It was actually Coco who woke up first on Christmas morning,
and we woke Zuzu up together at 7:30am, which was lovely. I was able to brush
my teeth and make coffee before the girls came downstairs! Zuzu was easy to
wake and they were so sweet sitting together at the top of the stairs as we’d
discussed the night before—I want to make it a tradition to take their picture
there each Christmas morning, with their pjs and bedhead and sleepy baby faces.
Zuzu made us laugh because her first comment was that Santa
hadn’t filled her stocking with candy. There was candy down in her stocking,
but she had evidently had a very specific expectation of what it would look
like (perhaps candy canes and lollipops spilling out of it?) and Santa’s
presentation did not meet her expectations. But she was thrilled with what
Santa brought her.
Maybe I overthink Christmas gifts, but I always want to get
them things that will make Christmas feel magical and abundant, the way I
remember it when I was a kid, but I also don’t want to get them too much—I don’t want it to be all about
the stuff, I don’t want us to fill our house with loads of crappy toys that the
girls don’t play with. So I tried to
strike that balance. Santa brought doll bunk beds (more info on those later) as a joint gift for them to share, and then
each of them got three wrapped gifts from Santa. Coco got Peppa Pig figurines,
the new Oliver Jeffers book, and a new baby stroller. Zuzu slid over to the
nice list just in time to get PJ Masks figurines, Barack Obama’s book Of Thee I Sing, and her most coveted
gift—Princess Elena and Isabel dolls. He also brought matching pajamas for the
girls that say “Little Girl, Big Dreams” on the front (and which I happen to
know that Mrs. Claus selected for them before the election and then shed tears
over after).
On Eliza’s birthday, I took the girls with me to Target to
get shoes and toys for a family that a group at my university had adopted for
Christmas. We were buying shoes and toys for an 11-year old boy and a 4 year
old girl, so I let Zuzu choose the toy and she picked this set of two dolls
based on some cartoon. Then she talked about how much SHE wanted that Elena and
Isabel. In fact, when I asked her on Christmas Eve what gift she hoped most to
get from Santa (a dangerous question, in retrospect), that’s what she said.
Fortunately, Santa came through.
She was adorably astonished and appreciative of the gifts
Santa brought. She said, “Santa even knew what I liked that wasn’t on my list!”
She hadn’t asked for the PJ Masks characters, but she was pretty excited about
them.
I was pretty excited about both books—they are both
fabulous.
Another thing Santa picked up when swinging through the
dollar spot at Target were these big rolled up maps of the US and the continents
that are made to color. This was such a hit, as the girls spent a huge part of
the day yesterday and all morning this morning happily coloring with their new
markers, all spread out on the living room floor working on these big posters.
I was pleased that Zuzu liked the skirt we gave her. She
also liked the magnet game we got for her. Coco was delighted with the rainbow
umbrella that Zuzu wrapped up (and offered tremendous amount of unsolicited
assistance unwrapping) for her, and
Zuzu got really into the set of Shrinky Dinks that Coco wrapped and gifted to
her. On a whim, I picked up a magnetic hour glass and gave it to both of them
and they were pretty into it, too. Another big hit was the cash register that
David’s aunt sent for them. The kindergarteners at Zuzu’s school had a bake
sale the week before Christmas break and Zuzu has been playing bake sale ever
since, so I knew a cash register would be a big hit. Of course, David’s aunt
selected the Cadillac of children’s cash registers, so it is a real working
calculator with a scanner that beeps, a credit card slide that beeps, and a
microphone that amplifies your voice and has that terrible squeaky feedback
noise, just like the Kmart announcements from back in the day.
(By the end of the night, Coco was sneaking over to the cash
register to yell “Poopoo Butt!” into the microphone, in the ultimate act of
two-year-old naughty words.)
My parents saved most of their gifts for Christmas at their
house, which was on Thursday after Christmas when when my brother and his wife (Uncle Buck and Auntie Jo) got to town, but they did bring up a cute little wooden craft table that’s perfect
for the girls since they are really into drawing and coloring these days.
By the end of the day, both girls were worn out. Coco asked
to go back to bed at 10:30am, and lay in her crib for about 30 minutes before
yelling for us to free her. She took a solid afternoon nap, though, and was
ready for bed at her normal time. In our version of a Christmas miracle, Zuzu
actually put herself to bed about 8:30pm!
It was really a pretty delightful day. The girls and I
stayed in our pajamas all day long. We all spent the afternoon coloring and
reading or playing with new toys. David fixed another fantastic dinner (Zuzu
seriously couldn’t stop raving about the pasta with butter and parm that she
was served, which cracked us all up: “I just LOVE this pasta! Do you love it,
Coco? This dinner is my favorite! I just LOVE it!”
Eliza's stocking still makes me sad on Christmas morning, but I think I'm going to handle it next year by putting an ornament in it. For the past few years, I've participated in an ornament exchange with other BLMs, and each year I've received a beautiful ornament to commemorate Eliza. Although I always open the ornament and share a photo on IG, I think that next year instead of hanging it on the tree, I'll put it in her stocking after opening it. On Christmas morning, the girls can pull it out of Eliza's stocking and hang it on the tree, and it will be a small and happy way to acknowledge their sister.
After five Christmases of pretty heavy grief, this one was
an excellent respite. It was such a lovely, easy day. We hung out, watched TV,
and just enjoyed doing nothing. As sad as I am to say good-bye to the baby
days, I’m also reminding myself that we have much to look forward to the years of doing puzzles and reading novels and
seeing movies and having Christmas evolve with our family.
The five-year mark does seem to have some special healing powers. I felt the same way as you about Christmas this year. Our day was a lot like yours, very happy and relaxing, though neither of my kids put themselves to bed. Christmas finally seemed normal, or as normal as it ever will be for us.
ReplyDeleteThat feeling has carried forward into 2017, and I find myself really wanting to plan for the future. I remember the grief books saying that many families need five years to feel normal. And I remember thinking I would never survive that long. But here we all are.
Sweet idea about the ornament.
ReplyDeleteBrooke, I have been having trouble commenting from my laptop... Typing on my phone sucks, so this will be brief, lol, but I wanted to say I'm so glad you had a better Christmas this year. And I love your Eliza tradition! <3
ReplyDelete