CHRISTmas in February

So, of course, Christmas isn't in February; but better late than never, huh.  For blog purposes, I haven't quite made it out of 2011; but, I'm close backtracking.  Obviously, I didn't post much in 2011...and by "much" I mean once. So bear with me for a moment as I revert back to Christmas 2010 - our FIRST Christmas as THE RICHARDSONS.

When I did post to the blog in 2010, I mentioned how I would like for Blaine and I to start some new holiday and Christmas traditions for ourselves.  Unfortunately, we greatly lacked creativity and failed to generate any novel ideas. Somehow, even Blaine's mistletoe hunting idea fell through the cracks.  Sigh.  We did, however, start a new ornament collection...cue the "ooooohs" and "aaaaaaahs"....It's far from creative; but I did decide that each one should have some significance, ergo the "crystal cake."  You know, the wedding and everything.


The years I was in college and in law school, I always came "home" for Christmas, so 2010 was an entirely new ballgame for me - I was going to decorate my our house for Christmas for the first time.  It was also Blaine's third Christmas in the house and not even the slightest Christmas decoration had crossed the threshold.  Okay, so maybe his mom gave him a wreath to hang on the door - but again, it didn't cross the threshold until it was time to store it away in the attic for the following year.  I had a lot to look forward to...including, picking out and decorating our first Christmas tree.  I wanted to get a tree the day after Thanksgiving;  but, oh, no!  Blaine refused to get a Christmas tree until December 1, 2010.  So, I waited patiently for December 1 to roll around; and when it did, we got our very first Christmas tree.  I know, I'm going a little overboard on the "first" time stuff - I'm sorry..."firsts" only happen once. 

Naturally, it got a thumbs up.

As I said before, this was the first time Blaine or I decorated our own place.  I completely underestimated the number of ornaments we needed to trim the tree, so our first tree looked a little sparse and the "crystal cake" stood out like a sore thumb.  

I did slightly better on the wrapping - I insist upon using coordinating wrapping paper.  Call me obsessive compulsive, but "uncoordinated" wrapping paper bothers me.  Moving on...

On Christmas Eve (still 2010) we went to the "Children's Service" at church with Blaine's mom, Mr. Jim, Gregg and the girls.  You can't see it in this picture very well; but to me, it's definitely worth mentioning.... Blaine wore a Christmas tie...red with Christmas tress on it - which I think is pretty funny.  My mom bought one for both of my brothers, my dad and Blaine.  I've always thought my mom had good taste - before the Christmas ties.  Some guys are into "novelty" ties and that's cool; but I'm not into it so much and I know Blaine isn't into it.  So, I'm kind of confused as to why he even wore it; but, I promise he wouldn't have had we gone to any service other than the children's service.

Then went to Grandma's house (aka:  Blaine's mom) to make gingerbread houses and have Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas morning (still 2010) Blaine and I exchanged gifts before we headed to "Grandma's" house again to watch the girls open their gifts from Santa.  This meant we had to get ourselves up and moving PRET-TY early.  

Blaine holding one of his gifts from me at our house Christmas morning.

Me holding a random gift - clearly not from Blaine...notice the bow - Blaine would  never add a bow.

I didn't get too many good photos of the girls opening their gifts; but here they are on Christmas morning 2010.

After we watched the girls open their gifts, we headed to my parents' house for Christmas dinner and gifts with the adults.  While we were there, we got our first Christmas photo together as the Richardsons.

That was before we got decked out in our holiday hats.  I don't remember exactly when the Haladay hat tradition started; but I really get a kick out of it.  Blaine, on the other hand, isn't quite as amused.  There isn't much to the tradition at this point in time...maybe we will add some other element to it in the future - we'll see.  For the time being, we simply wear a festive hat while we open our Christmas gifts...that's it.  

Oh, wait...is that Tyler...wearing his Christmas tie?!??  I believe it is!  

(Entering 2011)

Each year we add a few hats to our collection and many times the new hats are more impressive than the ones we already have. As a side note, Schmeegs has started using some of them to decorate their Christmas tree...and surprisingly, they don't look entirely ridiculous...hard to believe, I know.  Anyway, I think I finally found the one hat that Blaine is excited didn't refuse to wear.

And here it is, folks...a chimney hat, with Santa feet protruding from the top. Notice the change in his expression from the photo above and this one...marked difference if you ask me.

Another hat made its debut in 2011.  Schmeegs and I found it while we were out shopping one afternoon and immediately, we thought it was PERFECT for Tyler.  Tyler, too, thought it was perfect, especially since he liked to move his head side to side and make the little mittens "clap."  The new Frosty hat got a thumbs up!

On Christmas Eve 2011, Blaine's brother, Gregg, and his wife, Amber, brought their girls over to my parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner and gifts.  Of course, everyone everyone but Gregg came prepared with a festive hat to wear.  Not to worry, we had plenty and he borrowed one from our collection.  Yet, he wasn't keen on being photographed in it for some reason...ole Mr. tough guy.  :)  That's okay though, we will wear him down.

