The holidays were so hectic for me and my family. I’m blessed with so many loved ones and happy occasions, but honestly it was so chaotic and tiring and overwhelming that I was a crabby pants through the entire thing. Back-to-back-to-back celebrations and no time to breathe…now I know why people get all bah-hum-bug-y during the holiday season.
At one point I think I said to my sister, “I just want to sit down and catch up on my blog!” To a non-blogger, this probably sounded ridiculous and it actually sounded ridiculous to me as I was saying it. But what I really meant was that I just want to sit down and reflect on all the things that were going on before it passed me by. You know, because that’s what us bloggers do: we document sh!t. We take a funny, inspiring, or memorable moment and write it down. We take photos of the loved ones, places we’ve been, food we ate and share them with the world.
So part of my bah-hum-buggyness was stemming from not being able to capture all those amazing moments while they were still fresh in my heart. I didn’t get a chance to savor life’s interludes before moving on to the next adventure. That kinda thing.
Now that I finally have a quiet moment accompanied by a glass of wine, I can reminisce my favorite Holiday 2013 moments which included 4 Christmas celebrations, a trip to Chicago, twins with mustaches, and a partridge in a pair tree. Let’s start with the first of 4 Christmas celebrations:
My side of the family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve. This year, it was a small, intimate gathering at my Uncle Joer’s house with just my dad’s immediate sisters and brother along with my first cousins.
We all come to life anytime my Uncle Joer plays the piano. This year, my cousin Brandon played alongside him and they rocked out to pretty much everything – Christmas carols, The Beatles, and they even free-styled some jazz music. Everyone was welcome to sing along if they knew the words!
Arielle and Zavier were the only 2 kiddos at the party. Usually, Arielle gets all the attention because she has such a sparkly personality – she says charming things, sings, and dances. This time around, it was nice to see Zavier get some attention too. A part from my cousin Tiffany, all my cousins are boys and they love to mess around with Zavier.
Arielle still gets lots of attention from her Tita Christine, who visited from Connecticut to spend the holiday week with us. My sister thanks me all the time for giving birth to her daughter. LOL They have such a special bond and strangers mistake Arielle for her daughter all the time.
And don’t forget the sister love…
And a few glamour shots:
We exchanged presents and A&Z got some nice pajamas, outerwear, and toys.
My favorite was when my Uncle Howard taught Zavier how set up cups so he can practice target shooting. It was pretty intense and kept them both busy for a better part of an hour.
So this was part 1 of many of our holiday celebrations. Be warned – anytime I start a series with Part 1, I seldom get the time to post Part 2 or 3. Sorry in advance.
How do you celebrate the holidays? Is it calm and relaxing or crazy? Does it take you about a week to recover from the holidays like me?
xoxo // gracielle
Nothing says Merry Christmas like a little chaos and sleep deprivation! HAHAHA But seriously, I know what you mean about wanting to find time to blog. The more I blog, the more I want to blog!
I’m glad you got to spend some quality time with your family. Merry Christmas and Happy 2014!
Jennifer McCullough recently posted…The Toymoon Is Over Already?!
I could spend hours and hours blogging away, reading other blogs, etc. I just love it! Hope 2014 is going well for you so far, Jennifer!
Gracielle recently posted…Holidays 2013 Part 2: Inay’s Life Celebrated and a Twinning New Years Eve
I’m sorry you were feeling overwhelmed this holiday season. Coming from a small family, I craved this. I married into a big family and love the commotion and constant activities a lot, but I DO appreciate quiet, alone-time, too! I also felt the itch to blog during it all! It must be a passion thing!
Shannon @Lady’s Little Loves recently posted…And the biggest losers of 2013 are…
It must be a passion thing! LOL Maybe next year I’ll take a bloggy break for the holidays so that I can get take my mind off of it without feeling guilty…kind of like the “Out of office” message when you leave work for a vacay! Happy New Year, Shannon!
You sure had a very busy and fun holiday season. My family had a very intimate and quiet celebration though. Nice to see that all of you gathered during the Christmas eve. You have such a lovely family! 🙂
Rea recently posted…You’ve Got To Find What You Love
Happy New Year, Rea! Intimate and quiet sounds AH-MAZE-ING. I just wish things would sloooooow down around here. That’s my goal for 2014 anyway 🙂
Your family sounds like a lot of fun! I totally get the tired and needing a moment thing. I think of my blog time as my quiet time and when I don’t get it….well!
You have some wonderful pictures here.
