It's going to be a very cold, white Christmas... just kidding!

Since both Mark’s and my parents are divorced and living in different parts of the country, where we spend Christmas Day varies from year to year. This year was my mom’s, so we headed to Santa Fe to spend the holiday with the Wylie-Holland-Onuf clan. We packed for extreme cold, and as luck would have it, 2010 ended up being one of the warmest Christmases we’ve celebrated in recent years. Go figure that when I don’t pack any lightweight clothes, we need lightweight clothes. I’ll learn – someday. It goes without saying that my mom (Gaga to the girls) knows how to celebrate. We had a three person birthday party our first night there (me, my stepdad and the Monkey were all born between 12/16 and 12/24) and had another party on Christmas Day.

The entire holiday was great, but a few moments stuck out:

• The Monkey started walking. Not by herself, mind you, but she figured out how to grab hold of a push walker and dash across the house. She also figured out how to climb onto the bottom rung of a stepladder. Getting off the bottom rung is a whole other matter… here's the video.

• The Squid found just what she asked for under the tree on Christmas morning, plus a personal note from Santa Clause and a stocking full of goodies. She oooed and awed over the wooden train set and managed to take it completely apart within a few minutes. The Monkey helped a bit, but she was too enamored with her own gift from Santa Clause – musical instruments.

• Despite the cold temps, the Squid treated her GG (my grandma) to several tea parties on the back patio. It was absolutely adorable to see the two of them sitting on the back porch, sipping pretend tea and chatting away about nothing in particular.

• Date afternoon: So, the one thing I requested for my birthday was a chance to go see a movie with Mark. My dream came true and we saw the latest installment of the Harry Potter franchise. I don’t remember the last time we had an afternoon to ourselves, so to say it was delightful would be an understatement. Many blessings to all grandparents and great-grandparents who are willing, able and excited to give their kids some time to themselves now and again! 

There are quite a lot of us in our blended family and everyone gets a stocking - whether you're at mom and Chris' house or not! GG made all the knitted stockings and has one for the Monkey in the works as we speak!