coming and "too much stuff" in general has been a big stressor for me lately.

When we asked Arlo what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas this year, he initially told us "a pillow, a Christmas flower, and a spoon and fork."  Later in the month he decided on a flashlight and was consistent in his request from then on.  Fortunately, flashlights are easy to come by.  We also bought him a memory matching game and a Richard Scary book, which is definitely his new favorite book.  I loved Richard Scary books as a kid and even though compared to todays books they are rather dated, I knew Arlo would love his style.  Since Oliver is a baby and needs nothing at this point in his life, we opted to wrap up a few of Arlo's old baby toys as his gifts.  It ended up working out great, Oliver is just coming into the age where he can start playing with baby things and as well it was a great transition to hand down some of Arlo's old toys.

We went with friends to visit Santa the week before Christmas.  Arlo was so excited to see him and both boys sat on his lap without any tears or meltdowns. We went to visit Santa at a new location this year, a local sporting goods store that really goes all out for the holidays.  They provide you with a free professional photo and wooden frame, as well they let you take as many of your own photos that you want. There are also kids crafts set up along with all the other fun things the store has on display year-round.  We made a whole morning out of it and Arlo had a great time.

My family came to stay with us for Christmas this year, including my sister Megan who flew in from Chicago. The days leading up to Christmas had Arlo asking us which morning that Santa was going to come.  Finally, Christmas eve arrived.  We all watched Elf together (and Home Alone after Arlo went to bed - this is a tradition Megan and I have done since the year it came out) and after the movie we put out cookies for Santa.  Except we didn't actually have any cookies so Arlo suggested we leave Santa cashews and almond milk.  And since Santa gets so many cookies already we decided that was a fine idea and Arlo happily put them next to the fireplace.  And then proceeded to eat nearly the whole bowl, ha.  I did convince him to save a few for Santa before he went off to bed.

The next morning Arlo was very excited to wake up and see the presents under the tree.  We waited for the whole family to wake up and migrate downstairs, by which time Oliver had already fallen asleep for his morning nap.  So we let him sleep while we all opened presents and set his gifts aside in a pile.  I promise kid, we won't do this in years future.  My favorite part of the gift opening was how Arlo responded to it.  He would find a present under the tree, and we would tell him whose name it had on it.  He would then take the present to that person and either help them open it or stand next to them and wait patiently while they opened it, and then reacted with amazement at each gift.  He was as excited for everyone else to open their gifts as he was when he found one for himself.  Geez, I love him.

The rest of the weekend with family was spent much like Thanksgiving, somewhat lazy but also productive as Erik and I got to sneak away for a little alone time again.  And I decided to go for a hike and then run four miles all on the same morning which was a terrible idea because I am still, nearly three weeks later, dealing with a knee injury.  Gah.  Anyway, another nice holiday season with family in the books.

Thanksgiving, twenty-fifteen

Last week we headed up to the D.C. area to spend Thanksgiving with Erik's family.  We actually took a quick trip up there two weeks prior that I didn't blog about, we had flown up to celebrate Erik's Moms birthday.  I won't say how old she is but I will say it was quite a milestone and we had a great trip!  On this most recent trip we drove, and this was our first road trip with Arlo in many months.  We have been fortunate enough to have flown on our last three trips, and well, I guess we were quite spoiled by it!  I had forgotton just how much fun it is to drive long distances with a toddler.  And by fun I mean several hours of launching his books/toys/shoes into the front seat, protesting his car seat, and me eventually sitting in back with him letting him watch Thomas the Tank Engine on my phone.  Desperate times, desperate measures.

We arrived at Erik's grandparent's apartment early in the evening the day before Thanksgiving.  It's only about a half a days drive to get to D.C. but it always seems to take us an entire day by the time we add in food and bathroom breaks.  On this trip it was particularly long due to the fact that we decided to stop at Ikea on the way, not only to shop but to have dinner and let Arlo burn off some steam.  Erik and I had taken a trip to the NC Ikea the weekend prior but they were out of a few key items that we had gone there for, fortunately we were able to get them on the drive up.  Arlo had a blast running around and rearranging the entire kids toy area.

Our Thanksgiving was filled with the traditional food + football (and also chasing around an almost-two-year-old in a house that is not at all childproofed!)  For dinner we had our usual Celebration Field Roast (it's wrapped in a puff pastry and tastes amazing!) plus all the fixins' vegan style: mashed potatoes, stuffing, asparagus, quinoa, and even dessert thanks to Erik's very accommodating family members.  Arlo ate pretty much everything besides the asparagus, and he loved the stuffing.  Here are a few photos:

The next morning we went to the Smithsonian's National Zoo in downtown DC.  Arlo loved seeing all the animals, but got a little nervous when he thought an elephant was coming a little too close...

That afternoon Erik and I snuck away for a little alone time while Memere and Papa babysat.  We went to see our first movie in something like three years.  I can't even remember the last movie we saw - it's been that long!  I know it was long before Arlo came into the picture.  Movie theaters certainly have changed since then, either that or we just ended up in a really fancy theater.  All of the seats were huge, plush recliners, totally lazy boy style.  I realized then and there that Erik and I really need to get out more often if movie theaters have changed that much since we last went out!   We had originally planned to see The Good Dinosaur (it is a Pixar cartoon about a dinosaur named Arlo!!) but decided we would rather watch that as a family when Arlo is a little older.  Instead we saw Brooklyn which I thought was quite good, Erik though it was okay but not great.  Still, any time we can spend just the two of us is always a treat!

After the movie we met up with Memere and Papa for dinner, here is a pic of the boys side of the table:

The next day we headed back into the city to visit a few museums.  We started at the National Museum of American History to see the huge transportation exhibit.  I knew it would be a hit with our little plane/train/car loving little guy, but it was amazing to see just how excited he got.  He kept saying "wow!" and loved checking everything out.  I think the trains might have been his favorite but you'll have to ask him...

We then headed over to the Museum of Natural History.  Arlo loved seeing the snakes, lizards, and fish but this is also one of my favorite exhibits in DC.   I got to "pet" a funky beetle but passed at holding the giant hissing cockroach.  I really do love insects, snakes and lizards but draw the line at spiders and cockroaches!

Also, while we were there I developed the special ability to grow the Washington Monument straight out of my head!  I have always wanted to be a unicorn  ;)

And Memere and Papa with Arlo outside the museum:

We headed back to NC late that afternoon and besides about 45 minutes of car seat protesting, it was a rather uneventful drive back.  The day after we got home I might have spent all day decorating for Christmas... more on that soon!


One last thing.  Let's compare last years trip to this one:

Arlo went from baby to little boy while Blanca didn't change a bit!