Holiday Season

Oh, these are busy holidays, as always. :) A wonderful Christmas is celebrated, one family is visited, now a couple of days to take a deep breath and relax a bit, get back some energy and sort through the Christmas gifts, and then already taking off to see the other family and have a happy New Year.

Adelaide's 1st Christmas was very nice..

She loves him..

The day before Christmas Eve Mr. Husband got a Christmas tree from a nearby forest. It was tiny this year! :D (Smaller than me!) We agreed to put the tree on a log of wood, so Adelaide couldn't reach it, and that was the right decision. She is moving around the house totally on her own. However, she can't reach up yet, so this was the perfect solution. It was unusual for us though, because we always have had a too big tree, that doesn't fit in the house, and Husband already said, that next year he will get "a proper tree"! :D

 

I baked some traditional Latvian festive buns, both salty, filled with bacon, and sweet rolls. And made a very nice Christmas dinner, also classical, including sauteed sour cabbage, which turned out the best ever, yum! :)

On the day of Christmas Eve we went to our church, and while my Husband had a practise with the choir, I walked around the Tallinn old town and visited the Christmas market, while Adelaide was nicely sleeping in the stroller. There seemed to be only tourists there. :)

Then Adelaide watched her first Christmas concert, being totally awake and a perfect baby - sitting through almost an hour long concert in my lap and listening! Not making any noise and not disturbing! Quite surprising.. She really enjoyed the music. Listening excitedly through every song, and making a big sigh, as the song ended! :)
And she continued being the perfect baby through the Christmas service as well.

We came home in the evening, had the Christmas dinner, Adelaide was eating as well!

And then - out from nowhere - a huge pile of Christmas gifts turned up under the Christmas tree! We went a bit overboard this year again.. :) But most of the gifts were practical..
We are continuing the traditions in our home, and that means - you have to sing or recite a poem to receive the gift. (We are both big singers, so we don't mind doing it at all.. And it will be nice for the children.)

Adelaide got many presents.. Later she got presents at Husband's parents house as well.

These are the gifts that Adelaide received:

• 2 new pyjamas and 1 nice dress set (Mr. Husband had bought it.. how adorable) ;)
• many books
• wooden blocks
• her first cup (and she also got a sippy cup from a friend..)
• matryoshka 

All of these books are in Estonian. I definitely want to get some books in Latvian for her as well..

Matryoshka is very nice. However, it's going to be hidden for a while still, waiting for the time, when Adelaide will not want to eat everything that she can get her hands on.

A story with the cup.. I wanted something suitable for her - so she could learn to drink with an actual cup from the very beginning. I wanted it to be heavy enough, but not too heavy, in a good size, preferably something that wouldn't break too easily.. It was impossible to find. In the end I chose this cup, even though it is plastic - it's from a thicker, heavier plastic than usually, it was the best I could find. And I wouldn't buy any princess or hello kitty characters for my child, but Tiger from Winny the Pooh seemed fine. :)

I got a sewing machine for Christmas. :) It means that I can't be lazy anymore, have to start using it..

On the Christmas Day we took off in the early morning to Husband's parents house, where more than half of his big family came together (which meant already 10 adults, plus 5 small children in one house..). We had another big Christmas dinner, then again the presents..

And Santa Claus came!

Adelaide didn't care that much.. :) She was a little bit cranky from all the crowd and noise.

A couple of more days with the family were nice, Adelaide could meet her little cousins.. She really enjoys other children, she gets really excited! Looking at her cousins (a 4 year old, two 3 year olds and a 1 year old), how fast they have grown up, how smart and sensible they already have become, it's unbelievable!.. I can't believe it, and same time I'm looking forward to see, how will Adelaide be.. :)

Same time it was overwhelming, of course, and it's really nice to be home! :)

And she really likes her wooden blocks. To chew, of course. :) Only after having chosen these blocks I realised, that pure wooden (not painted) blocks would actually be great.. But we decided, that Husband will make a set of those himself. It will be good to have both, blocks are always useful.

P.S. She is still teething, but the new teeth are not seen yet.