Christmas Celebrations

Elizabeth putting the apron on Cooper that Aunt Peggy made for them, so cute.

Cooper contemplating his new baby cousin, Matthew. (Were getting one too Coop!)


My Dad, our Po.


Doug picking out a new record to play on Christmas.


My Mom, our Grammy and Livy.


Cooper and Elizabeth. Aren't they too cute! They hugged a lot!


Cooper and Daddy on Christmas morning watching one of Coops new Thomas videos that Santa brought.


Cooper and Mommy opening stockings very early on Christmas morning.


See, they are hugging again!


Cooper and Livia in matching PJ's.


Grandpa Bob and baby Matthew.

We had a very relaxing Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my sister Ann's house with her husbands family, my parents and Doug's dad and brothers family. Then everyone came over to our house on Christmas morning for breakfast. After that we spent all day doing NOTHING. It was lovely. We relaxed, played with our new toys, and enjoyed our first Christmas together in our own house (we usually travel for Christmas). We usually do way to much driving around and really enjoyed the relaxing Christmas that we had this year. Then, we had a wonderful dinner at Grandpa Bobs house, as tradition would have it.
It was a really good Christmas filled with family and love.
We spent Sunday with Doug's sisters family which was super fun and are looking forward to celebrating with the Mckeans, Fosters, and Blairs this coming Monday. We are stretching Christmas out extra long this year! How great!

Christmas Eve traditions

My mom holding a tamale ready to be wrapped up


Ojas and masa ready to be filled with chili


Fresh, delicious red chili

My mothers lovely hands demonstrating exactly how to spread the masa

There have been many wonderful days of Christmas over the past week. So that this post doesn't have a million photos, I am going to spread out the Christmas cheer over a few posts.

Many New Mexicans make tamales and posole for Christmas Eve. Making tamales is an art passed down from generation to generation. They are usually only made once a year (at least in my family) because they are so labor intensive. We make a bunch of them so that we may freeze them and have them all year long. But, the fresh ones are eaten on Christmas Eve as a very special treat. This year, my mom and my sister Ann and I all sat around a table making tamales together. It made us think about our Mama Lou (my grandmother, my moms mom) and how she taught us to make these special tamales. We also talked about other women in our families who we were missing over the holidays, like our sister Elisa who usually helps out with the tamale making, and Wendy and her kids who are in LA. We talked about Aunt Berta and had a discussion on who's posole is better my moms or hers We decided they are equally as wonderful, although Doug is willing to say that Aunt Berta makes better posole (sorry mama). Mostly it brought back wonderful memories of Mama Lou, who is no longer with us in person but sure is with us in spirit! We laughed and laughed. It is a wonderful tradition that I am blessed to share with the women in my family.
Doug was there to take these wonderful photos and capture the moment. These photos made me realize that mothers hands are very special to me. They are the same as mine and my sisters hands, we all have them. They represent comfort and strength to me and watching them get covered in the masa making tamales reminded me of how much I love them.
I hope you all had a very special Christmas Eve. What do you do?

Happy Holidays

We kicked off the holiday season last week by taking Cooper and Livia downtown to Nordstroms to see Santa. Notice that Cooper and Livia are not on said Santa's lap... this is because Cooper said that Santa "makes me a little nervous" and refused to sit on said Santa's lap. So, we did what the photographer called a "bye bye Santa" photo, where Santa disappears, the kids sit in his chair and then he sneaks in the back of the chair to appear in the photo. I get it... Santa is a strange man and usually I would not encourage him to sit on a strange mans lap...

Next, we picked out our tree and Cooper helped decorate it. He was very into the ornaments and it was so fun sharing this with him but picking out the tree was where the fun really happened...

How...

cute


is my boy?! I can hardly stand it! He makes me melt to a little puddle...



I don't really look this pregnant already :) that is my scarf tucked into my jacket making my tummy stick out. Ahem...but all of you who have seen me pregnant know I get pretty big in the tummy area so stay tuned, this baby is already making him or herself known!

Daddy scouting for the Blair family Christmas tree.

Happy Holidays! May the season bring you nothing but joy!
~The Blairs

Wordless Wednesday

Giving Thanks At The Farm

For Thanksgiving Doug's mom rented a farm house across the water near Kingston. I was scheduled to work on Thanksgiving but was able to make it out with Doug and Coop for one day. Doug and Cooper stayed through Thanksgiving and had a very good time. It is always so fun to see Cooper play with his cousins. He has really grown up. We got lots of lovely photos and even scored our Christmas card photo (not seen here, it has to be a surprise!)
I think Coop had a little too much fun because he has been sick all week since we got back. I think he was a bit overstimulated. O well, it was worth the fun!
We are thankful for family, health, and friends. Oh, and for Cooper. He spilled the beans about the new baby over Thanksgiving by telling people that he had a baby in his tummy. Well, if mommy has a baby in her tummy, why can't he? The cat was pretty much out of the bag after that. Yup, a new baby to come this summer and we are so excited. Being parents has been such a wonderful experience, another child can only double our joy! We are so blessed!
And on the the next holiday!!!




Emily is a little mama


Getting crazy with Ian



Sweet Lily


A special turkey craft done with Grandma


Making the turkey

The older kids had started on the craft and Coop walked up to the table to get in on the action. He was really one of the kids, not so much a baby anymore (sigh).

This boy...

Oh how I love this boy. His little voice saying "Mommy" from across the house, his wonderful giggle, the way his hair smells so sweet, his tight hugs, his constant singing, his even more constant talking, his energy and eagerness for life, everything about him. How am I so lucky to have him in my life? I don't know. I shall never take this boy for granted, never.

Too cute for words

Choo Choo...

Cooper spends a lot of time playing with his trains. This Brio train set was Doug's when he was a little boy. It brings us much joy watching Cooper play with the exact train set that Doug played with as a boy. This truly is an heirloom toy.

Sleepy

I wish I looked this cute when I just woke up in the morning. This is Cooper first thing in the AM. Happy Monday!

Fall

I am so excited! Doug and I just splurged and purchased a very nice camera!! We got the Cannon EOS 50 D!!
Today, Annie and I took the kids to the pumpkin patch and I really got to try out the camera for the first time. I still have much to learn. I am considering taking a class so I can get really good at using this professional grade camera.
Because the photos came out so cute, Ann agreed to let me post some photos of our baby girl on my blog!
I love all the fall colors and activities!