This was Sloane’s third Christmas, but the first one she seemed to understand. She was into Christmas songs, the tree, and the lights. Oh and the presents were captivating! And she screamed “more presents!” multiple times on Christmas morning. She was as excited about delivering them as she was at opening her own.
We flew out to New Hampshire for Christmas. The entire Straw family (except Uncle Mike who was home in WY) graciously agreed to have the family Christmas party on Friday December 23rd so we could attend. And we had a blast! Sloane got to play with baby Wyatt, Lily, Jack, Lida, and Madeleine. But how can you go wrong with good company, good food, and good conversations.
The Ouellette family tradition is chowder for Christmas eve dinner and going to candle light service at my parents’ church. A good reading of Twas the night before Christmas on Pa’s lap when we get home and get the little ones to bed! Sloane added a twist by being awake from 3:30 to 6:30 am which WILL NOT become a tradition. We got a little sleep before waking up for stockings and presents. Sloane was excited to get some dress up clothes, a tunnel, barrettes, and play food made by Jesse. She also got a couple fun hats and puppets from Lida. One of the biggest hits with Sloane was a fleece mermaid tail that she wants to sleep in every night! Luckily it is freezing here in Vancouver, so it is working out well.
Sloane loved to play with the pretend cash register with Lida. The two were quite inseparable. Lida spent most nights at my parents with us. The couple of mornings she wasn’t there, Sloane came down and said “Lida? Lida?” before saying hi to anyone else. She had many cuddles with G and pretended to make crazy soup concoctions with Pa. Aunt Jesse and Uncle Cam were very entertaining with silly games and guitar music.
We were able to squeeze in a couple visits with friends. Sloane really loved Paloma, Erin and Ian’s older daughter. Sloane is still talking about her and her sister Sabine who is ‘a cute little baby’ according to Sloane (and it is true!). When we had a visit with Willa, Abby and Keith, Sloane mandated that I give Willa hugs, “no THIS mama hug Willa!” (while pointing at me).
Sloane even got to see her only living great-grandparent, Grandma Pat. We had a lunch with her and Sloane declared the cranberry-orange water to be “Yummy, So doog!”
The day we left it started snowing in NH and it was beautiful. We took a shuttle to the airport so my parents would not have to drive back in the snow. When we got closer to Boston, the snow stopped and our flight home was smooth sailing.
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