Our American Tale

I Think We Need A Bigger Card Tree...

I love getting Christmas cards from our friends and family! It warms my heart to see photos, read stories, and get a "hey how are ya!" from loved ones across the miles. I've had this card tree since the first year we were married. By the end of the season, it becomes so overstuffed that you can barely see half of them. Stuffing cards in so that at least a corner is peeking out has become somewhat of a fine art in my repertoire! To those of you who send each year: thank you! We love hearing from you!!

Baby's First Christmas

All the festivities, time with loved ones, the quite times and the not so quiet times, the gifts, the cards, the music, the food, the lights... all the magic of the holiday that I want to capture and remember with perfect clarity seems to be contained in this one moment.

My sweet boy. You'll never know or understand how much joy you have brought to our world.

Christmas 2011

The Year of Four Christmases: Oregon Nelson Christmas

Christmas morning was busy as we got loaded up with baby gear and food for a day with Steve and Gillian and the kids. It's a good thing I had all their gifts sent to the house! As we were pulling away, I went through the mental check list: baby, diapers, change of clothes, wallet, cell phone... we had it all and we were on our way! (And yes, I always include the baby on my list. I have an irrational fear of leaving him, mostly due to the weird dreams I had while I was pregnant.)

Lucas slept the entire drive, so it was just Dan and I and Christmas classics on XM. I love road trips with my dude! We always have such a fun time chatting and laughing together on long drives.

It's a good thing he's cute and I really like him, because Dan will likely never live down what happened when we arrived in Portland.

Steve and Gill have a pretty steep driveway. Dan parked and was tasked with unloading the car while I got the baby. Knowing that we were at a pretty good incline, he figured he'd open the back door really fast to catch the bag of food.

He missed.

So there on the wet driveway lay a huge pile of potatoes. a broken casserole dish and a broken pie plate. Luckily, the cookies were in tupperware so they survived. It was a very sad scene.

And that, children, is how the great Christmas potato famine of 2011 happened.

The day was wonderful and we had a lovely time hanging out, snuggling the baby, admiring tuct tape creations, discussing WoW, opening presents, and eating a delicious meal. In fact, I had such a great time that I didn't take any photos until we were about to leave!

Lucas loves his Portland Nelsons.

They are so good to him!

My favorite gift? A framed version of this photo of the whole gang from Thanksgiving. I couldn't post it before now due to a top secret Christmas mission, but it is such a wonderful shot of our family!

The Year of Four Christmases: Washington Nelson Christmas

We were excited to get home by mid-morning on the 23rd, but the only advantage of having such an early flight turned out to be more time to nap when you get home. We were TIRED! I picked Frankie up from dog camp and we spent the rest of the day unpacking in between a couple of well-needed naps.

By Christmas Eve, we were finally feeling a bit more normal! I made a big breakfast and we enjoyed a relaxing day at home in our pajamas. Since we had planned to spend Christmas day in Portland, we did our little family celebration on Christmas Eve. I set a formal table for a yummy turkey dinner. I hadn't wanted to finish cooking in my outfit for church, so I got quite a chuckle over eating Christmas dinner off of my china and crystal with the good linens and fancy candles while wearing my robe!

Dan and I did dishes, stuffed the last of our gifts under the tree and headed out for church.

The candlelight service at church was absolutely beautiful. We sat in the extra seating in the narthex so we'd have an easier time getting up with Lucas, and it turned out to be a winning decision! He was an absolute monkey! Dan and I took turns walking around with him since sitting seemed to be an open gym option for him.

This photo of Lucas and I on his first Christmas Eve church service cracks me up every time I look at it! I can't be sure if this was a moment of him climbing over and slobbering on the shoulder of my velvet jacket or if Dan captured him flirting with the lady behind us.

We arrived home and it was time to do presents. I could hardly wait for Lucas to see the tree after Santa had stocked it!

As soon as I set him down on the floor, he crawled as fast as his little legs would take him over to his fire truck and started exploring his new ride and all of its accessories.

He also got lots of new books,

And a bucket of blocks, which he promptly dumped out.

