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Holiday Traditions & The New Year

I cannot believe 2012 is over. It has been a wonderful year for us with the exception of the last several months ending in the hurricane or should I say Super Storm Sandy and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, that I can’t seem to erase from my mind. My parents house is slowly coming together but have yet to receive any help from FEMA or their insurance company yet. I keep thinking about families of Newtown Connecticut, just seeing the joy and excitement of the holidays in my kids faces makes me think about their sorrow and loss. Just devastating.

But on a lighter note, Jason was here for most of December so we tried to cram as much as possible in. But he’s leaving us again for basically the entire month of January..sigh! We started off with “Breakfast & Santa” at Rock Cafe, followed by ice skating this would make it our third year. Well, Siella and I didn’t ice skate obvs, but Jason and Ryder made it around the rink..once. We visited Santa quite a few times this year at “Macys SantaLand”, Siella was not so happy to meet Santa this year. And Mr. C in the World Financial Center. The one Santa we missed this year was at ABC Home, he is actually my favorite and bummed we just couldn’t make it this time. And once again we purchased our real Christmas tree from Whole Foods, which Ryder and Jason carried home via a Mini Kick Scooter..definitely an epic site to see!!!

Jason and I took Ryder for the second year in a row to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. He enjoyed it so much more this year as he was so into the Christmas spirit! Chippy, our Elf on the Shelf made his third annual appearance. This year both kids woke every morning to find where he was hiding out. I chose to have a little fun this year and had him taking baths in marshmallows, fishing for goldfish, and sleeping in Siella’s doll house to name a few.

 

Ryder had a lot going on at school too this month. He sang Christmas carols in the church of his school, and we couldn’t have been more proud of him. Ryder was belting out Christmas songs and didn’t miss a beat. It was truly a beautiful evening and I am so glad we decided to send him to this school as he is not only enjoying every minute but thriving in every way!

For Christmas Eve we did our usual and spent it with Jason’s side of the family. Santa made yet another appearance, my brother in law dresses up for the kids. It so shocking to me that Ryder still doesn’t realize it’s him, but have to say I bet next year Siella will know. She had this look on her face as if she knew..pretty funny. And for the first time this year we went back to our apartment in NYC rather than sleeping at my parents house. It was a bit much for us especially because we got home really late and Ryder was too exhausted to leave cookies and milk for Santa or say “goodbye” to Chippy, I did it for them. Next year that will definitely have to change.

Christmas morning was really nice in our apartment. The kids loved their presents and were completely in awe of what Santa brought them. I kinda liked Christmas morning being just us. I made a big breakfast for us and we all just relaxed. I also realized it’ll be the last Christmas as our family of four. I’m still shocked in three months we are going to become a five top. After our lazy morning, we headed back into Staten Island to celebrate the day with my parents. The kids had round three of opening up presents from my parents, sister, and brother. Ryder’s favorite gift by far was the Lionel Polar Express Santa got for him. It didn’t come like last years’ train set, where it was already set up on the board with trees and caribou. That set was washed away by the storm, and after having to tell Ryder and how he was upset yet understood, my heart broke and felt we had to replace it somehow. The set will have to stay at my parents house and hopefully my Dad will make him a board in the weeks to come.

For New Years, it is our tradition for the last five years to head out to the Hamptons. We usually leave the day after Christmas but since Jason will be gone for most of January we needed to complete a couple of projects around the apartment like “operation kids room”. More to come on this amazing and gorgeous collab I have in the works to share with all of you! Instead, we left December 28th to head out east. There’s not much to do out here during the winter months but it’s super relaxing. We do our usual museum trip, Golden Pear breakfasts (my fav), and frolicking on the beach. A huge Thank You to our friend Caroline for letting us stay at her place and not having to find a place this year!

And finally for 2013, I am looking forward to our new daughter and becoming a family of five. I hope to have no more natural disasters, a change in gun laws, more date nights, less travel for my husband, enroll my kids in more activities, live in the moment more, health, happiness, only the best, peace and love for all. And I hope to continue this unplanned yet amazing journey with my blog. Happy New Year!

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5 thoughts on “Holiday Traditions & The New Year”

  1. What great memories you have with your family! Wishing you all a happy and a healthy new year! Keep blogging…I’m def enjoying it!

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