Snapshots from 2011: A Year In Review

2011 was a year of change for our family (I say this like I think that some years should be completely static). But there were some very major life-changes this past year. So let me start with the obvious (and most awesome).



Our precious Milo was born on February 9, 2011.





(P.S. the transition from 1 to 2 is as hard as everyone said it would be. I'm not sure why I didn't believe them). :)




In May, my parents and grandmother (a.k.a. "Memama" and "P-pop") moved back to Virginia after living in Michigan for three years. To say that we're glad to have them living close to us again is an understatement. My dad and his birthday buddy share a special little bond.










In June, our Ella-bug turned two.








Right on the heels of her second birthday, we packed up our little house and moved back to the city. (Disclaimer: I do not recommend moving with young children).



(And I finally got to do a nursery for Milo) :)






Let's see....there was an earthquake in August. (Took us a long time to pick up the pieces).






Followed by a hurricane. How we never lost our power is still a mystery.






And a beach trip that was cut short when we realized that vacations with two little kid aren't really vacations. (But hey, we tried).






In October, we took Ella to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live. It's true that we had way more fun than she did.




Then, we discovered that the more kids you have, the quicker the holidays go by. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas seem like a blur now. But I can't believe how much more fun it is to celebrate times like those with your kids. And all this time, I thought my parents were the ones missing out...




I can't help but be grateful when I look back on this past year and how our family has grown- in all senses of the word. We have much to celebrate today as we say goodbye to a truly pivotal and poignant year in our lives. :)

Santa WTF

Who doesn't thoroughly enjoy a bad Santa pic? I confess that I was a bit disappointed this year that Milo actually didn't cry when he was placed on Santa's lap (and Ella flat out refused to go near him). I was really hoping for another screaming Santa pic. Thankfully, I was able to enjoy a good laugh at others expense with some of these treasures, so I thought I would post a few. Enjoy!










"He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake...."









Look like somebody already knew how to make the yuletide gay.










"Shhh....I hid the under-eye concealer...."












{whispers} "He's an angry elf."












If anything every qualified for a big, fat W.T.F- this is it, folks.












Don't everyone get too excited now...















Angela suspected he wasn't the REAL Santa Claus, but she just couldn't put her finger on why..."














Santa, the Joker and Jon from Jon and Kate +8 got together and made a kid. Ta-Da!

"Run, Run Rudolph"

My Papaw was a man of few words and was known, among many things, for his candidness and dry wit. I remember that every year on Christmas morning, after the final present was opened and we found ourselves once again sitting in the remnant of boxes, toys, wrapping paper, mounds of clothes and half-empty mugs of egg-nog and coffee, he would reply with the most stoic of faces, "well, it's all over for another year."

And that was that.

We all laughed and rolled our eyes, but I always cringed just a bit. He was right. All of that build up, all of that anticipation... and then it was over within minutes. Sometimes I feel that Christmas morning is a bit like the last day of vacation. You try to enjoy it, but always with the looming heaviness that you have to return to work and "real life" the next day. Interestingly enough, the New York Times published an article some time ago about how vacations affect your happiness but I found myself reading it and thinking how one could easily replace the word "vacation" with the word "Christmas." The study was published in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, and was conducted to show that the largest increase in a person's level of happiness was directly related to simply planning a vacation or trip. According to research, the anticipation alone boosted happiness for upwards of eight weeks. Ironically, almost all people- regardless of how relaxing the vacation was- reported going back to baseline levels of happiness nearly right away after returning from vacation. And those that were only "somewhat relaxed" on their vacation reported the same levels of happiness of those that didn't even go on vacation that year.

So, if what this article is claiming is true and could be applied to any event, then 1) it would seem that the happiest time for all of us in the midst of the holiday season is actually right now. Today. This week. Maybe even last week. And 2) we get out of Christmas what we put into it. (That seems like a very cliche thing to say, but it couldn't be more true). As I was wrapping gifts the other night and the smell of my great-great grandmother's applesauce cake baking in the oven permeated the house, I realized that this (the preparation, the traditions that we're creating around our family and faith) is Christmas to me. The problem is that I often don't slow down enough to realize that Christmas isn't just a day I'm counting down to, not even as it pertains to the Christian faith. I think it's actually bigger than that. It's meant to encompass a spirit, a perspective, even a rhythm of life. Yet for so many of us- especially those of us blessed with type A personalities {casually whistles and glances away}, this time of year often becomes the complete antithesis of what we hope for it it to be. We practically give ourselves ulcers trying to beat the clock, get the last of the Christmas cards mailed in time, schedule family get-togethers, clean, bake, decorate, wrap, spend and of course, second-guess that gift we bought for such-and-such.

This, my friends, is what December is usually like for me. Each year, I vow to approach it differently. And each year, I conveniently forget how exhausted I was the Christmas before. I miss the forest for the trees. I miss Christmas because I'm too busy trying to make Christmas.