Lucas got all kinds of great new toys and by the time we were close to finishing, Frankie was getting a little nervous that Santa had forgotten about her.

So, um, which of these are for me?

Sad eyeballs.

Was I on the naughty list?

Frankie was quite pleased when we finally got to her gift. She has been carrying her new friend around with her all week!

Once we had taken care of Frankie, we could get back to playing with Lucas' new things! He was so proud of himself as he sat on his shiny fire truck!

Daddy showing Lucas how to ring the bell

Our first Christmas was perfect in every way. All of my hopes and dreams for our first Christmas as a family were surpassed with each moment. I rocked Lucas to sleep that night while singing a reprise of the hymns from church and after I had laid him down in his crib, I stole a few moments just watching him sleep. Though Dan and I made out pretty good for Christmas, our true gift was the one curled up in tiny red pajamas.

On Christmas morning, we got up early to get ready to leave for Portland. Before I got busy with potatoes, a lone batch of cookies, showering and packing up the baby gear, I took a moment to just snuggle my boy and savor our first Christmas morning together. I set him down to let him rummage through his booty and he made a dash back to his fire truck!

The santa hat was Dan's as a little guy.

Frankie kept sneaking into my frame, so I finally took her photo so she wouldn't feel left out. Sweet baby girl just wanted so badly to be part of the action!

Before I was even married, I had decided that my babies would wear red pajamas with their name on the butt flap for their first Christmas. (It's not like I'm a planner or anything...) Even with years to mentally prepare for the cuteness that would be had, I still wasn't equipped to handle the squishy goodness before me.

Sweet buddy was standing tall with pride in his first set of wheels.

I know that Christmas will only get better as Lucas gets older, but this first year with the tree and baby's first ornament and pajamas and gifts and church and music and candles and love AND AND AND... this will always be such a sacred Christmas to us.

Rounding It Out

The rest our week in Arizona...

We took Lucas to the Living Nativity at Shepherd of the Valley. This show has a very special place in my heart. It is such a beautiful depiction of the advent journey and the true meaning of Christmas. I used to perform in the production, so I know the program by heart. This year, however, I saw it with fresh eyes and couldn't help but get a little teary eyed as I watched my sweet child gaze, wide eyed, at the unfolding story. Though his interest primarily rested on the bright shiny star over the manger, his wonderment let me glimpse into the future - reading the holy story from the gospel of Luke before bed on Christmas Eve as we did growing up, seeing him toddle around as a miniature shepherd or angel in the church production, explaining the nativity as we put it up each year, singing Christmas hymns, lighting the advent candles. There is so much beauty in this season that I can't wait to share with him!

Lucas was sleeping and missed out on saying hello to our good friends Bart and Becky, but got a couple of waking visits from both Dani and Aubrey. I just love watching my friends snuggle him and, of course, it's wonderful to catch up in person. Brianne and I were in the same state for about 48 hours but missed each other with amazing efficiency both days! Dan went golfing with friends a couple of days, but otherwise we were booked solid with family events. That's the hard part about trips home - the agenda is always jam packed! There were so many people we would have loved to have seen or spent more time with!

Mom and dad hosted a dinner and open house our last night to assist with gathering everyone in one place to visit and see the baby before we left. It was great to see aunts, uncles, cousins, my grandpa, and family friends! I think it was difficult for both sets of grandparents to share Lucas with such a crowd! It certainly was a packed and NOISY house, but Lucas had a blast and loved watching the kids that were there play!

Friday morning, we left on the first flight of the day. The trip home was Lucas' sixth flight and he hasn't embarrassed us yet! Of course, it's a bit more challenging now since he really REALLY wants to touch everything in the germ infested airplane. It takes a lot more energy to try and keep his little hands busy with things I can guarantee haven't been sneezed on all month.

In the last hour of the flight, we went through several toys of the blinking, rattling and squishy variety before handing him a magazine and a bag of peanuts, which kept him occupied until we landed.

