Holiday Wrap Up (or "Out of Hibernation")

I have been hibernating all holiday break. There were three consecutive days where I got more than 10 hours of sleep and never got out of my pajamas. I read 6 books. The morning after New Year's, Zach took on Tate-duty and I slept until 10:30 am. 10:30, people!! I didn't check work email. I didn't blog. I just... hibernated. It was a completely indulgent vacation indeed.

But before we move on completely from the holidays (especially since most of my gifts are being sent tomorrow), let's review some of my favorite things from Christmas this year.

First: stockings. A few years ago, when Zach and I got married, and Lissa and Brian got married, Mom had to make new stockings for the new son-in-laws. Instead of doing just two different ones for the boys, Mom decided to make Lissa and I new ones as well. So mine, Lissa's, Zach's and Brian's all match, and Mom and Dad's are the old style that we grew up with. The style Mom chose for our new ones was a village- we each had a different building in Santa's village that represented us. Brian, the lawyer, has Klause & Klause Associates next to the Candy Cane Courthouse. Lissa, who works with kids, has the Elves Art House. I have the North Pole Bakery, and Zach (who played King Arthur in our high school version of "Camelot" when we met) has Camelot Toy Works. So sweet and creative, right? Don't you wish you had stockings like these

So we had to make one for Tate this year. This was hard, because Tate's personality is still so undefined. We wanted something fun and boyish but that could carry him into adult-hood. We decided on "Tate's Cars and Trucks". Could it be any cuter? (And seriously, don't you think my mom should sell these on Etsy?!)

Second: Christmas tree decorations. Years ago, there was a women I met who had a beautiful Christmas tree. But beyond her traditional decorations, she did something that I have remembered ever since, and always wanted to do once I had kids. What she and her family did each year was to pick one object (like, an actual thing, not an ornament), and hang it on the tree. The object was meant to symbolize one of the important things that had happened that year. The one I remember was a crunched license plate- her 16 year old son had just received his driver's license and the first week, got in a fender bender. It was so fun to see such odd and interesting objects on the tree, and to hear the stories that went along with them.

So this year we started. And what was more important for us this year than Tate being born? So our first object- his hospital bracelet:

All season long I loved looking at it perched on the tree. I packed it away with the rest of the ornaments, so each year I can pull it out. It is, officially, our first tree object.

And lastly- great minds really do think alike. And we have a lot of great minds in our life. So it should come as no surprise that Tate received not one, not two, but three sets of blocks for Christmas, each different, each beautiful. First, Aunt Lissa and Uncle Brian got him these from The Land of Nod: Then we got him these two sets from Paxton Gate:

And Dawn and Nick got him these from who-knows-where:

All together, our coffee table has been looking a lot like this lately:

All in all, I would say that the Holmboe family had a happy, healthy, restorative holiday. I hope yours was too.