Yule Happenings

Christmas this year was a new and exciting experience, because it was my first one as a mom! There are all sorts of things for little children to do around here during the holidays, but since Freyja is still so little, we had to hold off on those. So, it was a low-key Christmas...but great all the same...

Really, the best part for me was watching her look at everything with such an innocent sense of wonder and excitement. She loved looking at all the twinkling lights and the Christmas decorations. She wanted to touch the cottony snow, small wooden nutcrackers, and the ornaments on the tree. I really enjoyed seeing her take it all in, and thought that it must be so amazing to be her...trying to figure out what it was all about...

One of the things I really had fun doing was having Freyja's pictures taken a few weeks before Christmas...

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I was so sure that I would get her all dressed up and looking adorable...and then she would totally freak out and cry when the photographer tried to get her to smile and then the whole situation would be a complete disaster. She's been going through a little "stranger anxiety" phase lately, which usually results in her crying or doing some lip quivering at people who try to smile at her or talk to her who aren't in her usual cast of characters. But, it turned out that Freyja absolutely loved the photographer. It suddenly struck me that this lady was an old pro at this kind of thing. She had probably seen her fair share of children with all sorts of personalities...and she knew just what to do to keep Freyja smiling and happy throughout the whole shoot. It was great! We even had a chance to take a couple of pictures together...

A few days later I took her to the mall, where they have an absolutely beautiful old-fashioned children's carousel, and put her on one of the smaller horses. Well, it was really a rabbit! Since she's still so little and can't support herself yet, I had to kneel down next to her and help her hold on! I felt like an idiot, but I didn't care! I guess it's just proof that you'll do anything for your kids. She laughed and giggled the whole time...she was just so cute...and I'm so glad I took her. It's one of those things that I'm sure she'll grow to love more and more as she gets older...

On Christmas Eve, we had a nice family dinner. Freyja sat at the table with us in her festive "Santa Loves Me!" bib and enjoyed her own yummy dinner of peas, apples, and rice cereal. She seemed to love the fact that she was sitting with everyone...

We opened gifts after dinner on Christmas Eve, which is our usual tradition. I didn't think Freyja was really going to be into the whole unwrapping part of things, but she figured it out pretty quickly and was yanking and tugging at paper like mad! She absolutely loves tearing up paper. I think that amused her more than the actual gifts...



Freyja actually received quite a few things...two wooden rattles, a soft doll, a set of wooden stacking rings, a soft ABC's book, and a knitted horse.

On Christmas morning we had a nice breakfast, and then opened up small presents and candy from our stockings. Freyja enjoyed playing on her rocking giraffe (a cute variation of the rocking horse), which was from Santa, even though her little feet don't quite touch the foot-rests yet!

Overall, I think it was a great first Yule for Freyja, and next year will be even better, I'm sure. For her second Christmas, I'd like to take her to see the reindeer at the zoo, to holiday story-hour at the children's museum, and to see the Christmas parade...but we'll see what happens!