The first two of our Christmas trees went up Thanksgiving night. With my parents staying in the playroom, we thought it best to wait for this weekend before putting the kid’s tree up.

So proud of tree

I’m so glad we decided to go the three tree route. Daycare’s been strongly encouraging independence lately, and she was so excited to get to decorate her tree all by herself. She picked the placement of all the ornaments herself, and put all but one on the tree herself. Cookie Monster ended up being a little heavier than the rest and with a shorter string, so she supervised Mommy’s placement of him.

She had 12 ornaments, which ended up being a fine amount. She could have kept going, but wasn’t upset that there were no more ornaments to put up.

As for the tree itself, well, we ended up purchasing it at half price and I can’t say it was worth much more than that. The construction of the tree is fine, it was the perfect height, but the light placement is very odd. It’s a pre-lit tree. Usually with pre-lit trees the light strand runs along each branch, and goes between branches near the “trunk” so the cord isn’t visible. For whatever reason the lights on this tree goes between branches towards at the tip of some of the branches. Not only is the cord visible, but it makes fluffing out the tree impossible because the tips of neighboring branches are practically tied together. It’s not a big deal. I was able to remove the cord from the branches and re-string it, but I really shouldn’t have to.

I’ve already promised to take her to the craft store tomorrow so we can make some ornaments for her tree. I definitely have a little mini me on my hands!

Alexis may be a bit young to help decorate the trees, but she sure does seem to enjoy them too!

I love newborns, and I love Christmas, and I especially love newborns at Christmas. I am running on adrenaline right now, averaging only a few hours of sleep a night yet somehow I finished wrapping the presents, the new glider assembled, and the crib reassembled in advance of the holiday. Now I can sit back and enjoy my favorite Holiday with the girls.

We’re having a low key Christmas this year, after the big family event last year. My parents visited us for almost a month leading up to and after Alexis’ birth, so it really didn’t make sense for them to return for Christmas. My in-laws were going to spend the day with us, but have a little cold, so we opted to celebrate Christmas again with them as soon as they feel better. As fun as it would be for another large family affair, there’s something very special about spending the day with just our new family of four, especially given how tired Domingo and I have been.

Nicole has been very excited about Christmas this year. We were surprised in October when, while walking through Target, Nicole pointed out Santa Clause in the holiday decorations section. On a whim, Domingo asked her if she knew what Santa brought. Without skipping a beat she exclaimed “TOYS!” We’re in trouble.

I made the mistake of putting some presents under the tree a week ago. Nicole wanted to open them right away. We told her she had to wait until Christmas/Santa comes. She went and got her chair, put it down next to the tree and exclaimed “I’ll wait!” She notices when new presents arrive, and even when we put a few more balls up on the tree. She knows which stocking is hers and which is Alexis’, and will happily point them out if you ask.

As much as I have been looking forward to this Christmas as a new family of four, I am really hoping to get back into baking next year. And craft projects. And sleep.

The Tree, before the arrival of Santa and Grandparents

This is a very special year for us. Domingo and I are hosting Christmas, for the first time, and having both sets of Grandparents. It’s the first Christmas in our new place, and the first time my parents will see our new place (and wouldn’t you know there’s still some boxes left to unpack). In a lot of ways, it feels like our first Christmas with Nicki. That’s not true, of course.

Nicki has grown so much in the last year, as babies and toddlers are wont to do. Her level of understanding these days is amazing. She adores the tree, and presents (although right now it’s more the sparkly paper that holds her interests). Add four grandparents and a Christmas cookie or two into the mix and you have a recipe for one very happy little girl!

Since she didn’t really understand last year and we were traveling, we gave her her Christmas gift early (the jumperoo!). This year Santa is giving her a gift (the play kitchen), and Mommy and daddy are giving her a gift (the Hallmark Wacky Doodle Dandy Duck, a toy duck that sings and dances the chicken dance) to unwrap under the tree. She is also getting a stocking from Santa. I am particularly excited about the duck. Daycare has another one, which Nicki adored. She insisted on having it every morning and would bop up and down doing the toddler dance as it sang. Then it broke and stopped singing and dancing. She still hugs it and asks to hold it every day when I drop her off, but it’s not the same level of excitement. I am so excited to give her one that sings and dances.

The Christmas season flew by so fast. There are so many things I didn’t get a chance to do, like make cinnamon rolls. Time is moving just to quickly these days.

The problem with being a data miner is that you become obsessed with finding patterns. Perhaps it’s my analytically nature, or my pension for order but it drives me batty when there’s a pattern that doesn’t carry through to all the elements in a set. Once I see a broken pattern, I cannot not see it. The element that doesn’t match the pattern sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s like an itch in the middle of my back I can’t scratch.

I have been working on our Christmas card. It’s the 5th year that we’re doing one. As you can imagine, with just four cards already done there’s going to be some similarities (and differences) between them.

DIY Layout (4 out of 4 cards) – I love the fact that I have designed all our holiday cards. I was particularly proud of last year’s (although last year’s family photo was my favorite). I’ve learned a lot about graphical editing in the process of doing these cards, skills I’ve also applied to photo editing. My only quibble is the 2009 and 2010 layouts are pretty similar.
Different Colors (4) – The primary color on our 2009 card was green, our 2010 was blue, 2011 was red and 2012 was white.
DIY Photos (3) – Using one of my photos has also been a source of pride, but one of the 3 photos on our 2010 holiday card was a professional wedding photo.
Family Photo (3) – I figure anyone with a blood relation is going to be most interested in seeing Nicole on the card, but since we do send it to work friends, and old high school friends it makes sense to include our photos as well. After all, I go by my maiden name, Tyler, at work, and use my husband’s name on the family card. I wouldn’t want someone wondering who this ‘Colón’ family is upon receiving our card.
Our Family Name/Family Website (3) – Since 2010 I’ve always signed our card ‘The Colón Family’ with a link to our family website. A website that is sorely in need of updating, but I digress.
Lily (2) – Lily was our original baby. She’s since been demoted back to pet status, at least as far as our holiday card is concerned. Fear not, she prefers it this way as it means she no longer has to wear the silly Christmas hats, nor chased around with my camera.

Alas, I am going to have to break some of these patterns.

The only unique primary colors I could come up with that fit the bill is gold, and my graphical knowledge foo just isn’t that strong. I am leaning towards at least a different green, but still a green.

DIY Photos and a Family Photo are two points that are at odds. It can pretty hard to get a decent family photo when using a tripod and remote. In fact, I’m not really happy with our 2012 Family photo, but babies don’t smile too well for tripods. I’m debating about splitting up the family photo. Instead of one photo of the three of us, I’ll have one of Nicki and I and one of Domingo and I. I’d much rather have the whole family in a single family, but that might be asking too much right now.

I am being neurotic and obsessive again, aren’t I?

For the curious, here are prior years’ Christmas Cards