I hope that makes sense. It may not. I'm currently running on 5 hours of sleep because I was up late last night finishing Christmas cards, wrapping gifts and more or less acting like I wasn't going to be awakened at the butt-crack of dawn by either my 2 1/2 year-old or 10 month-old. (Guilty as charged). ;-) So for all of my friends and family and for anyone else who happens to stumble upon this post, I wish for you peace and joy and perhaps a little bit of relief in knowing that Christmas cannot be manufactured or manipulated, nor can it be created or coerced. It simply IS.

You can let yourself off the hook now (and I'm going to do my best to follow my own advice). ;-)

Grace and Peace to you, and Merry Christmas! :)

Oh Christmas Tree

I've talked about the crappy Christmas puff painting "art" that I did for my parents (sadly, when I was old enough to know better). They kept it. They had it laminated. And every year, it claimed a spot right in the middle of my parents' refrigerator. *cringes*

Oh the embarrassment. Why, I wondered, was there the need to hang on to drawings of disfigured people and ambiguous objects? And they simply replied, "One day you'll understand, when you have kids of your own."

(Pshh. Yeah, right. )

But then, Ella and I decided to decorate ornaments yesterday.




OH. Now I get it.


Thus, I give you my most cherished ornament on our tree this year. :)

Stealing Christmas

I have to admit, I thought that I was above being scammed. I hated to hear stories of the elderly or disabled having money taken right out of their pockets but even so, I usually assumed it was a due to an unfortunate combination of "assholery" (it's my new word) on the part of the scammer and naivete on the part of the victim.

A Macbook Pro was supposed to arrive at our house yesterday at 1 pm. But it didn't. It never will, actually. And only after we did more extensive research did we realize- too little, too late- that we had been scammed. Awesome. All of the credentials had checked out. We had gone to all the various (and completely legitimate) sites and google-searched names. Nothing looked remotely suspicious. Jake wired the money through western union to a third party parcel service that told us they would then send us the laptop once they received the money. When the confirmation email didn't come yesterday morning, Jake got a bad feeling- a feeling he said he had the day before as well, but had just chalked up to a case of "buyer's remorse." Something just wasn't adding up right, but we both wanted to believe that this person was good on their word. {Hey! *looks up* someone wrote the word "gullible" in the sky!. . .} (sigh)

First, there's that horrible, sinking feeling when you realize someone made a fool out of you. Then a split second after that, a burning desire to get even, followed at last by the realization that doing so would only be stooping to their level. Of course, we reported it, but have zero expectations that this person will be caught. What's done is done. So, it seemed like a good alternative to instead, kick ourselves over and over again. Thankfully, we were able to absorb the loss, but there were other people that had been scammed by this person. Would any of them have to tell their kids that there would be no Christmas presents this year because they lost their money to some asshole without a conscience? I struggled with whether or not to accept that the unfortunate message this season is one that claims people simply can't be trusted, or that people aren't good. Who wants to walk around with that chip on their shoulder during Christmas?

This, unfortunately, has been just another thing to add to a list of some other rather disappointing events this week. No- Jake and I were not enrolled in the jelly of the month club, but let's just say that there were certain things that I had built up in my mind, counted too much on, maybe hoped a little too hard for. (Who, me?!?) Of course, I'm not saying that hope doesn't have a place and purpose in our every day lives because it absolutely does. But I often find it's a tough balancing act for me to maintain a sense of hope without a posture of entitlement. I want to think that the things I hope for should come about-and particularly, the way that I want them to- because of x, y, and z.

But life just doesn't work that way. Here I am, 29 years old, and apparently still scamming myself into believing that life should go the way I want it to based on a cause-effect equation. Sure, some things do work out that way. But many things don't. Technically, Jake and I should have gotten our laptop because we gave that person our money, but we didn't.

By the end of this week, the question gradually evolved from "why did this happen?" to "why did it affect me like this?" Of course, the first question was much easier to answer because I could direct my frustration to other people and other circumstances. It was their problem, not mine. But the second question was much more difficult to answer because it had everything to do with me and the simple fact that I've been putting too much of my hope in the wrong kinds of things- into life events, things, money, even into my relationships. In the end, not one of those things can withstand the pressure that I put onto them to be my happiness, joy, or quick-fix. So if, at the end of a week filled with certain disappointments, I'm still sulking and seething over what should have been, well then, I've lost more than just money. I've lost my sense of joy and contentment. And that was something that I handed over willingly- like I believed I didn't have a choice.

But I did.

So maybe this is another lesson in the "nothing in life is guaranteed" category. I often say this like I truly believe it, but too many times, I find myself in situations that causes me to act the complete opposite. So today, as I type on my "old" laptop, I'm grateful that the things in my life that have fallen through were just things. We have our health, we have each other, and we have infinitely more than we deserve to have- and for that, I'm incredibly grateful.