If you have ever waited days on a returned message from me, it should come as no surprise that I am still swimming in all things Christmas two weeks later. I feel like Christmas this year came so fast. It feels like just yesterday I was ahead of the game when Toys R Us had their closing sale; I stocked up on Christmas gifts for Beckham and all of our nieces and nephews back in April, thinking to myself that we would have an easy Christmas when it came to shopping. Wrong! Thankfully my good friend, Amazon, came through at the last minute and saved the day.
In all the gift-giving hype of Christmas, I hope that Beckham will grow to understand the reason for the season. Although neither of us grew up in a super religious home, my hope for Beckham is that he becomes well versed in what exactly we are celebrating. Last year, we started the tradition of baking goodies for the fire department as a start to giving back to our community and showing our gratitude for others. I fully planned on doing the same this year for our local departments and police stations, but sickness took over in our household this year. We will have to make up for it next year!
We wanted to kick off the holidays this year with a gingerbread competition with the family. With two different pot roasts in the ovens and a full layout of gingerbread house goodness, our plans changed at the last minute. The best friend came through and saved the day on a moment’s notice, bringing Beckham’s BFF over to decorate. Beckham’s attention span is about 6 seconds long, so for the most part, he was eating candy and I was decorating. We had a good time (and A LOT of leftover pot roast)!
My holiday bucket list was about a mile long, but with the ongoing plague in our household, we only made it to a small fraction of the events we had planned. Of course, a visit to see Santa was non-negotiable. Last year went well.. this year, not so much!
Last year, we started the tradition of hosting a big Christmas celebration for my dad’s side of the family. This year, we had a huge turnout! Several of my cousins came from out of town; it was so good having (most of) everyone together. SO.MANY.BABIES! And of course, mine is the only one screaming. 😉 It was chaotic for sure, but we had a great time.
On Christmas Eve, we baked and decorated Christmas cookies for Santa. Beckham doesn’t understand the concept yet, but he loves to bake, so it was a win for him!
On Christmas day, we celebrated the morning at home with our little babe. Santa brought him a new kitchen set and a shopping cart, and of course mama and daddy spoiled him rotten with other gifts. This year we got to see his sweet little face light up when he woke up to a big surprise under the tree! Those few minutes of pure joy make the dozens of hours planning totally worth it.
After our morning celebration and breakfast, we headed to Dallas to celebrate Christmas with the Le family. Beckham had a great time with his cousins, and was spoiled with the biggest stack of gifts you ever did see. His Cô (Aunt Thuy), Uncle Jay, and cousin Indie bought him his first Mercedes, which totally won his whole Christmas! 😉 We all took turns pushing him through the house on it while he held onto his new babydoll. Any time with the Le family is always time well spent.
The following weekend, we had my siblings and their families over to celebrate. I have been the worst lately at taking pictures- living in the moment is the new motto, but I have promised myself to have better balance documenting life while still enjoying moments as they are happening. I only managed to take three photos of our celebration, but those three are golden.. I mean, look at how precious my niece, Brinley, is! She’s such a goober and we love her so. Not pictured is my other niece, Serenity, who pretty much snoozed through the whole ordeal, in proper two-month-old fashion. My younger brother, Kyle, found out in November that he has another little girl, Violet. She is literally the sweetest little 18 month old, and although our relationship with her started a lot later than what we would have liked, she is SO.DANG.EASY to love. We missed Violet at our Sibling Christmas, but she was having a good time celebrating with her mom’s side of the family. We got to celebrate with her the weekend before! Days with my siblings and their families are my favorite days of all.
The next day, we wrapped up our Christmas celebrations with lunch at my grandparent’s house on my mom’s side. Again, I did not manage to snap any photos, but it was so good seeing them. We brought them lunch and spent a few hours catching up. Moments like those make me miss my mom so terribly, but I know she’s smiling down on all of us as we make new memories with each other.
Over Christmas break, we got to spend extra time with two of my nieces: Brinley and Violet. They had a slumber party (at separate times) with Beckham, and I am SO incredibly grateful for that time with them.
Of course, we also squeezed in a photo session with our favorite photographer. We are working on Beckham’s cheese face, yall. As of late, he hates having his picture taken, but our photographer always manages to make him smile (even if just once.. ha)!
We hope everyone enjoyed Christmas as much as we did! Happy New Year to you all! ❤