Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011.... A holiday that I have been dreading since Mom's passing last February.  I couldn't imagine sitting around a tree, opening gifts, sharing laughs as a family when the simple bliss of mom's presence will never again be felt.  As it seems to go with most milestones and memorable dates over the past year, it seems like a lot of tears are shed in anticipation before the date and then I am able to surround my thoughts with happy memories on the day of.  This ended up being the case for Christmas day and for that I am thankful.  My dad came to stay with us for the weekend and it was nice to relax and hang out, not doing a great deal for the holiday itself.

On Christmas Eve night, we celebrated Dad's birthday since we wouldn't be with him on the 30th.  Mom always made him a German Chocolate cake for his birthday (his favorite) and I had planned on attempting it myself.  Not wanting to disappoint, I opted to have a bakery put it together for me at the last minute and I think he enjoyed it.  Perhaps I'll try my luck at it in a future year for him!

Brecken and Papa blowing out his candles....

Helping Papa open his gift....

Look at Brecken's "do you like it Papa?" face and Dad's sad eyes when he realizes it is a photo book about the love of his life.  A good picture, though filled with heartache..... Both in Brecken's inability to understand the magnitude of feelings and in my Dad's continuous agony over having to live without my mom each and every day.

Again, leave it to a toddler to take away from the moment.... Dad was trying to read the stories/ journal entries, etc. and Brecken was cheerfully yelling "It's Grandma!" without a care in the world!  The photo book I put together was a combination of pictures of mom and dad and journal entries that she had written.  The title was "In Her Words... Life as Diana Remembered It."  I think it turned out good and hopefully Dad appreciates all of the wonderful memories they shared and the happy life they lived together.

Brecken & Papa

Dad, Brecken, and me

Throughout Christmas Eve night, Brecken also checked in on Santa via an online "Santa Tracker" that Eric found.  As you can see from his face, B was very interested in knowing where Santa was and how soon he would be in Minnesota!

Leaving cookies on a plate for Santa.  Originally, B said he thought Santa would want "just 3 cookies," but kept adding "one more" and "one more" until the plate was full :)

Brecken with the letter he wrote to Santa and Santa's plate full of cookies!

One last check-in with the Santa Tracker before heading to bed....

.... and some carrots for Santa's reindeer of course!  We asked Brecken if we should leave the carrots in the house with the cookies or outside and he felt like outside made more sense.  He didn't think the reindeer would be able to fit in the house, but was sure they would find the carrots by the door!

When we went upstairs to go to bed, this little stinker snuck into Santa's cookie plate!  HA!

Christmas morning.....

Is that Mator on a tin full of popcorn??  Brecken LOVES Mator AND popcorn so this ended up being a VERY exciting gift!

Opening his presents from Santa....

Francesco (a race car from Cars 2)...

Percy (a train from the Thomas show)

Tucker & PJ enjoying Christmas morning

A Cars book that has a huge play mat and multiple race cars in the back!

Checking out all of the new cars and play mat!

One of Brecken's favorite gifts from Santa was his Minnesota Wild HOCKEY STICK AND PUCK!!!

A present from The Swansons...

A Chicago Cubs shirt and a new (very cool) book about a blue horse!  Papa Gott was NOT excited to see the Cubs shirt and tried to get Brecken to say "Go Cardinals!"  Luckily, our little boy didn't give in to Papa's requests :)

Brecken gave Eric a photo mug with pictures of B and the dogs all over it.  Here is Brecken "drinking out of daddy's coffee cup!!"

A farm set that included a tractor, a wagon, a "scooper tractor", and a fence with 4 farm animals!

Merry Christmas hugs for Tucker and PJ!

A whole tub full of sea animals!

Brecken got a LOT of fun new toys to play with and has been enjoying them since!

Family photo :)

Brecken & Papa - I LOVE this photo!!!

Brecken opening his stocking....

As we are not having our Gott family Christmas with my dad and brothers until mid-January, Dad brought up several totes of gifts that Mom had already purchased over the last year of her life.  She LOVED Christmas and shopped for it year round!  She was always on the look out for something her kids or grandkids would like and always knew the perfect gifts that would put smiles on people's faces!  She was the absolute best gift giver and was very organized... She had a journal where she kept track of what she got everyone for Christmas each year.  I know this in part because us kids would often snoop in her night stand once we knew about this journal and would find notes on what we were getting before the holidays each year :)  Shhhhhhh.... Don't tell!!!!!  HA.  She had notes on different items in the tubs and who they were for, as well as ideas for gifts, etc.  I went through the totes and helped Dad sort/ organize so that the grandkids would be able to get gifts from Grandma this year.  I did okay until I found a picture frame that Mom had gotten for me that said, "My heart belongs to my daughter...."  Tear :(

The aftermath of my shopping through mom's totes.... I was able to wrap several gifts (mostly for Xmas, but some future birthdays as well!).  Dad was able to accomplish some of his Christmas shopping just by looking in his basement!  Lucky guy!!

I have pictures to post for our get-together with Eric's family as well, but as those photos are on a different computer it probably won't be tonight.  We are a mere 17 days from our due date and it's unbelievable that I haven't yet delivered.  We are getting very anxious to meet our little lady and know that she is healthy.  While we wait for her arrival, we are cherishing our time with our very independent toddler and trying to prepare him for the changes that will be happening in the next month.  We are also trying to catch up on sleep as that will be at a premium in the upcoming months that will include nightly feedings.  Having two kiddos will certainly be a change, but we consider ourselves blessed to be pregnant and are thankful that we were given the opportunity to welcome a daughter into the world!