Friday, November 14, 2014

looking forward to the holidays.



I can feel it in the air! The holidays are coming!

I must say, this is my favorite time of year. Crisp, cold, sweater weather. The spirit of gifting. Chunky layers and cute boots. Irresistible sales. Mugs of warm sweet drinks. Completely necessary desserts. Best of all, family!

It's our 3rd year as our own little family during the holidays and boy is it exhausting! The joy and hassle of having family on both ends of the state (San Diego to Sacramento) is having to travel everywhere and learning to split our time. (And let's be real, no one really cares about Mark and me, we're just Makai's delivery service.) So now, we alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving between Mark's family and my family. This year is Thanksgiving in SoCal and Christmas in NorCal. Even though traveling back and forth and scheduling can be a lot to deal with, I'm thankful that we have that much family to see. Sure, it's a lot of work and money and presents, but I'll admit that I still look forward to it every year.

When I was younger and my older siblings had moved out of the house, I always use to look forward to the holidays when everyone would come home and stay together under one roof again. I loved being able to wake up to the smell of bacon and white rice (Über Filipino, I know), then fighting over the comic section around the table surrounded by slightly too many Christmas decorations. It's not an especially exciting memory or thing to look forward to, but it was just about us all being together and acting like siblings. I know it sounds cheesy, but even now, after we've all grown up, I love it when we can all be together again and just act like kids.

Now I find myself looking forward to giving Makai those simple memories with both of our families and all of his cousins. It's just a trip seeing the next generation of our family grow. I think of Christmases past, and I remember how exciting it was to be around everyone, eating, opening presents, laughing together, and making memories. But each year things evolve and change. We make new traditions, add in new family members, and now we all get to watch our kids grow up and make memories of their own. So now I'm totally turning into that random aunt that tells you "OMG! You're so big! I used to change your diapers!" But if I can turn into that super cool aunt that gives awesome presents and is lots of fun, then I can totally deal with that.

Here's hoping I can make that happen!





Mark:
Wine slim fit chinos - Banana Republic
Striped/color blocked jersey polo - Banana Republic (similar here)
Navy varsity jacket - Banana Republic

Alyssa:
Green cable knit sweater - Ann Taylor Loft
Destructed straight leg jeans - Gap (available here)
Suede lace up booties - DV by Dolce Vita (available here)

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