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I am guessing this may be my last post of the year.  I wish I had BIG news to report, but we’re all just in waiting mode on the baby front.  But I couldn’t end the year without a few remarks about Christmas!

This Christmas was one of the best in my memory.  And it had everything to do with a blonde little princess and her “pink and purple presents.”  I admit that I was preoccupied with baby prep this Christmas season, but in the few days leading up to it, I couldn’t help but be wrapped up in the magic and anticipation as viewed through Lily’s eyes.  She would go to bed, eyes wide, telling me about the reindeer — Rudolph in particular — and Santa, and precisely what was going to happen on Christmas Eve night.  She had questions:  How would Santa move the fireplace screen to get in?  What do the reindeer eat?  Why can’t the reindeer come in the house, too?  I fielded these as well as I could, and reveled in the complete belief of a child.  No answer I gave would have made her question the facts in her mind.  Santa was coming, and soon.

The night before Christmas, and all through the house, Santa’s true elves were whispering and scurrying to create the magic.  Toys were assembled and attractively displayed.  Stockings were stuffed to the brim.  Cookies were munched, leaving just enough crumbs behind as evidence.  And one small white furry elf was employed to run around the front yard with jingle bells on his collar, to alert drowsy children of Santa’s approaching sleigh.  (At this point, just before bedtime, I was helping Lily get her Advent calendar treat, and her eyes widened and mouth literally dropped open.  “I hear SANTA,” she said.  “I have to go to bed!” and she raced to her room.)

Christmas morning, and Bill and I were up before dawn, sipping coffee and waiting for her to wake.  When she did, Bill grabbed the video camera, and we went to her room to catch those first moments.  Bill asked her, “Lily, do you know you came in the night?”  And after all the Santa talk, what does she reply?  “Baby Jesus!” she said, as excited as ever.  Wow.  We were blown away and, yes, a little proud that the true meaning of Christmas had not been lost on our two-year-old.

She came into the living room, and flitted from one thing to the next, already torn between playing with her new dollhouse and seeing what other surprises were displayed near the fireplace.  And she was not short on pink and purple presents, as they were piled high underneath the Christmas tree.  The three of us sat on the floor by the tree and opened gifts.  Lily had gone shopping with my parents earlier in the week and had a wrapped gift for each of us, which she quickly located and handed to us with great anticipation.  Mine was a scented candle and Bill’s was a pocket-size flashlight.  “I picked it for YOU!” she said, all smiles.  She seemed just as happy to give as to receive.  And she kept saying “THANK you, Mom and Dad!” as she opened her gifts.  Seriously?  Bill and I just marveled at the whole experience.

A bit later, as Lily played with some new toys, we sat with our coffee and Christmas music playing, and I watched the snow falling on the already thick white blanket outside.  We were cozy, and fulfilled in every way, and I was just overcome by the true magic of Christmas.

My parents dropped in for a bit, and then we all headed over to my sister’s house which, thankfully, is only a mile away, given the road conditions.  (We did end up with around six inches of snow, and it kept coming over the next day or two.)  There the celebrating was more raucous and chaotic, with a big brunch and piles of wrapping paper and even an inaugural sled ride in the backyard.  I enjoyed all of it, but my favorite part was still the quiet little morning in our own home.  It’s just such a joy to be starting all our own family traditions — a perfect blend of family customs from each of our childhoods, with a few new twists thrown in for our unique, growing family.

As 2009 draws to a close, I know reflections are in order.  A year that started out with a good dose of fear, but not without hope, and soon included some sobering events for our family, improved over the months to land us here, on the verge of wonderful things.  I am not generally one to believe in God having “plans” for each of us, as I imagine more of an omniscient God who supports us through whatever events that unfold in our lives.  But the news of this baby who will join us soon could not have come at a more needed time.  My family was at a low point, overwhelmed with concern of health issues affecting my mom, dad, and sister directly, but shared among all of us.  The anticipation of a new life gave us a new focus, and the year brightened over the months.  So, as we close out the year, I am left with a sense of balance.  Last New Year’s Eve, my family toasted with plastic flutes in my mom’s hospital room, with smuggled champagne and party hats and horns.  Although this New Year’s Eve will most likely be a quiet one at home, we will soon be toasting again in a hospital room, with much to celebrate.

Christmas is only two days away!

Here are a few belated pics of our annual family trek down the block to the Christmas tree lot.  It’s so handy that we can just walk the tree home, rather than have to deal with tying it to the car. 

