The post-holiday blues are hitting me HARD today!

Despite putting up our tree and decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving and trying to enjoy as many  holiday activities as possible, it just hasn’t felt like Christmas.

Nevertheless, even with the lack of relaxation and the warm, humid weather, we enjoyed a nice family Christmas. It was especially exciting to watch Luca (watch us) open his gifts. He wasn’t quite into the ripping paper thing. Next year…

My in-laws arrived at our house Christmas Eve, and shortly after they settled in, we drove over to my parents’ house for homemade pizza. We tried to relax before heading to bed so Santa could do his thing. 😉

Bazooka gave us one of the best gifts ever on Christmas morning—he let us sleep until 9:00!

I’m actually an early riser on Christmas (and I fully expect him to be in later years), but I’d be lying if I told you it didn’t feel amazing to sleep that long.

Unfortunately, that meant that after we had our coffee and ate breakfast, we didn’t start opening presents until close to 11:00.

Bazooka loves his chair and grocery cart! (He’s obsessed with the asparagus? Weird kid.)

He got tons of toys (mostly loud ones) from both sets of grandparents, his uncle and aunt in Seattle, and his uncle and great-grandmother in FL. His godparents (and “cousin” L) got him some really sharp-looking outfits, too.

Even though Mark and I told each other we weren’t going to make a big deal out of presents, we got each other a nice watch (and I got my new iPhone—thanks to it being practically free).

After we cleaned and washed up, Mark got dinner started and my parents came over for an early dinner. The hubs really outdid himself: we had braciole with spaghetti, green beans, salad, garlic bread, and a fancy tiered chocolate and peppermint cake that we saw on a Giada holiday special.

I assembled the salad and boiled the water for the spaghetti.

After finishing dinner and opening more presents, we were all pretty tired. The next day Mark and I went to Ralph & Kacoo’s for lunch, saw the movie “Joy,” and got my watch resized and activated my new phone. The in-laws watched the babe while we were out.

And just like that, our Christmas weekend came to a close. Mark and I just lounged around the house on Sunday—even though it finally stopped raining, the heat made it feel like summertime!

I’m still hoping we do a couple more Christmas-y things—one of which is drive through the lights at the baseball stadium or find some neighborhoods that are still decorated.

I can’t wait to start some new family traditions with Bazooka Boy! He should have a greater understanding of everything next year, so I know his excitement will make the holidays extra special.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and I’ll see you in the New Year.