This year was Christmas in the Northwest for us. It was a whirlwind two weeks prior to Christmas: family visiting, the expansion of our family (yes, we’re now officially an Uncle, Aunt and cousin!) and the usual busy business of life, so celebrating Christmas at home was a welcomed event.
We started Christmas Eve Day with a series of disasters and because this blog is a family album of sorts, I’m going to include them: Jonathan starts a load of laundry in the morning. Beatrice and I are playing in her room when we hear a loud thump. I call out to Jonathan who responds that he’s okay, which is followed by the sound of sweeping. Um, okay. “How much detergent do we have left?” Ha! The short version of what happened was that the scoop of detergent he was placing into the washing machine had spilled onto the floor. No big deal. Clean up is pretty quick and easy and we go on our merry way to breakfast. Jonathan is feeding Beatrice her bowl of oatmeal and I begin preparing fruit salad for brunch with family. I take the fruit salad bowl out of its storage place in the buffet and show Beatrice the bowl. “This was your Great Grandma Bea’s and one day it will be yours!” I say and then go on to explain how it was such a treat for us to help Grandma Bea make fruit salad in this bowl and how I know that soon baby Bea is going to be my big helper when I make fruit salad. Beatrice finishes her breakfast and it’s time for her nap. Jonathan brings her over to the counter to give me a kiss before the nap and she excitedly kicks her foot, catching her heal on the aforementioned heirloom bowl and sending it crashing to the floor. It shatters and I ask Jonathan to take Beatrice so she can nap and be away from the glass and I clean bits of glass and chunks of fruit off the floor that Jonathan had just mopped. Boo! I was oh so very sad. This has been a year of losing my sentimental attachment to things (more to the point, losing things to which I am attached), so I’m not terribly surprised that all this has occurred. I clean things up, praise the Lord for the memories I have with my Grandma Bea and remember that it’s the joy she shared, not the bowl, that was important. Jonathan and I take turns getting ready, trying to get Baby Bea to nap and cut our losses and head out to brunch at Jonathan’s sister and brother in-law’s house. While driving to brunch, Jonathan mentioned that the third thing in the series of “bad things” has already happened! We’re in the clear for the rest of the day! Sadly, this involved slicing his thumb, but hey, we’re glad to know we don’t have the dark cloud of gloom looming over us! Katherine made a delicious brunch of quiche and bacon waffles and we were able to spend some good times with family. It was a delicious meal!
We were finally able to get Beatrice to take a nap after brunch and then we worked on a little craft project:
The finished product is a little reindeer head in the shape of Bea’s foot and a Merry Christmas from us! Beatrice was very patient and careful while I put ink on her little foot and just watched and watched. I am a big fan of homemade Christmas ornaments and I’m so happy we have a little something to remind us of what a sweet baby she is at this tender age. She is already growing up too quickly!
After crafting fun, it was time to travel to A-town for Christmas Eve church. Beatrice was her usual chirpy and chatty self, but did pretty well. She said “Bye-Bye” for the first time, which was adorable! They also had battery powered tea light candles for the children and she was quite pleased to have a candle of her own! Here is our little fire-eater in action:
After church, it was back to the Eske homestead for clam chowder in bread bowls! While we waited for supper, Beatrice got to have her first taste of lefse. To start, I just gave her a little bite:
She LOVED it! So we gave her a little more:
We have ourselves a lefse loving baby!
Not long after dinner, Beatrice indicated she was ready for bed. We packed up and headed home as quickly as possible. Having not napped much at all during the day, she went to sleep without a fight. A Christmas miracle!
We started Christmas morning with family cuddles and reading books in bed. Beatrice really enjoyed having both of her parents right there with her! Jonathan and I were the happy recipients of a delicious Swedish tea ring, slices of which we had for breakfast along with the requisite cup of coffee. After Bea’s morning nap, we had our first annual family Christmas adventure! We decided this year’s adventure was making a movie. Beatrice was a really good sport about us moving her gift just before she reached it and it was really fun to share with our families. It might not be the fanciest movie of all time, but it sure was fun to make and is already a treasured memory.
Dad and Mom Eske, Rachel and Erik joined us for Christmas dinner. This year, we had salad, salmon, brussels sprouts, green beans with almonds, rolls and jello with cranberry upside down cake for dessert. It was a feast! After dinner, we took some family photos. Each one was more hilarious than the last! I think they really say “Merry Christmas!” don’t you?
We hope you had a very Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
