Elliot's First Christmas

22 December - 26 December, 2014  

Merry Christmas, Elliot!!

While it would have been wonderful to take Elliot to Minnesota for Christmas to meet family and friends, Devin and I decided months prior that we would stay in California for the holiday.  Not only is Christmas in MN cold as, it's usually pretty hectic and we didn't want to try to navigate multiple family gatherings with a one month old.

Staying in California allowed us the opportunity to spend Christmas in Tahoe with the Harkness family (Jill, Jason & Shal, Shaila, and Navya) and Nancy and Jeff.  Jason and Shal rented a house in Tahoe Donner for the season, so despite being in California, we still had snow and chilly temperatures for Christmas.  All told there were 7 adults, 3 children and 3 dogs at the house!

As usual, Devin and I waited until the last minute to pack.  It's one thing to pack for the 2 of us and Yeti, but this was our first time packing for Elliot.  The amount of "stuff" we decided to bring for 4 days still takes my breath away.  ;)  Clothes, diaper bag, pack n play, boppy, stroller, pump, car seat - unreal.  I like to think we'll get better at this.     

Elliot's first "road trip" was a successful 3 hours to Lake Tahoe.  He did pretty well and slept most of the drive. We pulled over once so three of us could eat, one of us could have his diaper changed, and one of us could pee on a tree.  (Yeti, not Devin.)

The house was great!  It had enough beds for everyone, a nice kitchen, and a cozy living room where Jason and Shal had put up a beautiful Christmas tree - it was a very comfortable place to spend Christmas.

Elliot and great auntie Jill

Best Buds

Shaila started ski lessons this winter (yay!) and we all met her for lunch after a class at Squaw.  It was so much fun to see her in her PINK gear!  Pink ski pants, jacket, helmet, mittens, and boots!  I'm excited for the age when we can get Elliot out on the mountain like that!  (Jason was the only other one to ski - the snow wasn't great but he had a season pass so he'd go out for a few runs while Shaila was in class.)

Navya and Shaila pushing Elliot in the stroller.

Ohhhh, my little peanut!

One of the only times I really used the Moby Wrap.  

I really liked it, but wrapping is a clumsy process.

Watching ice skaters and making s'mores.

(Yes, it looks like his head is on fire.)

***Christmas Eve***

Merry Christmas to the loves of our lives!

Yeti, trying to rid himself of his elf hat/ears.

I can't wait to see these two in action once Elliot can keep up!

Seriously, best buds.

***Christmas Day*** 

Shaila (3.5 yrs), Elliot (1 mo), Navya (1.5 yrs) 

Devin, building a trampoline. 

Jason, building a doll house.

We had such a lovely time in Tahoe - it was a fabulous place to spend our first Christmas with Elliot.  We are so thankful to Jason and Shal for hosting a wonderful Christmas this year!

The best gift

That I ever got

Didn't really weigh a lot

It didn't have a ribbon 'round

And it sometimes made a terrible sound

The best of all it seems to me

It wasn't 'neath the Christmas tree

And yet, I guess I'd have to say

That is made all the other presents twice as gay

The best gift that I've ever known

I'd always wanted most to own

Yet in my dreams of sugar and spice

I never thought it could be so nice

The best gift that I'll ever get

Was sometimes dry and sometimes wet

Was usually pink but oftentimes red

As it lay so innocently in its bed

The best gift of the year to me

The one I hold most dear to me

A gift that simply drove me wild

Was a tiny newborn child...

Christmas in Minnesota

I am currently breaking one of my cardinal rules: No Christmas music until December 1st.  However, I need to get back into the spirit of last Christmas to write this post, so I'm dealing with it.  (It's more "holiday" than "Christmas" music - no Mariah Carey or anything...)  ;)

***Christmas 2012 - Minnesota***

I had Christmas off last year, so Yeti, Devin and I flew to Minnesota for the holiday.  The last time we'd been in Minnesota for Christmas was in 2009!  As always with trips home, we were busy.  But it was a wonderful busy, filled with delicious food, colorful lights, and our most favorite people.  We celebrated with each of our five families - Weitz, Christiansen, McIntyre, Lenox, and Wagner.  I have to admit that I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked, but for memories' sake, here are some...  

Christmas Eve is usually split between the Lenox and McIntyre sides of the family.  We spent the afternoon at Kelli and Christian's house in Minneapolis, eating, drinking, opening gifts, and talking about how awesome fantasy books are.  (Ok, maybe Christian and I are the only ones who talk about books.)  Below is the only decent picture I took at their house - I don't know what I was doing, but getting pictures was not on my radar at the time.  This is Nickolas, Devin's cousin Angie's little boy.  He didn't love the camera... but he did a wonderful job of picking up wrapping paper.

Christmas Eve...ahhh...evening?, we drove up to St. Cloud to celebrate with the McIntyre family, which is always at my grandma's house.  Everyone was there and before our Minneapolis cousins had to head home we captured the whole group.  

As it turns out, the more wine I drink, the more pictures I take!  ;)  As a result, I have quite a few fun pictures from later that night...

Prom 2012? 

Christmas day has traditionally been split between the Weitz and Christiansen sides.  We started with the Weitz clan at Mom and Dad's house in the afternoon - I have zero pictures to prove this - and then drove to Minneapolis to celebrate with the Christiansens.  Everyone was in attendance, and we were able to get a family picture taken there as well.  Said picture was not shot with my camera so I improvised.  (I'll have to track down that picture at some point.)

*I just found this picture in a random folder and had to add it to this post. (12/1713)

One of the best gifts Devin and I received last year was the game Cards Against Humanity from Kelli and Christian.  It's hilariously awful and should only be played with people you are comfortable with offending.  ;)  Honestly, I don't know if I've ever laughed so hard.  One night, as a bunch of the Weitzes sat around Mom and Dad's kitchen table playing the game, Patty, Beth, Matt, Bubba, Laura, and Adam came over to join and also inform us that Matt had just asked Beth to marry him!!  Our celebratory champagne only added to the ridiculousness of the game...

There was a little down time.  A picture of Jill, soaking up the sun, which refuses to shine during Juneau winters.

And one afternoon, after looking everywhere for Dad, I found him in his closet.

We joined the Wager family in Minneapolis a few days after Christmas to celebrate grandma Ruth's 90th birthday by way of a surprise party.  Ruth believed she was just going out for dinner with her eldest daughter, Jill, but instead happened upon a room of family and friends.  It was a lovely party and so much fun, as always, to hang out with this side of the family.

Trouble. 

And then the holiday was over and I needed to get back home to work New Years.  We had such a wonderful time with our families and friends and I'm going to miss that very much this year.  So much that I'm suddenly having second thoughts about staying in California for the holidays...

...maybe not.  ;)  How about everyone come out here instead?