Anticipation.

I don’t know about you, but the Christmas anticipation is practically killing us around here. The final few days are especially hard because we are experiencing a (relative) lull in our activities. After a very stressful last week of school that involved me getting sick, Josh getting sick, me getting sick again, and–worst of all–the baby getting sick for a few days, we are finally healthy and back on our feet. Since we’re staying in Florida this year we sent all our family presents back to Washington, which forced me to get things done early to avoid paying a fortune for shipping. I completely shocked myself by coming in on time for just about everything — I think I only had to send two packages priority while everything else was ground or parcel post. This feels especially triumphant when compared to last year’s fiasco, which involved paying exhorbitant amounts for 3-day delivery on all our presents and then being thwarted by colossal snowstorms in the Northwest which held up the mail for a week.

I did lose quite a bit of sleep (hence the illness, I think), but at least it wasn’t the night before Christmas. Man oh man, have I been productive lately. You know how there are times when you feel like you haven’t gotten much done but then you start making a list of every little thing you’ve accomplished and realize that it all adds up to quite a lot? This has been one of those times. Since the beginning of November, I have painted and cut out 3 collages, sewn 9 baby presents, sewn 6 adult presents, finished one small graphic design project and four big ones, sold a heap of stuff at a consignment sale, wrapped a great big pile of presents, and shipped 8 parcels. The apartment is a bit grubby but hasn’t fallen down, there are festive Christmas decorations scattered about, we have clean clothes to wear and food to eat, and the baby is remarkably happy now that she has recovered from her cold. Hah hah! I kind of can’t believe that all this has been possible with a 6-month old baby in the house. I feel so empowered right now.

Now that the presents are pretty much done, husband and I are turning our attention to the Christmas Feast. We’re going solo for the first time this year–Christmas is a slightly awkward holiday to spend with another family (although we did have a lovely time with a family from school last year) and now that the household has three people we thought we could justify starting our own dinner traditions. And oh, what traditions they will be! I don’t know that we will have the exact same theme every year, but Christmas 2009 is going to be as Dickensian as we can manage in Pensacola, FL. The menu so far is: goose, chesnut stuffing, roasted potatoes with cheddar, brussel sprouts with chesnuts and bacon, Christmas pudding with custard sauce, and hot buttered rum. We’re making everything except the Christmas pudding, which we found at our international grocery store…I just didn’t think I’d be able to pull off an authentic one.  We’re even going to light brandy and pour it over the top. I have always always wanted to try that. 

I took photos of most of my sewing projects and plan to take some of our dinner, so after Christmas there will be lots to look at. In the meantime, I have a ton of pictures from a photoshoot yesterday with my gorgeous friend Natalie. We both have Nikon D40s and she had the brilliant idea to go on a photo date where we shoot pics of each other and our babies (her baby, Isla, is two months older than Camilla). It’s kind of like pretending to be a professional photographer but with none of the pressure. :) Some of my photos are below, and when she gives me the ones she took of Camilla and I I’ll put them up as well.

Merry Christmas to all! I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Savior.

(Sorry this post is so long, but I can’t resist adding a few photos of my own baby. Camilla has been making the funniest faces lately and I finally captured them on camera. She was very patient through the whole photo shoot, but you can tell exactly how she felt about it!)