not at home for the holidays

there is no place like home for the holidays. i have spent the majority of christmas seasons at my childhood home in washington state. our family has a plethora of traditions that we make sure to get to every year. annual christmas party at our house, uncle tom singing o holy night, me putting out my grandmother's nativity scene, chopping down a tree, decorating said tree with priceless ornaments made by loved ones over the years, singing carols on the way to christmas eve candlelight service, reading the cajun night before christmas, all the sibs sleeping in the same room, the photo on the stairs christmas morning, the casserole we eat only on christmas morning cause its too special (and too horrible for you) to make any other day...the list goes on.

and sometimes its been hard for me to differentiate what really makes the season feel special. is it the traditions? is it my family? is it that house with the lights in the window and the nutcracker on the front steps? is it that party with all our friends and family?

this year we have a new baby, eden, and my sister also has a new little one, florence. my parents also have an east coast home now and so we all decided that the best, and easiest, plan with two new babes would be to do christmas on the east coast instead of on the west. so robert and i packed up chicken little and drove down to nc to be with my family for twelve days of christmas.

there was no annual christmas party

we did not get to hear uncle tom sing o holy night

my grandmother's nativity scene was tucked safely away in storage in washington

we put up an easy artificial tree which we decorated mostly with store bought balls (though a few handmades made there way from wa to don the tree)

we did not have a peaceful reflective christmas eve candlelight service

we did not read the cajun night before christmas

the siblings slept in different rooms and in different houses with new babies so we did not sleep that well.

we got no 'stair' photo

we did manage to make the casserole cause it turns out you can get bread, eggs, cheese and sausage anywhere...

the point is, almost nothing this year was like it has been before. christmas day consisted of people coming and going, babies crying, babies not napping, babies sleeping sweetly on family, tighter quarters, balmy weather...

but, at the end of it, most of us agreed that it was one of the most special christmases we had ever spent. the things that had become synonymous with christmas had not happened but we still had christmas.

and i realized that it has always been the people. YES our traditions are fantastic. yes, my heart missed hearing uncle tom's peaceful beautiful o holy night. yes, i missed seeing friends in washington. but christmas was christmas because i was with my family and we were celebrating the birth of our lord and reveling in the births of our two new blessings. it was christmas because i got to look across at my husband, holding my baby by the light of a glowing tree and know that i have more than i could ever deserve or merit. because that baby, not unlike my baby in his first few months i am sure, came to restore peace between us and him...

i hope you had christmas, wherever you had it, and that you were able to reflect on the ultimate christmas gift.

here are a few photos (and i mean a few, because i have 271 from just the eve and the day) to show you the highlights of christmas and the days leading up to it.