a very san diego christmas

it sure is rough getting back into the swing of things after the alternating chaos and relaxation of the holiday week, isn't it? i'm still in a bit of denial that vacation is over and we're back to the daily grind, but every time i look at a picture of the fun times that were had, the memories help soften the blow.

i've yet to gather the best pictures of violet's christmas (located on the various phones and cameras of kevin, my sister and my cousin), but since violet looks cute in any photo, i give you the meager offerings from my own phone.





while there is of course still a lot about christmas that violet doesn't get, she does know that 1) presents are fun to play with, and 2) the toys inside are fun to play with. her present stack was predictably absurd in its enormousness, but everyone dove in to assist her in unwrapping the awesome loot.



since violet is obsessed with our laptop, nana got her one of her own, and while she certainly enjoys it, i don't think it will stop her from pursuing ours. despite the disapproval of the american academy of pediatrics, we've let her watch a few sesame street videos (she sings along to the "ooh oh oh" part of feist's "1234" adaptation), and it's truly incredible how digital media elicits a crackhead response in these toddlers. i was desperately trying to get some gifts wrapped, and violet was running around with my mom's gift in her hands and refusing to relinquish it. i said, "if you give that to me, i'll let you watch your video on the computer." her eyes lit up, and she ran over to me as fast as her little legs could carry her, hurled my mom's gift into my lap, and dashed over to where we keep the computer, pointing and begging until i booted it up and played her video. wow. just, wow.

in another amazing moment, considering that this is a baby whose shoe hatred was unparalleled a mere two months ago, violet opened a new pair of adorable glitter shoes from our friend wendy and insisted upon wearing them immediately. no matter that they're as yet a half size too big. violet clomped around in them elatedly all morning.



hardly able to contain his excitement for his future daddy-daughter date at the american girl dolls store, kevin practiced his tea etiquette.



my sweet kiddo already knows that her mama wants the chocolate cake, and she always offers me a bite of it first. (this behavior will continue to be met with positive reinforcement of course.)

ironically, my sweet-tooth family gets super excited about offering violet a traditional baked good, i.e. christmas cookies or pumpkin bread, but as if she knows that toddlers aren't supposed to eat sweets, violet often rejects them outright. instead she happily ate nana's famous scrambled eggs with her cheerios at our christmas morning breakfast (while poppy entertained her with his famous orange peel smile).





violet added some new words to her lexicon over the break, but by far the most repeated is "nana." i was talking to her about auntie courtney's impending visit next weekend, and she looked at me, smiled and said, "nana." this morning she started talking in her sleep a few minutes before she woke up: "ap-puh... nana." was she dreaming about nana's apple dumplings? or about rejecting nana's apple dumplings to make the rest of us feel like fatties?

unlike last year's christmas, which remains a blur of shushing and rocking, we successfully engaged violet in some other traditions, including a trip to see the big christmas tree at the hotel del coronado, a trip down christmas card lane,







and a beach walk in del mar -- a year-round tradition.





although she did spend some time in existential contemplation, she had some fun too.







while we very much missed our east coast family and friends, we're so thankful for the time we got to spend with family and friends here (even though it was not nearly enough). what we did not miss was winter weather. look at that beach! christmas was warm and clear as the best summer day.