Tuesday, December 30, 2014

hi and bye, christmas!


Millie's first Christmas(es) have come and gone...a lot more quickly than I would have liked, to be honest! And then some more days came and went and now it's practically next Christmas, so I guess I'll get around to blogging about it. Maybe.

We spent Christmas (and the surrounding days) with my family in Augusta. It was relaxing and fun and exactly the break I needed from regular life. We got to spend time with both of Millie's cousins (on that side) and all of my siblings and it was truly just perfect. There were presents and FOOD and naps and church and FOOD and friends and my dear mother even introduced us to a little something called Fireball Whisky and...yeah. My mom. Bless her. (Not gonna lie though, it was good.)

Lucky for you, I didn't get that many pictures. But we did get a few sad attempts at family pictures on Christmas morning.



Millie didn't really understand Christmas this year-- the true meaning or ANY meaning, ha. She wasn't even overly impressed with playing with wrapping paper or boxes. But it was still awesome times infinity having her there.

Carley agrees- Millie is the best! And the most kissable!
I got matching PJ pants for the ladies since (one more time!) being twinsies is the best way to show you love someone. We all have twinsie pants, so we all love each other!

My SIL Emily, my mom, me, my sister Sarah
 You may notice that my sister cut bangs so that she could look even more like me. And it's not just a coincidence that hers look like mine. For one thing, she's the one that cuts my hair...so she knows exactly how to make bangs like mine. And then she confessed that when she was trying to figure out something new to do with her hair, she just pulled up one of my pictures from Facebook and copied my bangs exactly. Her philosophy was that if that style of bangs looked good on me, they'd look good on her. And I agree! But what's funny is that when I walked in my parents' house for the first time on Christmas eve and she was sitting across the room, I had the WEIRDEST first (tiny, fleeting, ridiculous) thought/out-of-body-experience- I was like but I'm over here! How am I sitting over there, too?? OH IT'S SARAH, DUH. It was weird, like she stole my identity or something. 

Also, we were both wearing black and white striped shirts at the time and BOTH of our husbands (on separate occasions) confused us and went for the wrong sister/wife (SISTER WIVES!!! YESSSS!!!).

Anyway, sorry. I'm done talking about how awesome it is that my sister wants to be THE MOST TWINSIE EVER WITH ME.

Now I'll talk about how we are equally weird and decided that the best thing to do (besides being twins, obvs) was to take a big ol' family bubble bath with the babies on Christmas night. 



Now I'm going to do my part to keep us looking twinny and make my teeth blindingly white like hers...
Please check out that look Laney is giving Millie. Ummmm...you've got some bubbles on you, cuz.

Our post-Christmas days were spent hanging out, watching as much of the Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family as possible, going on lots of walks, and eating. Sadly, we didn't bust out the Fireball Whisky again...much to my mom's dismay, I'm sure.

Mommy can't be bothered to put a bib on her little slobber monster!
 Millie did bust out her unicorn shirt, though, because she is fabulous like that.



I guess her mom is boring or something?

On Saturday Matt and I ran out to a few stores and found ourselves overcome with hunger. We decided to stop and try a Turkish restaurant we've never been to before. You could opt to sit at a regular table or A TINY TABLE CLOSE TO THE FLOOR WHERE YOU SIT ON CUSHIONS!!!!!!!!!!!! Guess which one I picked.



Ding ding ding, tiny floor table! I mean...why sit in a normal chair when you can lounge? Exactly. The food was awesome, but mainly I got to sit on the floor and it was spectacular. There were also travel brochures for Turkey and now I have a serious burning desire to plan a trip to Turkey. It seems like all you do is lounge around in hot springs and eat yummy food at tiny tables...so basically, see ya there next summer. Has anyone actually visited Turkey before? Is it as fabulous as I'm imagining? Do you think Millie would like it? Keep in mind how much she loves baths...I feel like six hours a day of hot springs would be right up her alley.

On Sunday we returned back to Athens and real life. We met some of my favorite people on earth (friends from high school) for dinner in a nearby town and Millie proceeded to have her first night of LOSING HER MIND NONSTOP AND CAUSING A HUGE SCENE FOR HOURS ON END. It was special. I'm blaming constipation, the weird lighting in the restaurant, and probably the time change (from November, remember?), too. Maybe it's catching up with her finally? Anyway, luckily these were the kind of friends who don't judge or desert you when your child acts insane, so I'm thankful for the chance to spend time with them. ALSO, and extremely importantly, Matt and I listened to about 6 episodes of Serial during our drives this weekend. It is amaaaaazing and if you haven't heard of it or started listening...DO IT. 

Monday was back to work. I eased the pain by being lumberjack twins with Millie.



What's that they say about the family that lumberjacks together...oh, okay, nothing. Well, maybe that family also gets to have fires together. And Millie would approve of that because homegirl is all about some fire. Candles, fireplaces, bonfires...we have a true flame aficionado on our hands. (True story: she even put up with TUMMY TIME, a.k.a. the devil's game, this weekend because my mom put her in front of the fireplace to do it. Fire overcomes tummy time hatred- truly, this is powerful stuff.) 

