My Christmases through the years.....starting in 2001.
2001: I was living alone in an apartment, and it was my first Christmas where I had my own tree. My grandmother gave me boxes of ornaments that had been my Mom's. I was so proud....I dragged that tree up to my 3rd floor attic apartment all by myself and got it in a stand by myself and decorated it myself. I had been dating someone who was Jewish but we broke up just before the Holidays. I spent Christmas Eve in Scranton and then woke up alone in my apartment the next morning. Murray was 9 months old and I opened his presents. I vowed to spend the next Christmas with a special someone.
2002: Dave and I were dating and he had recently moved to Florida. I spent Christmas Eve in Scranton and at 4am, my ex boyfriend from the year before drove me and Murray to the airport so I could spend Christmas with Dave. We had no money so there was no presents and no tree. We celebrated in an empty apartment.
2003: Dave and I were engaged and living together in Florida. It was my first Christmas away from Pennsylvania, and we actually flew back to be with my family on Christmas. We had fun decorating our first townhome before we left. I remember stuffing our tree into the trunk of Dave's Mustang.
Here is Murray and I that year:
2004: Our first Christmas married. We got Sammy on December 22nd so he was my Christmas present. We did Christmas Eve alone at our townhome and I missed my family. We drove to spend Christmas Day with Dave's mom. A photoof me with friends who we spent a lot of time with. I don't even recognize myself here.
2005: Our first Christmas in England. We were far from family and "going home" was not an option. We worked hard to start making our own traditions. I remember it as a wonderful holiday filled with friends and parties.
My work party:
2006: I was very newly pregnant with Liam and not telling anyone until we heard the heartbeat. I remember having anxiety over the poregnancy not being real.
We always got our tree from a farm where these giant dogs would pull the tree back to your car:
With Murray by our tree and fireplace:
2007: Liam was 4 months old and we were so excited to spend our first Christmas with him.
Christmas Eve:
I have a thing for big trees:
2008: We were back in the United States and Liam was 16 months old. I was 6 months pregnant with Ben and had not spent a Christmas "home" in 5 years. I could hear "There is No Place Like Home for the Holidays" in my head and we decided to travel from Alabama to Pennsylvania to visit my family. From the start, the trip was a disaster and was the bginning of highlighting that fact that Liam had severe sensory issues and social delays. On the way up, he refused to sleep at the first overnight stop. At 4am, after being awake for 24 hours straight we packed him back into the minivan and took off. Once in PA, things did not improve. My family had not babyproofed and Liam ran wild from one room to another and tried to avoid people by playing on the stairs. The trip to Scranton was a disaster. Grammy and Poppy are losing their hearing and play their TV loudly and Liam spent the whole time trying to escape their house. He came down with a horrible cold and fever. We got kicked out of Christmas Eve Mass for Liam being too disruptive. Christmas Day was worse as the excitement of my step-family overwhelmed him. He refused to show interest in presents and cried the whole time. There are few pictures as we were so overwhelmed.
Christmas Eve at Grammy and Poppy's:
The only time he was happy was carrying around on apple or hiding in my Dad's bedroom. I didn't realize the path we were about to go down.
2009: Liam was 28 months and Ben was 8 months. Dave had been deployed about 7 weeks, and Liam was recently diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Ben was suffering from GERD and was labeled "failure to thrive." I was expected to travel to PA but the disaster the year before was too fresh and neither boy slept and I did not see how I'd manage. Liam did not talk, both boys were in diapers, and I was alone for the most part. My Dad flew in on Christmas at 10pm so Christmas Day was quiet and lonely. I was never more afraid of what the future held as I was that year.
Breakfast with Santa on the base:
2010: Dave was home and we were in Alaska. Liam was 3 and Ben was 19 months and had recently started Early Intervention. Liam was FINALLY speaking in sentences and seemed to understand Christmas and had asked for a train table. We had recently decided our family was complete and to take actions to ensure there would be no 3rd baby and I was struggling with having missed so much of Ben's infancy due to lack of sleep.
I REALLY like big trees:
On Christmas Day we lost power for about 5 hours. Our ham was not done cooking and inside temperatures fell into the 40's as it was negative degrees outside:
2011: Still in Alaska and Liam was 4 and Ben was 2......We started the tradition of an elf and got our first non-crying Santa photos. Liam asked for a big firetruck and airplane for Christmas but then promptly ignored them. Ben still did not have the language to ask for any presents.
Showing Santa the list of what he wanted:
I miss that staircase:
2012: Liam is now 5 and Ben 3, and the trials of 2009 seem far from my mind these days. Liam wrote his own list and it has more items on it then he will get, but include: a bike, a stuffed, anklysaurus, Sorry, a treasure box, space Wii game, and Angry Birds Space game. Ben wants two things: a cupcake and a bike.
2 comments:
I love this! I love that staircase too. I like big trees as well but we don't have the ceiling height for them.. too bad!!
What a great post - you guys have good memories!
Post a Comment