Merry Christmas to All!

Christmas morning was incredibly relaxing. We woke up, opened presents and went to church. Elena got to enjoy some quite time with Grandma and Pop-Pop and Mom and Dad played hours and hours of board games with Aunt Becca and Uncle Dave.

Elena loved her new things... she conveniently "opened" her Bumbo chair first so she had a place to sit while we opened her other gifts. She got some classic Christmas books- The Grinch and 'Twas the night before Christmas. She also got her new favorite stuffed animal- Bunny Foo Foo. Her favorite gift of all though is the new play mat that Aunt Becca gave her.

A Polish Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Elena celebrated her first Christmas Eve in keeping with Swaintek traditions. We traveled to Wilkes Barre PA to Babi and Dzai Dzi's house. Dad and Pop-Pop and Uncle Dave left immediately to go fishing (thats code for head to the same Polish dive bar that the adults have snuck off to every year for as long as we can remember).

Babi waited patiently for Elena to wake up before everyone came home from the bar. About five minutes after she got to hold her, everyone came home and then pass the sack of potatoes began! She managed to fall asleep for nap time just in time for Christmas dinner and wake up just in time for presents! Elena got some great gifts and got to meet some cousins and great aunts and uncles she hadn't seen yet.

Elena's Primera Navidad

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated the holiday (as well as a few family birthday's) with the Vargas clan at Uncle Jose and Aunt Ruth's house. Elena didn't really know what all the commotion was about and was more upset that she couldn't take a nap. She was a trooper. She got some great gifts... a baby laptop toy so she could be just like her daddy and the best gift of all- DIAPERS from Ito and Ita!

Gonna find out who's naughty and nice.

This morning we got up nice and early to go visit Santa at the Towson mall. It scared me to face the mall this close to Christmas and didn't seem quite fair seeing as my shopping has been done for over a week now. Anything for our little lady.

Elena LOVED Santa. I think it was something about his fuzzy soft clothes. Juan asked Santa how long it took him to grow his beard. He told us it takes one year. Yes, that's right... Santa shaves right after Christmas and starts all over again. According to him, the growing isn't the hard part. It's the bleaching to a nice white that is really uncomfortable.

Oh, and in case you were concerned, Elena is on the nice list.

'Tis the Season!

After last weekend's jam packed schedule and visitors, we were looking forward to kicking of our first Christmas as a family with an outing to a tree farm. Juan had never chopped his own tree and Elena, well Elena has never even seen a Christmas tree! Little Elena was a trooper and let us bundle her up to brave the cold temperatures. She was just like Ralphie in a Christmas story.

We headed out to Freezer's Organic Tree farm in Marriottsville MD and were so excited to get started. We quickly learned that we picked the wrong tree farm. There were literally no acceptable trees on the field. They did however have great Fraiser Firs that were cut in from PA yesterday. We decided to go with one of the pre-cut trees.

Once we got back home and started decorating for Christmas, it started snowing-- the first flakes in Baltimore this season. I'm very happy with the outcome of our adventure and Elena is fascinated by the lights and shiny ornaments.