We celebrated Christmas with Matt's family on Monday evening and were showered with even more awesome gifts and food and Ulta gift cards (or maybe that was just me...). They say babies develop and change fast and it must be true- between Christmas day and Monday (what, four days?), Millie became fascinated with the bows on presents! So...yay! She was pretty happy to sit there playing with the ribbon and bows, so that was fun to watch.

Our first Christmas as a family of three was absolutely perfect. It's funny how times and days like these- the ones I've been imagining and anticipating for so many years- can feel simultaneously magical and completely ordinary. And I like that. Most of the time, things just feel right. Normal. Like I'm living the life I'm meant to be living- it's not terribly special or unique or glamorous, it isn't all sparkly and picture-perfect- but it's just truly, deeply satisfying. All aspects of it- from helping my baby open gifts as we sit by a blazing fire on Christmas, to the hour I spent pacing the sidewalk in front of a restaurant where I was supposed to be hanging out with the friends I haven't seen in years- all of it is in some way so incredibly right...it's just weird. And great. And now I'm going to stop rambling. Have a great almost-last-day-of-the-year!

18 comments:

  1. On being (actual) twinsies: one time I saw Allison's reflection in a mirror when we were walking through the mall and thought it was mine.

    Glad y'all had a merry first Christmas with Millie!

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  2. Sounds like a perfectly magical and perfectly ordinary Christmas to me! Love that y'all took a bubble bath together! :)

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  3. A lovely post, thank you.
    Re Turkey: Obviously everyone has different tastes. However, I am not a huge fan of the country. Istanbul (the main city, but not capital) is a lot of fun, colorful, pretty, authentic, somewhat disorganized and congested. I had a great time there once on a business trip. It certainly helped that I got shown around by Turks who loved their city.
    I would go there again, albeit without small children.

    Other places that I visited were quite intriguing, but not to the extent that I would want to visit again. The main towns on the coast line tend to get swamped with tourists during summer. Towns in the centre of the country are very fascinating, but also very traditional. (Think two Western women in a hotel café deliberately not being served).

    Looking forward to reading about Millie's travel adventures.

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    1. Ooh thanks for sharing your experience!! Did you get to visit any of the hot springs or bath houses? I'm so intrigued by those!

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    2. No, unfortunately not.
      I saw a pic of the hot springs and it reminded me of Yellowstone NP (Mammoth Hot Springs).
      I would guess that a visit to a bathhouse would be an intriguing experience. Unfortunately I only ventured as far as the hotel spa in Istanbul (which was a very pleasant, albeit non-authentic experience ;)

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  5. a few things - first, the Fireball Whiskey story happened at my house a few years ago! My mom bought this (terrible, awful, YUCK) corn whiskey that they started producing in Waco (you know, a place just known for it's fine distillery) and then insisted all the adults try it. She came up with all these recipes and kept making us drinks. It was TERRIBLE. Now it's a running joke in our house. Second, I fought very hard for an Ulta gift card during our white elephant exchange! I stole it twice. Thought you would like that. ;) Lastly, Millie is SO CUTE, and I am glad y'all had a very special, fun Christmas with her!!

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  6. Your Christmas looked perfect!!!
    I love the tub picture with your sister twinsie! Priceless! The littles appear to have enjoyed it so much.
    Your mom and I coul be friends...FIREBALL!!!! It's got an amnesia effect on my friends and I!!! lol

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  7. Had you never had fireball before?? There was plenty of that in our college town, I'm not a fan because I don't like cinnamon but lots of my friends loved it. My family always wears matching pjs and it's the best. I'm glad you guys had such a merry christmas!

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  8. Love the matching pj pictures!!!! Props for sitting on the floor during a meal :) Glad you all had a wonderful first Christmas together!!!

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  9. Can you believe when next Christmas rolls around you will have a TODDLER?! And she will be out to destroy your Christmas tree and any other things she can get her grubby hands on... it will be here before you know it :)

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  10. The bubble bath looks like so much fun, and I love how life with Millie is thrilling and normal all at once. Did Matt participate in Lumberjack Monday also, or are axes and flannels looked down upon in his office?

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  11. In the last year or so, every time I spend a day with my sister, I feel like I am watching myself in a mirror the entire time... we have so many of the same mannerisms, are built similarly, look similar, talk the same way... you get the point and it's weird. It weirds me out.

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  12. LOVE LOVE LOVE so many things here: the twinning, the bangs, THE BUBBLE BATH!!! Merry Christmas!

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  13. The bathtub photos should make an appearance in Millie's senior yearbook! Really solid material right there. Glad you guys had a good first Christmas! Glad to hear that everything feels right and whole and normal now... Warms my heart and gives me so much hope!

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  14. I love your description of the amazing ordinary. You are right it's exactly as it should be. <3

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  15. I love how Millie is already giving you guys the "Enough with the pictures, let's just get to presents" look in your Christmas morning pj picture!

    Also, I thought Fireball Whiskey was the stuff from Harry Potter but it's actually Firewhiskey but it seemed really awesome :)

    My mom and her sisters look so much alike (five of them about ten years apart) that my dad accidentally crawled into bed with one of my aunts once. Yeah, he's never lived that one down :)

    I love your last paragraph. I felt like that when I got married and had kids later than all my friends. And now, even six years later, I sometimes just still bask in the glow of how refreshingly and awesomely normal and right it all feels.

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