Alyssa's first Christmas

What a whirlwind this Christmas season has been and oh how different. Before Alyssa was born, I was apprehensive about how life would change, but Aaron always reminded me that it would change for the better. I can definitely say we enjoyed Christmas in a much different way this year.

Instead of doing holiday shopping on my own, I had a constant companion this year. Together, Alyssa and I did most of the Christmas shopping. While getting her in and out of the car was cumbersome at times, I've begun asking myself how I ever shopped without a stroller. Shopping gave us an excuse to get out of the house and move a little since it's been too cold to go out for walks as of late. Alyssa also observed me as I baked several different kinds of cookies. We even tried out a few new recipes, a couple of which are definite keepers! I look forward to the day when she can help mix up the ingredients and decorate the cookies herself.

We spent Christmas Eve and day with the Menkes. Alyssa finally got to meet her Aunt Sarah and got lots of love from all of her family. We went to Christmas mass at Jordan late Christmas eve afternoon, and thank goodness it was a family mass. Alyssa needed two diaper changes and to be fed all in slightly over an hour! I felt like I needed to go to another service as I was so focused on taking care of her :)

We exchanged names within Aaron's family, and I think almost everyone knew who had each name, even though it was supposed to be a secret. I think everyone was just so excited to find the perfect gifts for one another, one of the true delights of Christmas. Alyssa was really at the center of the celebration though. Reflecting on the day I realized that our yearly individual photos were not individual this year, each of us took turns getting our picture with Alyssa, and at the beginning of the Christmas video, someone exclaimed "Look what we got this year!" and held Alyssa up for the camera.

Aaron and I had to wait to exchange gifts until later Christmas night when we made it home. Alyssa got us both a few gifts - Aaron was excited to have a mug with photos of Alyssa to drink his coffee out of and I was excited to receive a jogger stroller. I think Aaron will get to use his gift before me though!

My parents and Wally and Dena all arrived on the 27th. I picked the four of them up at the airport and then the race was on to see who would hold Alyssa first - Wally won, waking her up from her mid-morning nap. After we all tore through our presents, we were able to just enjoy our four days together as a family.

While everyone was in town we had Alyssa baptized at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church, which is the church at which Aaron and I worship. Baptism was held after mass, but it was a really special ceremony, I didn't realized how much it meant to me to be baptized. Alyssa was pretty fussy during the baptism because she was hungry (she made it through mass, but another 45 minutes was pushing it!). She didn't cry at all when the priest poured the water over her head, but during most of the rest of the baptism ceremony we had a pacifier in her. The funniest part is that she spit it out during the last prayer/blessings and the priest made a joke about making sure we got her candle and her pacifier from the altar! Afterward, we enjoyed having both families eat and spend the afternoon together.

During the whole Christmas season, I've been able to do a lot of reflecting and many different questions have resonated with me. At Christmas eve mass, the priest asked why did God send Jesus as a baby and one of the reasons he gave was because everyone loves a baby, and it's so true. Babies are such a blessing and so innocent, free of all the influences of the world. One of the things I was struck by during the past week or so was how much Alyssa is loved by all of her family. She was just showered with affection all week, and even though she is so young yet, I can tell the she loves all of her family. The smiles and giggles she gives to everyone tells us how happy she is.

I've also been doing a lot of thinking about Baby Jesus and Mary. I now understand how hard it must have been for God to send Jesus to us, and how much he must love us to do so. I also have been thinking about how we should prepare for Jesus' birth/arrival; if only we spent as much time preparing for his arrival as we do preparing for the birth of our own children. For he truly is the gift and what we should be most excited about receiving. Finally, I've been thinking about how Mary must have felt; she must have had such a different experience than most mothers for some of my biggest questions are about Alyssa's future (What will she be like? What will she be? etc.), she already had answered. She knew that her son would save us all and that he would be King. I can't imagine knowing that from the very beginning...

Alyssa is now almost two months old and she's changed so much. Aaron thinks she's changing her looks to look more like me (I still have trouble identifying either of us in her!), and she's also becoming much more alert. She is now giggling, smiling and cooing with some frequency. When I'm feeling a little grumpy, one of her smiles can lift my spirits. She is such a happy baby and loves interacting with people. She's squirming around in a more controlled way and is generally just getting bigger. I got on the scale with her the other day, and if our scale is right, she's about 13 pounds! We go to the doctor on January 8, so we'll see then just how much she has grown, but the fact that she's outgrowing some of her outfits leaves no doubt in our mind that she's growing by leaps and bounds. We'll give you an update after that next doctor's visit, but in the meantime the three of us wish you all a very happy 2009. May it be filled with love, laughter, and many blessings -