Our trips to Arizona are always a whirlwind and the holiday's events made for an even tighter schedule, but we enjoyed every second of time with our family and friends and all three of us were absolutely spoiled by both sets of parents! Though it was hard to say goodbye, I can declare with certainty that it was a good thing we were only there a week. There were far too many yummy dinners and Christmas treats!

The Year of Four Christmases: Arizona Nelson Christmas

We had a lovely and relaxing Christmas at Grandma and Papa Nelson's. The day was spent lounging, playing with the baby, watching shows and chatting. We even fit a shopping trip in! Papa watched over a sleeping Dan and Lucas while grandma and I ran to the mall to do a little clothes shopping! We had a yummy meal and, of course, there were plenty of presents to open!

Lucas quite enjoyed playing with and eating green beans at the dinner table.

Though I think there was more playing than eating going on!

Midway through the meal, Lucas discovered something amazing! He has EARS!

He wasted no time diving right in to the presents!

Lucas loves his books, so he was quite interested in this new read. Our scholastic little hearts flutter every time he picks up a book!

And, of course, a true renaissance man rounds out his interests with a passion for music.

Lucas even got to watch a little sports with the guys.

 

It was a wonderful holiday!

December 21, 2011

Zoo Lights

One of my favorite holiday events in Arizona is Zoo Lights. The Phoenix Zoo has always done a beautiful job, and Phoenix is one of the few cities with weather nice enough to actually enjoy an evening stroll in the middle of December! Still, it was a bit chilly out, so we made sure Lucas was all bundled up in his stroller. He rarely protests wearing hats, but decided that night that he HATED his winter hat and mittens. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get it on and keep it on, we gave up!We strolled through the zoo with both sets of grandparents and enjoyed the lights, the music, the hot coco, and togetherness time with our hatless baby.

Mommy and Daddy

It was so much fun we made two circles!

Any self respecting amusement park knows that you should always exit guests through the gift shop, and the Phoenix Zoo is no exception. Naturally, the grandmas made the fastest sweep I've ever seen and Lucas ended his first visit to the zoo with a shirt, a stuffed elephant and several books. Those grandmas are professional shoppers!

December 20, 2011

Baby Firsts: Lucas Meets Santa

With Dan being home only two days in December, we didn't have enough time to take Lucas to see Santa before we left for Phoenix. I'm fairly certain the grandparents didn't mind, though, since they were able to join us for his first meet and greet with the jolly man in red. Lucas is a pretty easygoing guy, but we weren't sure how he would feel about being handed off to a stranger in funny clothes.

Luckily he did great and we got great shots!

Um, mom? What's going on? Why is everyone yelling and clapping and making noises at me?

You're bringing me CARS for Christmas?!

Oh, this Santa guy is OKAY!

December 20, 2011

The Year of Four Christmases: Bakke Christmas

Lucas had quite a busy calendar for his first Christmas! His first round of presents and good tidings was at Grandma and Grandpa Bakke's house along with his Uncle Brian and Auntie Jackie. We were also joined by Lucas' Great-Grandpa and Great-Uncle for dinner. It was a wonderful day! 

Lucas hanging out with Grandpa and waiting for the festivities to start!

Lucas got all kinds of fun things in his stocking!

As did the grownups!

I still can't decide which stocking stuffer I liked more - the straw glasses or the elf microphone...

Our festivus miracle: a Cardinals win in overtime!

So let me get this straight... these are all for ME?!

Of course, Lucas' favorite toy was an empty box.

What Santa doesn't bring me Grandma will. Truer words were never spoken. Both grandmas are such spoilers!

(Don't judge my bad lighting - I was still getting the hang of my new external flash that Santa brought me!)

After a beautiful meal and a long day of presents, laughter and good memories, Lucas was suited up in his pajamas and got to play in his toy basket for a while before we read The Animals' Christmas Eve, a book Brian and I had as kids, and then it was time to drift off to sleep to the creak of grandma's rocking chair.

December 18, 2011

In the Dog House

Lucas really enjoyed exploring Grandma's house. He even got an exclusive tour of Heidi's house. Wiener dog accommodations are quite deluxe, you know!

December 18, 2011