Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 has come and gone.  It literally flew by at the blink of an eye.  I’m always a little sad when the Christmas Holiday is over.  I love the family-together-ness, the yummy food, the giving of gifts and seeing the pure joy on a certain little 3 year old's face as she sees the gifts that “Santa” brought her!  Seriously, watching the pure delight on Dafney’s face warmed my heart & literally made it grow 3 sizes!  Having a small child around at Christmas time sure brings on a whole new meaning to “Christmas”.  It’s also taught me a thing or two…

#1:  Don’t procrastinate.  No really, I was the Queen of procrastination this Christmas.  Everything from sending out our Holiday cards [hey, at least 90% of them went out on time], to getting the shopping done [which literally took me until the last possible second], to planning the Christmas meals.  I was a straight up mess this year and felt so unorganized.  It sort of took the fun out of the celebrations because I was so stressed about every little thing actually working out properly.  Of course, things went just fine, but I will not procrastinate next year.  In fact, I think it’s time to start my Christmas shopping now J

#2:  Don’t worry about having *enough* gifts for the kiddo.  I stressed and stressed over what we were going to give Dafney for Christmas [perhaps the root cause of my procrastination problem?].  I kept thinking “we’re not giving her enough”.  I wanted to make this Christmas with her extra special since it will be her last one with just the 3 of us.  But I realized that overloading her with gifts is not the answer.  In fact, I think it almost stresses her out…she was overwhelmed and probably doesn’t even remember half the things she received [partly because she just had 2 birthday parties 2 weeks prior…so she’s definitely on present overload].

#3:  Document the moments.  There’s really nothing more important than enjoying special moments.  I was horrible this year and hardly took any pictures.  I like to think that I was just so into watching everything that I’ll remember for years to come, but let’s face it, I won’t.  I definitely regret not taking pictures of EVERYTHING that happened throughout the Christmas celebrations.  In fact, I was so withdrawn from taking pictures this year that I didn't even get a family photo.  I. Could. Cry. 

Dafney left some food in the yard for Santa's reindeer's! 

#4:  See Christmas through the eyes of a child.  Ugh, the importance of this one is HUGE.  I truly believe that the true Christmas spirit lives in the eyes of a child.  Yes, I realize that Christmas is MUCH more than getting/opening presents, but the sheer joy that a child has while opening gifts is amazing.

Even though I don't have many pictures to document this Christmas, it was a wonderful time spent with loved ones, which I know is what really counts.  However, next year you can bet that I'll have my Christmas shopping done by October and I'll definitely be the family paparazzi!  

One thing's for sure...Dafney had SO much fun!  In fact, she had so much fun that she fell asleep eating dinner on Friday :)

Happy Holiday's!