Christmas

Both C and I have many fun memories of Christmas growing up, and although we don't celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday there is something irresistible about enjoying the traditions of the season. We held a Solstice Open House in mid-December as a fun way to get together with friends and co-workers, and as a side effect we decorated the house in holiday cheer. We risked putting up a full-size Christmas tree, and fortunately Cara has been content to look at the (unbreakable) ornaments on the lower branches and otherwise leave this new addition to the living room alone. She didn't even do much to the present that gradually accumulated under the tree, except to pull off a few tags and inspect some of the brightly wrapped gifts.


Seattle has a tradition of Christmas ship cruises that visit local waterfront parks and carol (over loudspeakers) the listeners on the shore. We took Cara to one of the spots on Christmas Eve eve, and stood in the cold drizzle, listening to the music. Cara enjoyed the experience, including looking at the bright lights reflected on the dark water and feeling the wind blowing. She loves music and was swaying to some of the tunes. A luckily she isn't old enough to question the bizarre tradition of listening to music out in the cold and wet - definitely not a Taiwanese tradition.


Christmas Eve, after our traditional trip downtown to Pike Place Market, was time for more lights. A street near us turns into Candy Cane Lane in the weeks around Christmas, and since it wasn't raining, we took a walk to look at the lights and decorations. Cara enjoyed the lights and the Nutcracker figures (the theme for the year) as well as looking at all the other families who had the same idea.


As we put our little girl to bed that night, we thought about how in future years she will be putting out her stocking and asking about Santa coming. But this year Mom and Dad were far more excited by Christmas than our daughter. Part of the evening was spent in what will probably become a tradition of assembling Cara's toys.


And she had fun on Christmas Day! Santa, Mom, Dad, grandparents and friends all brought many goodies to our house. Enough presents we had to spread out the opening of them over several days. Cara greatly enjoyed opening the gifts (she loves tearing paper), playing with the boxes and, eventually, playing with the toys themselves. It is hard to believe I was once concerned she didn't have enough toys - she has plenty now!