Winter and Such

Sofia was really into Christmas this year. Of course she has always loved the tree and getting a ton of presents but she really understood the folklore of Santa this year so it was extra fun. She wrote notes to Santa, bought him a special cup for his milk, made special cookies for him, and even put up signs for him so that he would know where the tree was (especially like that one). She was very curious about how Santa would get into our house since we do not have a chimney. She and Brian decided that we would leave a window open for him, but one that was big enough. She had it all planned out. Of course the kids woke up at 5am, but Brian made them wait for a while before they opened their gifts. Luca was up first because he was so excited for Christmas. It was sweet.
We do not exchange gifts with each other nor with my family. We are on such a tight budget that it seems excessive for us to buy gifts for each other. Christmas is truly for the children and we focus on their joy in all of this. I still struggle with the excess of it all. Brian and I often disagree on how many gifts we give the kids. This year we agreed to give stocking stuffers from Santa and 2 larger gifts from us. I thought that was plenty since they would get a ton of stuff from my mom, dad, and sister. And indeed they did. At the end of it all, was a house full of joyful children happily playing with their new toys. I guess that is not so bad.

I can't say that I am not happy for Christmas to be over. I insisted upon taking down our tree yesterday and I was thrilled to have it outside of our house. I am happy to get back to our life with a few new toys. Hopefully we will fill this last week of "vacation" from school with play dates and the new year will begin.

I am going to make a list of things I hope to fill my life with in 2010. Why not? I bought a class card for 10 yoga classes in 3 months, so first in my list is more yoga. I need more Om Shanti in my life, so I am hoping to have a better yoga practice (inspired by my lovely friend Melissa!). I also hope to spend more time doing crafty things with my kids. My family gave us lots of crafty things for Christmas, so I plan to put them to use. I also want to eat more vegetarian/vegan. My mom bought me a vegan cookbook and I hope to incorporate some new dishes into my repertoire. I've got some other hopes and plans and feel, although it is so cliche, the New Year is a good time for a fresh beginning. Let's bring it on.