Christmas this year was quick and easy and not a big production what so ever. It was actually kinda sad to be honest. My work hours increased every week as we got closer to Christmas and I work opposite hours from Kolt so we didn't get a lot of family time over the last month. Not to mention we moved into a new house the first week of December and in between my responsibilities at home and working at night, I haven't had time to do anything. I barely got any shopping done and most of it was done online. We weren't able to get family photos done or send out Christmas cards which I was super sad about, but maybe we can make up for it in the next few months.
We somehow managed to squeeze in a few holiday festivities before Christmas. We went to a Christmas street fair type event that our town had one night. They were playing the movie Frozen in a park area, they had carriage rides, food vendors and the stores were open. Throughout the streets there were little "snow" stations where bubbles fell as if it was snowing. They also had a boat parade in the bay that Brinleigh seemed fairly entertained by. The highlight of the night though was when a Dance company with a group of little girls, all dressed up as Minnie Mouse, performed in the street. Brinleigh absolutely loved it! Kolt put her on his shoulders so she could see and she was loving every minute of it. At one point Kolt put her down and she started to walk into the group of girls because she wanted to go dance with them.
The following morning we went to down town Tarpon Springs to watch the Christmas parade. These get more and more fun as Brinleigh gets older. She loves to people watch and it's so funny watching her excitement over things. However, I will say that I wasn't really impressed with the parade at all. It was the equivalent to a Sitka parade just a lot longer. What happened to making floats for parades? I feel like it's all about riding in cars now which is nowhere near as exciting. But it was still fun and the weather was a little cooler making it feel more like Christmas.
A few days before Christmas we went to the zoo for the "Winter Wonderland" event that they had going on throughout the month. It was basically all Christmas lights, some of the animals were out, they had little areas set up with Christmas displays that you could walk thru. Santa was there but we didn't want to wait in line and had already planned to go see him at the mall the following day. We rode the carousel and Brinleigh sat on her own animal that went up and down and she squealed with excitement the entire time.
We decided to go see Santa on a weekday hoping that we wouldn't have to wait in such a long line and I think it paid off. We went the day before Christmas Eve at about 11am and we stood in line for about 30 minutes I would say. We kinda took turns, Kolt stood in line while I took Brinleigh to the bathroom to change her diaper and then we got in line and Kolt took off to get a coffee and some munchkins from Dunkin Donuts. Brinleigh had a little doughnut snack and we cleaned her up just in time to visit with Santa. It was quick and painless and we were surprisingly pleased with how it went. We had tried for a couple weeks before Christmas to prepare Brinleigh to meet Santa. We would point him out any time that we saw him, read books and talked about how he brought presents. I think it worked fairly well and when it was our turn to visit with him she wasn't as hesitant.... at first. She waved to him and said hi and Kolt took her to sit on his lap while I stood behind the photographer waving and squealing like a crazy lady trying to get her attention and keep her distracted. As Kolt ran off to come stand next to me Brinleigh started to freak out a little, but once she saw where we were and we got her attention she calmed down and we got a really cute picture. Complete opposite from last years picture with Santa.
Christmas Eve day, Kolt had to run some errands to prepare for his deployment since he was leaving the day after Christmas and I went out and did some last minute shopping. We had a nice relaxing night in with lasagna for dinner, which has become our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. After Brinleigh went to bed we skyped with some of my family while they exchanged gifts at my Grandparents house, a Christmas Eve Tradition from the time I was a baby. At the end of the night, Kolt and I each exchanged a gift which has been something we have done with each other ever since we got married.
Christmas Day we slept in a little bit and then opened our stockings first thing after waking up. Brinleigh got some Minnie Mouse crayons and markers so she colored while Kolt cooked us breakfast. After we finished eating, we started opening Christmas presents. We are taking full advantage of these years before Brinleigh starts waking up at the crack of dawn to see what Santa brought by stretching our Christmas days out, especially since we don't have to go anywhere or visit any family. Just about everything that we bought Brinleigh was Minnie Mouse which I am thankful for now since all of her gifts from our family were Frozen themed. I think some of her favorite gifts were an Elsa doll from Kolt's Grandma Patti, Minnie Mouse Playdoh, and some little people Disney Princesses that sing their theme songs when she puts them into the Little People castle that she got for Christmas last year.
Later in the afternoon, our friends Kate and Cooper came over for dinner with Kate's mom who was in town visiting. We had ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, Chinese cole slaw, and marshmallow fruit salad and I made chocolate fudge and some white chocolate covered pretzels and Kate made an assortment of cookies. We exchanged gifts and stocking with each other, just like we did last year in Sitka. It was overall a very quiet and relaxing Holiday. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
And of course, true to Foreman fashion, I completely spaced taking any pictures of Christmas dinner, to include family pictures. So late night selfies are gonna have to do for this year. (Note: 2015 New Years goal~ Take family pictures on Holidays!)
And of course, true to Foreman fashion, I completely spaced taking any pictures of Christmas dinner, to include family pictures. So late night selfies are gonna have to do for this year. (Note: 2015 New Years goal~ Take family pictures on Holidays!)
