This has been a really great Christmas! This was one of the most memorable Christmas's my family has ever had. We flew my 22 year old younger brother Brandon in from Texas. Vinni and I didn't tell anyone this was happening and on Christmas morning, we had Brandon knock on my parents door wearing my Santa hat and beard from last years Santa Run. My mom opened the door and pretty much flipped out. I cried, she cried, we all hugged, it was a Kodak moment.
Gifts are pale in contrast to surprising the entire family with another family member that you haven't spent Christmas with in years. I've really enjoyed spending time with both of my brothers.
We also saw Conrad in 4D which was pretty amazing. We could see the details of his face and watch him in real-time doing stuff. We saw him yon 3 times, pout, look like he wanted to cry, stretch, stick his lips out, cross his arms, and suck his thumb which was super cute. Dustin would push on my stomach where Conrad's feet were, and he'd kick right back.
We got to spend time with some of our best friends Sarah and Cj. Last night the guys cooked us ladies chicken Parmesan and veggies. Probably one of the best meals I've had in a long time. We had coffee and talked. It's been a blessing to see both of them. Our goofy husbands looking like a couple of cousins:
For Christmas Eve we went to Dustin's Dad's house to have prime rib and visit with his family. I got to see Grandma Lois who was so excited about the baby. Christmas morning we went to Dustin's Moms house and opened gifts. Even though the baby isn't here yet, he got more gifts than anyone. Then we went to my parents house to have lunch and open more gifts! It was a busy weekend. (I don't know how we're going to fit all of that into one day next year when we have a baby who has a feeding schedule and a nap time.) Looking at all of the gifts, I became a little weary of the materialistic-consumerist approach to Christmas. It makes me sad in a way to wonder how we're going to raise up a child who understands that Christmas isn't all about him, it's not about him at all actually. I want our son to be totally fine with just one or two gifts. I don't want him to have major melt-downs if he doesn't get everything on his list. How do I tell my in-laws and parents to please not get him hundreds and hundreds of gifts? How do I explain to them that I don't want my son to become greedy and selfish in the holiday season? This year Dustin and I didn't get each other a single gift, and I didn't feel sad or disapointed at all about it. I'd like to boycott massive Christmas giving all together if i could. Even if we had buckets full of money, when our son is older, he's still going to pay a portion of his first car, his car insurance, and that sort of thing. It teaches responsibility. And I believe going into debt or spending as much money as possible so your kids can have a "good" Christmas is silly. It teaches that you should always upgrade, bigger is always better, and enough is never enough. So if i sound a little bitter about Christmas, I'm not, I'm just reflecting on the whole thing. Ours was great. I got to enjoy this last Christmas just the two of us before the baby comes and it was wonderful.
No comments:
Post a Comment