Merry Christmas!

Today was not the kind of Christmas one wishes and hopes for. Elle has been battling a cold for the last two days, and last night, the coughing kept her - and us - up from about 1:30 a.m. until 4 a.m. We woke this morning and opened gifts amid swipes of a tissue under her nose or trips to the bathroom to wash snot off her hands. I cringed repeatedly as she opened toys with numerous small pieces and breathed, coughed or sneezed all over them, but for the most part, she was in decent spirits and loved all of her gifts, so that was a good thing. (I have no idea how to disinfect my entire home to prevent Tim and I from getting sick, but I at least know that the iPad needs to be bathed in bleach after the germs it was exposed to by a certain toddler.) 

Our poor baby :(

In the sake of the holiday spirit, I tried to contain my sleep-deprived crankiness, but it teamed up with a dose of "this is not how I imagined things," and I was not exactly the happiest camper all morning. A quick nap and some cuddles with Elle helped things, and although she's still dealing with a nasty cough, she got to FaceTime with both sides of our families and play with lots of her gifts. We had plans to go to a local aquarium with friends of ours this afternoon - Tim and my friend's husband work at local newspapers and were both scheduled to work today - but we canceled because of the illness and kept things low key. We went for a short walk around our complex instead, and Elle skipped and told me she was a horse, then a shark, then played hide and seek with me without actually hiding (she kept telling me "Can you count to three?" and "Can you say 'Ready or not here I come?'" and would just walk ahead of me), so we rolled with it. I still never quite believe it is Christmas in Florida anyway - going outside in a t-shirt and shorts doesn't say "Christmas" like the majority of my winters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, and for so many years I, like Tim, had to work on Christmas that it feels weird unless it doesn't. But I digress.

I was also torn by the whole "enjoy the moment or capture the moment" debate. Since a lot of the gifts came from hundreds of miles away, I wanted people to know that Elle had opened their present or show video of the act in progress, but I also wanted to take it all in as we went. (Many of the photos ended up with her in mid-cough, but still, I tried.) I feel like we learn something new on Christmas logistics every year, and hopefully sooner than later we'll have a system/procedure/approach perfected. Or not.

One of Elle's new toys. She's a BIG fan.

I also struggled with the pressure of getting Elle "enough," when she really "needs" so little and we have very little space to put all of the "stuff" that is so easy to accumulate. I saw photo after photo on Facebook and Instagram of huge gift piles, and I found myself comparing. But then I realized that I really don't care - Elle had a good Christmas, and if I try to keep up with everyone I'll a) drive myself crazy, b) run out of space, fast and c) go bankrupt. Elle doesn't know if other kids get more or less than her. She's so young and really didn't in to the commercial hype of Christmas yet, I figure we should take advantage of that for as long as possible. She wasn't pacing around the mail box for the Toys 'R Us catalog or leaving messages all over the condo with list upon list of things she wanted for Christmas, and for that, I'm grateful. I know that day could happen soon enough. I've tried to focus on giving this season - to others who have less than us or those who might need more than us - and hope to instill that in our children as well. And while I didn't "do" as much with Elle as I had hoped this holiday season, I am cutting myself slack and know that to her, it was the bomb and she can't believe that all of these presents just showed up under the tree for her (and hey, there's always next year to earn Christmas Parent of the Year).

Enough holiday rambling, let's get to videos of the cute kid (because I need to hit the hay in case there's a sleep repeat of last night) - happy holidays, everyone! Hope you and yours (weren't near my kid's germs and) had a great holiday!