Our family celebration traditionally starts tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, at my parents’ house, with an early dinner of soup, sandwiches, and loads of tasty snacks.  We’ll gather, feast, lounge, play board games, and open extended family gifts.  Then we’ll depart for church for the candlelight service.  After that, it’s off to bed for one little elf!  I am so excited for Santa to visit this year.  Lily is all revved up and well aware of how it all works, and I just can’t wait to see her shining, expectant little face on Christmas morning. 

We visited Santa when he was in town, and Lily was so different from last year.  Although she approached with caution, she also had a determination about her, that she would not let her apprehension keep her from her task.  I asked her if she still wanted to talk to Santa, and she mutely nodded and moved toward him.  We seated her on his lap and, when he asked the golden question, she quietly replied, “pink and purple presents.”  She was so quiet, in fact, that I don’t think Santa heard her, as he went on to make several suggestions.  But she has remained steadfast in her desire for pink and purple presents this whole holiday season.  When pressed for what she’d like to be IN the presents, she tells us Star Wars toys.  Go figure.  (Daddy is so proud.) 

The newspaper today is forecasting a near 100% chance of a white Christmas!  It’s actually kind of a rarity around here, so we’re very excited to have the stage set for a beautiful, peaceful, Christmas day.  A couple of weeks ago, we had a few inches, and I ran outside to take a few pictures of our cozy little cottage.

And so tonight, we finally take a break from the Christmas and baby preparations, and we’re enjoying a quiet evening at home as a family, watching Star Wars and sipping hot chocolate by the fire.  A merry Christmas is on its way!

The weeks are flying by, and we suddenly realize it could be baby time any day now.  Tomorrow I’ll be 37 weeks, and Lily was born at 37 weeks and one day.  YIKES.  So thank goodness that, despite my increased workload for the last few weeks (picked up a very short maternity leave gig in a school district, so I was working about 2 1/2 days a week), we’re nearing completion on the boy’s nursery.  Bill and I each have a project left to complete: the crib mobile for me, and three framed prints for Bill, his original designs.  After that, I’d love to whip out a few burp cloths and a throw pillow, but no big deal if those don’t get finished. 

The crib bedding was custom made by an Etsy seller I found, RockyTopDesign, who would use the fabrics of my choice.  I had seen these fabrics at Hobby Lobby ages ago — before I was even pregnant — and just loved them.  I wanted to use them for something, so luck would have it that I found myself pregnant and needing to design a boy nursery.  What was so fabulous about finding someone to make the crib bedding was that I could use my amateur sewing skills to complete a few of the easier projects myself.  So I made the window valances from a pattern I found (the first pattern sewing I’ve done since middle school home ec; Mrs. Yeary would be so proud).  The curtains were purchased, because frankly it’s probably cheaper than buying all that fabric and trying to make them myself — learned that when I made Lily’s curtains a few years ago.  My big project was the baby quilt, and I am really happy with how it turned out.  I’ve been trying to make a quilt for YEARS, but have never made it very far.  I have several place mat-sized quilt tops lying around, gathering dust.  But my friend Sara posted about a baby quilt that she whipped up (reportedly in a DAY, which kind of makes me want to throw up a little at her efficiency), and she posted the simple online tutorial that she used.  So, over a period of WEEKS, I managed to carve out an hour here and there to work on the boy’s quilt.  This was especially difficult during my eighth month of pregnancy, when intense back pain limited my sitting at the sewing machine to 20 minute sessions.  (See how much Mommy loved you, son?)  I look at the finished result, and I see the flaws, the things I’d do differently next time, but overall I think I did a pretty decent job…much like my parenting to date, I guess.  Here are a few pictures:

(The branch and owl are a vinyl decal I found on Etsy.  Love that place.)

And here are a few photos of me and the baby boy, at about 37 weeks.  I promised my long-distance friend Cynthia that I would post a few pics, and I told her that, to get the full effect of my awkward proportions, I would have to post several views.  You can almost discern from these the remarkable resemblance my belly bears to a torpedo homing in on its submarine target.  My friend Kerri commented that she had never seen a pregnant woman carry this way.  People, this is what it looks like to carry “all in front”:

Seriously, it’s a wonder I don’t fall forward on my face several times a day.

We are anxiously awaiting Christmas and our boy, hopefully not at the same time!