First Christmas Checklist

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Christmas To Do List 

Now that I have a Jellybean in my life this Christmas season, my Holiday to do list seems to have grown exponentially. EXPONENTIALLY! There are so many things I want to capture with my little one. The best part? He's going to have absolutely no memory of it whatsoever. But the pictures…. oh you bet there will be pictures. And even though he won't remember any of these crazy shenanigans mom puts on, I will, and I'll have pictures to show off now and 30 years from now. 

I can't wait to share my favorite Christmas movies, I can't wait to read him my favorite books, share with him the reason for the season, teach him songs to belt out at the top of his lungs, watch him list off to Santa what he wants for Christmas (and me holding "being good" over his head in the weeks leading up to Christmas…), driving around neighborhoods looking for the best decorated house, putting up ornaments while listening to Nsync Christmas after finding the perfect tree, and of course, seeing that face of pure uncontrollable joy when it's time to open Christmas presents and he sees he got his dream toy. I can't wait for all those wonderful things. However, I have to tell myself that I don't want to speed up time…I cherish my little guy daily and so rushing to get to that list is definitely not something I want to do. So, making sure this Christmas is super memorable is definitely more for me than Jellybean and I'm not holding back one bit! 


Picture With Santa

The first picture with Santa is definitely a must do on the Baby's First Christmas to do list. I posted about Jellybean's first picture with Santa a few weeks ago. But here's the picture anyway! So grateful we got lucky and he's smiling/smirking and not screaming his head off. I'm sure we'll get one of those pictures eventually….
My sweet smiling baby. 

 Ornament

I neglected to purchase a fancy "baby's first ornament" for Jellybean this year. I actually neglected to buy our traditional 3 new ornaments this year….good thing they'll be on sale tomorrow at Target. It still counts right? I did however make sure Jellybean got some fun handmade ornaments in. Those are way more important and sentimental right? In any case, capturing that first ornament is pretty important! 


The typical handprint ornament. Love his tiny hand. 
Jellybean made this ornament at daycare. Love! 

Festive Photos

It's no secret that I'm kind of obsessed with taking embarrassing photos of Jellybean. Embarrassing for him several years from now, adorable to mom always. My list of cute pictures to pose my little man in was quite extensive this year. Unfortunately, I was only able to squeeze in two. December seemed to fly by this year. Work piled up much quicker than I anticipated and getting home after dark meant no natural light to take pics with. Fortunately, I was able to squeeze in two fun photo sessions. 

I found this super cute super cheap baby sled at Target. Now if only we had real snow instead of a fully white blanket...


Obviously not as excited about photos as mom. 

My little elf! ]=






Stocking


To me, the Christmas stocking is one of the most important items on the checklist. I've had my stocking my entire life. My sisters and cousins have similar knitted ones with their names on it. It's a Christmas constant so I knew I needed to put Jellybean in the same boat. I found his on Pottery Barn for a pretty decent price, even with personalization. Gotta love those black friday sales! This year, the stockings were empty since he's not exactly too eager to open presents just yet. But I bought it anyway just so he could say he's had the same stocking since his very first Christmas. 



Themed Outfits

CHRISTMAS OUTFITS. I loooooove holiday themed outfits. I got the best compliment at daycare the other day. One of the providers told me that they look forward to seeing Jellybean's holiday outfits ever since they saw how cute he was dressed during the week leading up to Halloween. Such a sweet compliment! I definitely put some effort into how my little one is dressed. I know it doesn't really matter to him because he's most likely going to puke and poop all over it, but I still like that he looks put together for at least some of the day. 
My first Christmas onesie.  

I love this reindeer sweater from Nordstrom. 

Reindeer onesie! 

Every gentleman needs a sweater vest. 

Elf seized indeed. 

I can't remember where I bought this Fair Isle sweater from but it's one of my favorites. 

All mommy wants is a silent night……I can't even remember what that's like. 

Another old man Fair Isle sweater for my little man. 

And here we go with more fair isle sweaters...

Christmas themed PJs are my favorite so far. 

Possibly the cutest of all Santa's helpers. 

More fleece PJs. Don't even get me started on those teeth. 


I love this knitted Rudolph beanie from Etsy. 


Jellybean and his big sissy. I love how sweet and gentle Abby is with him. 

 Cards To The Family

For some reason, I didn't do a birth announcement card. It doesn't seem like me at all that I would totally neglect to do birth announcements, especially since I went all out with newborn photos, but between just having a baby, living alone, working full time, and moving across the country….I really didn't have the time. I tried to make up for it with the Christmas card though! I saw this idea on Pinterest so I of course copied it. 

Outings

So many family outings to celebrate the season! And we barely put a dent in what there is to do in this area this time of year. There's always next year! 
Hollydazzle firework show. 

All dressed up for my squadron's Christmas party. 

Christmas Town at Busch Gardens! A little pricey, but totally beautiful. 

Matt trying to win me something at Busch Gardens….that ring toss game is impossible. 

Busch Gardens

Busch Gardens 

He loves twinkling lights. 
Add caption

Jellybean and I ran the Surf N Santa 5 miler on the Virginia Beach boardwalk.
Matt tried to register but it was sold out by the time he tried so he sat at a bar while we ran.
 Unfortunately, my phone died during the race and I couldn't get pictures of the decorated boardwalk! It was so pretty though.


Random Photos 

And here's our compilation of random pictures during the month of December. 












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