holidays

Now I have the bad cold that Scott had over the holidays, so I'm feeling pretty low, but I wanted to write about our Christmas. It was the best one I have had in years and years. Scott and I were so excited to have our own house to decorate. Right when we decided to get the house, I think one of the first things he said was, "Can we decorate for Christmas? Like with a tree and lights and candles and everything??!?" And I said, of course we will! He was excited to be able to hang up all of the ornaments that he had that were so important to him as he was growing up.

So we moved in a big beautiful Christmas tree before anything else. Scott's family has a tradition of going to a local tree farm and choosing and cutting a tree, and they invited the kids and I to come along with them. They have been going to the same farm since before they even moved to Petaluma, so it was really special. Let me tell you, it's way different than choosing a tree from out in the Target garden department! It was so pretty there, with little foot bridges and paths to walk on and the kids had a grand time adventuring through the trees and finding little hiding places, and looking for the "perfect" tree. It really started the holiday season off the right way.

Being with his family was the nicest thing about this year's Christmas. They really made the kids and I feel included and they were so thoughtful and sweet. They helped us a lot with our move as well (so much that I could write a three page thank you letter, and actually I've been working on one for a while which I will hopefully be able to keep shorter than three pages), and I feel really grateful and also excited about getting to know them more.

Scott was very sick on the actual day of Christmas, so we weren't able to spend as much time at their house as we would have liked. He came home and slept for two days! But we both agreed that this was an extremely meaningful and special Christmas. He was happy to be able to share with me and with the kids some of the warmth of his family's holiday celebrations, and I was happy to be a part of it.