The girls really loved the festive hat wearing; but they were more excited about the gift opening.  Kailey, our youngest niece, just had to be first to open a gift.  Before we even finished eating dinner, Kailey  scoped out all of the gifts under the tree, found hers and relocated them to a nice, safe spot underneath a chair.  I'm not kidding, she was READY!  We were barely able to capture this shot of her before she started tearing the paper from the box.  The bow gave her a little trouble, but she was determined.

If ONLY I had a photo of the expression on her face after she opened this gift from Blaine and me.  

A quick little back story on the gift we selected for Kailey:  Kailey and Amber's daughter, Madison, sometimes disagree on who can play with what toy and they often want to play with the same thing at the same time.  So, in an effort to eliminate that problem, Blaine and I decided to get Kailey and Madison similar gifts (but not the same - Blaine says he always hated when his mom got him and Gregg the same thing).  We got Madison a little cornhole set and got Kailey a similar beanbag game.  

Once Kailey removed the bow, ripped the paper from the box and got her first look at what was inside, her huge smile immediately turned into a blank stare.  She just looked at Blaine and me - in complete silence.  You could have heard a pin drop from two rooms away.  She didn't ask what it was; she just stared at us.   It was a look that said, "is this a joke?"...as if we had gotten her a blender.  However, when she opened her next gift, she knew exactly what it was and she was ecstatic.  It was a shiny, purple soccer ball - just what she always wanted.  Mental note for next year...when she tells you what she wants, she means it -  don't try anything fancy. ;)

When Madison opened her cornhole set, she instantly knew what it was.  She couldn't wait to start playing.  After everyone had opened all of their gifts, the girls set up the cornhole boards in the foyer of my parents' house and went to town.  They loved it.  Even Kailey.  Based upon Kailey's enthusiasm for Madison's cornhole boards, we knew she would like her own gift...once she figures out what it is.

After the girls played for a little while, Gregg and Amber rounded them up and took them home to get ready for Santa Claus.  At that time, Blaine and I still had at least two hours before the 11:00 p.m. service at church.    I don't know if I'm just "getting too old for this" or I was simply exhausted; but I was ready for bed far before 11:00.  Luckily, we both got a second wind just in time for church.

Blaine and I before he changed for church.

The next morning, we got up and went to Ms. Marti and Mr. Jim's house to watch the girls open their gifts from "Grandma" and Mr. Jim. 

After gifts and lunch with the girls, Blaine and I headed to my parents' house for more food and festivities.  Here are a few shots of some of the family in their festive hats:  Sorry, it appears that I made it into almost all of the photos, like I was "Where's Waldo."

Then,we recovered for the next two days.

Before I wrap things up, I am going to put myself at risk of being the most corny person on the world wide web...to share our new ornament for this (2011) year. As I said earlier, when I got the "crystal cake" last year, I decided that I wanted our yearly ornament to have some significance to what had happened that year.  The year of our wedding it was a no brainer - crystal cake; but,  2011 presented a challenge. After about 30 minutes of searching online for the perfect ornament, I decided I liked the new "12 days of Christmas" series at Hallmark...even if it had absolutely no significance to anything that happened for Blaine and me in 2011.  Blaine liked the Partridge in a Pear Tree, too; but, he sincerely doubted that Hallmark would follow through with creating the entire series.  He couldn't commit to it without being sure of the follow through. After I showed Blaine several Hallmark ornament collections presenting the "27th," "34th," and "41st" in the series, he admitted it was possible for Hallmark to follow through and he agreed to swing by Hallmark that week to pick up our 2011 ornament.  When he did, they were sold out of the Partridge in  Pear Tree.  No problem, though, we selected a back-up for this very reason....and unlike the Partridge in  Pear Tree ornament, the back-up had some significance to the year.  Call it, "ornamental destiny."  And here it is...our 2011 ornament of significance:  In 2011 Blaine and I saw a Cardinal, planted some stuff and frequently see a rabbit hopping around our driveway.  True story.

 Photo From http://www.marjoleinbastin.com/en/studio-mb/news/hallmark-ornament 

Honestly, though, that's not the real significance.  Briefly, I'll tell you the significance...as I've probably said in earlier posts, the first couple months of mine and Blaine's marriage were an adjustment period - living together for the first time and trying to work out the little kinks that come along with merging two lives into one. Some times were difficult and we couldn't seem to get on the same page; but, after the first couple of months, things steadily improved and we started to work together and understand each other better.  After working through a few very relatively minor "issues" we were able to focus on loving each other.  By the time our one year anniversary rolled around, we felt like we had hit our marriage stride.  So, I think Blaine and I would agree that in 2011 our marriage was not as much about working out the kinks as it was about cultivating and growing (puns INTENDED) our love for each other, making the 2011 ornament oh, so fitting!  Since I'm actually posting this on Valentine's Day, I will say this...and then I'm finished with the mushy love stuff...Blaine, I love you more than ever!

Since I covered "firsts" earlier....it's now time for "seconds."  Introducing the Richardson's second Christmas tree.  For the Photo Hunt aficionado, can you spot the differences between the photo of our first tree and our second tree?

  

Maybe a side by side comparison will help...(2010 on left, 2011 on right).  Enjoy!

Until next time...