This year our holiday celebrations are long and drawn out. We aren’t even done yet. On the upside it gives me time to relax in between each one.
Carla recently posted…Almond Raisin Oatmeal Bowl Recipe
Happy New Year, Carla! I guess I don’t mind the actual holiday celebrations – it’s more of the back-to-back parties with no space in between that wears me down! Enjoy the last bits of the holidays that you have left 🙂
what a fun Christmas! my family (parents and siblings) celebrated Christmas on Christmas eve too, but now with our own (me, hubby, kids), we have been celebrating on Christmas day AND Christmas eve. 🙂
Roaen recently posted…A Healthier Me: Goals for 2014
Thanks for stopping by, Roaen! I love that you carried on your parents/siblings’ family traditions started your own family traditions. Hope it was a good one!
No, I totally get it! I wanted normal life. I wanted to catch up on blogging/reading blogs. It’s my routine, and I love it on top of that.
Your Christmas sweater is so cute! I’ve only ever seen ugly ones – that are meant to be ugly for Ugly Christmas Photos. Didn’t know they could be fashionable too!
Tamara recently posted…Looking Back and Looking Ahead.
My not-ugly Christmas sweater was free 🙂 I find things that they sell at my work for dirt cheap and use rewards points to get it for free. I thought it was a gamble being a holiday sweater and all, but figured that it was free so it didn’t matter anyway!
Our holiday is always nice and slow. We don’t live near any of our family and we refuse to travel for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (to visit them would require a plane ride). It is our favorite holiday of the entire year!
With that being said, if I was in your neighborhood I’d also be jockeying for an invite to Uncle Joer’s house. It looks like you had a BLAST. I love the picture of all of the women on the couch. Such a classic!
NJ @ A Cookie Before Dinner recently posted…Ask Away Friday With Eli From Coach Daddy
A nice and slow holiday sounds FAN-TAS-TIC to me!
If you like live music, you’d love my Uncle Joer’s house. His basement is set up like a jazz lounge complete with a keyboard, drums, mics. So when he has parties, him and his buddies who are also musicians jam out and everyone sits back to enjoy the live music. Sometimes they let me sing (kinda like live band karaoke). Super fun!
It looks like you had a wonderful holiday! I love your pictures! And what fun to take those glamour shots! I’m almost never in pictures, because we tend to just take them of the kids!
I pretty much let my blog go over the holidays. I wasn’t overwhelmed this year…when there are lots of people around though, I do tend to get stressed about my house being a mess (not because of the people, but for the people that are there to see what my house actually looks like LOL) We just had nice family time. I had big plans…I was going to get the house organized, write blog posts and get ahead, do some blog planning…well the only thing I actually did was some house organizing and there is plenty left to do, but I feel like we made a big dent in it! Happy New Year!
Michelle recently posted…#AskAwayFriday with Rabia from The Lieber Family
Great job on the house organization! I feel like if my house is not cluttered, then my brain doesn’t feel so cluttered either! I’ve been doing a ton of cleaning around here, too. Hope 2014 is going well for you so far, Michelle!
Gracielle recently posted…Holidays 2013 Part 2: Inay’s Life Celebrated and a Twinning New Years Eve
Looks like fun! I felt frustrated too trying to savor every moment. I’m actually taking another holiday break since we celebrate two Christmases! I definitely felt less pressure to blog when I let go and not felt guilty trying to capture everything at once. The end of the year projects at work didn’t help either. I do miss blogging and being involved so anxious to get back into it again after this week is over!
Deanna recently posted…Sprinkles.
I’m kinda relieved that the holidays are over! I’m pooped! However, my husband’s birthday is on Jan 7th, but I’m lucky that he’s not big on celebrating his birthday (or so he says). That’s nice that your Christmases are spread out a bit and good thing you’re taking another week off! Hope it was enjoyable! Cheers to an awesome 2014!!
Gracielle recently posted…Holidays 2013 Part 2: Inay’s Life Celebrated and a Twinning New Years Eve
my motto is: life first, blog later. there are times when i’m on vacation thinking, “i need to capture this on my blog!” but i’m trying to stay away from that mentality and focus on being present versus documenting the moment. christmas was great this year because we didn’t have to travel. last year we were in england visiting my in-laws. it was so cold and i was so rundown, i got really sick.
Catherine Gacad recently posted…Real Estate Update: 2 Offers, 2 Days
Great motto! Glad to hear you had a local, and hopefully healthy Christmas this year. I only travel during the holidays if it’s to see my parents in Tampa, which I totally don’t mind with the 70-80 degree weather!!