Christmas Eve(n) from Far Away...

Ooh, wow. This is my first Christmas away from my mama and my baby sister in 30 years!! The only thing that's constant is change in life...so new traditions are in the making this year. Christmas this year is in a decidedly warmer climate; this one has a connection to my native Atlanta...a Phoenix rising from the ashes-- yep, you guessed it! I'm in Phoenix, Arizona for Christmas with my wonderful boyfriend Chris's family. No scarves and gloves needed out here, it was 70 degrees when we landed today.

Stocking Sized at 2 weeks 

Last year, a very special Christmas gift came for my sister Emily and her husband Jimmy. The sweet star of the show, Stella, was born on December 10th. I got to come on Christmas eve last year from Denver to Atlanta and even spent a few of those early weeks with the night shift. I nicknamed my niece Squeaky Stella because she squeaked when she gulped down her bottles and we had "baby wake up time" a couple of times over night so that her mom and dad could get some less-interrupted sleep. I'm so thankful for those days last year!

Prettiest little baby gave the best snuggles, and got lots of superlatives

Baby Wake Up Time!

This year, we went to Georgia a little earlier in the month in order to be there for sweet Stella's first birthday party. She'd recently started taking her first steps and became a full-fledged walker while we were there, too. Oh, and she did a few excited squeaks for me too-- a sound my sister and my dad said she hadn't made in months! I like to think that she was remembering her special time with her Aunt Moto and wanted to remind me.

Waving hi or showing #1

Stella walking with my dad and me

Back in Colorado, I've been on fun-tradition-mode with my Chris and my kiddos I nanny for. We've made tons of cookies, including star-shaped cookie trees that turned into bricks upon setting. Shrub-shaped bricks, but bricks no less! We had a more grown-up theme with some of the sweets-- Chris made caramel shortbread with dark-chocolate peanut butter on top and I made Muddy Buddies with dark chocolate and almond butter instead of the usual. Peppermint- white chocolate covered pretzels, Swedish Cocoa Balls, and Peanut Blossoms rounded out our sweets. I was pleased and I think our friends and coworkers enjoyed! My 10 and 8 year-old kiddos and I went shopping in downtown Louisville shops and they gave me lots of gift-giving advice. (For example, "Soap? Nobody wants SOAP as a gift, I promise.")  I loved picking out the gifts I gave to my tween and teen kiddos-- they're both artistic and I think I got some gifts that will inspire their creativity. The younger kiddo even exclaimed, "I've wanted one of these!!" about a pot-holder weaving loom. I'm pretty sure I made at least a hundred thousand potholders to people-- glad that I could pass the tradition on!


Chris and I also have had some fun Christmas times decorating the tree-- we got a "noble fir" tree and it smells great! My mom had packed away my ornaments-- one from nearly every year growing up, so we brought those back from Atlanta. We laughed and talked about our traditions and nostalgic memories from this time of year. I decorated the apartment with a real wreath and some branches (from Trader Joe's, duh) and lots of thrift store ornament balls! My dear friend Chelsea gave us rocks glasses with "Home" and the outline of Georgia etched beautifully in the glass-- they're on the table with a quilted runner Chris's mom Pam made. If you look closely, you can see the quilted Santa tree skirt she made too! Different Christmas books, photos, and music have decked our halls pretty nicely too.

My kiddos and I went to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster-- decked in Santa hats, of course! I wrote a few dozen Amnesty International Write-for-Rights letters and I donated for Colorado Gives Day. Chris and I made it to the Butterfly Pavilion's Winter Living Lights too and it was a very cool and festive showing! It's been a busy, but fulfilling month, for sure.

Gauthier-Thomaston-Haug-Schweiger family: Dad, Jimmy, Stella, Adrienne, Emily, Neil, Chris, Mom, Aunt Janet 

Oh, an activity I don't know will become a tradition, but it ended up being a ton of fun? We did a professional photo shoot!! I wanted to get a funny family picture of the three (me, Chris, and the dog!) dressed in matching plaid PJs. We got over 100 great pictures, but I narrowed it down to a few favorites. As always, Petey Bella was wonderful-- a bit confused, but patient and sweet. The photographers even commented that she looked at the camera for so many of the pictures! She was a great model dog.

Pensive Petey in PJs

Check out the next post for a tour of our Cozy apartment for a Colorado Christmas. :)