I can’t believe that it’s February already! Dash is almost three months old and time is going by so fast. I’ve been so busy with the holidays, going back to work, and taking care of my baby that I’m just now getting a chance to catch up on blogging. Here’s a very late recap of our holidays.

Just one week after Dash was born, we celebrated his first holiday – Thanksgiving! Every year, all of the employees that work at my parents’ company eat lunch together on the day before Thanksgiving. Each person brings a dish to contribute to the meal, and because most of the employees are from Central America, the food is mostly Hispanic. I love it!

This was the first time that my coworkers got to meet Dash.

For lunch the next day, my parents invited all of Eric’s family to their house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. She did this so that Eric and I wouldn’t have to run all over town with a newborn to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. I think there ended up being twenty people there!

Because there were too many people to sit around the table, we had a buffet-style Thanksgiving lunch. I cooked roasted acorn squash, whiskey-glazed carrots, and spicy sweet potatoes. We had way too much food.

The weather that day was gorgeous, so we ate outside…

…and we played with the kids in the backyard.

My sister’s best friend came over for a while. She lives just through the woods, and they have been friends forever. I can’t believe that they are teenagers already!

While Dash was being passed around, Eric and I had a few moments to get away from the party. We sat on the swings where we had our first kiss almost ten years ago. I wonder what my fourteen-year-old self would have thought if she knew that she’d be married and have a baby ten years later!

Just for fun, here’s a picture of Eric and I during our first summer together in the same backyard. Summer of 2000. I was 14 and he was 18.

The next major holiday after Thanksgiving is… my birthday! Eric and I both took the day off of work. We took Dash to the mall, I got my hair cut, we ate lunch at Baker’s Crust, and then we ate sushi and drank sake for dinner. But my favorite part, something we’ve been doing almost every year for my birthday, was going to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden after dark for the GardenFest of Lights.

We braved the cold and took Dash in his stroller to the Garden. He slept the whole time.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is where Eric proposed to me on my birthday four years earlier. When he guided me to a bench at the Garden this year, I suspected that he might be up to something. Taking a rest on a bench contradicted our plan to rush through the Garden to get out of the cold! So I jokingly asked him, “Are you going to propose to me again?!”

He said yes.

He gave me a ring that matches my wedding band to wear on the other side of my engagement ring!

He had it engraved with “ERN + LN + FAMILY 09-11-17″ – his initials plus my initials and Dash’s birth date (in year-month-day format) – to signify the beginning of our family. It matches the engraving in our wedding bands that reads “ERN + LNW 06-03-11″ – our initials and our wedding date.

Our Christmas celebrations began with another company lunch on Christmas Eve. But instead of eating authentic Hispanic food again, we just ate pizza and fried chicken.

That night, Eric and Dash and I went to my parents’ house for dinner and to exchange gifts. We’ve always exchanged gifts with my family on Christmas Eve because we’re way too busy with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on Christmas day.

My sister and I were being silly. She’s sixteen and I love her.

One of my favorite gifts that I gave this year was a plastic sleeve filled with tiny photos for my sister. I like giving gifts that I would want to keep for myself, and this one was definitely hard to give away!

I included pictures from some of my favorite memories with her: a camping trip we took last spring, a bluegrass festival that we attended a few years ago, sailing in the Chesapeake Bay, a cruise in the Caribbean, and New York City… so many good times!

After dinner, we played Apples to Apples.

The next morning was Dash’s first Christmas! Eric and I had fun opening his presents and surrounding him with them while he slept in his bouncy seat. We bought for him a bunch of books, a dragon mobile for his crib, a set of ABC flashcards, and a squirrel puppet.

But our day had only just begun. After a leisurely morning at home, we still had to visit Eric’s parents, his brother and his brother’s fiancée who were in town for the holidays, and all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins at my grandparents’ house.

Our first stop was Eric’s parents’ house, where their cat was hiding under the Christmas tree.

This was the first time that Eric’s brother, David, and his brother’s fiancée, Jenn, got to meet Dash. They live in Albany.

We ate French toast for breakfast, and then we exchanged gifts. Dash got loads of stuff!

Later in the afternoon, we went to my grandparents’ house to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. My mom and my dad and my sister were there…

…and my uncle and his wife were there. They live in San Francisco, and they just got married this year.

…and my aunt and her husband and my cousins were there. We gave each of the kids a betta fish.

…and of course my grandparents were there.

For my Nana, I made a book of photos that I took of her garden last summer. Behind her house, she has a garden with two ponds, a gazebo, and hundreds of gorgeous flowers that I don’t know the names of. I like to think that it’s my own secret garden.

Looking back, our holidays were especially busy, and every day was full of activities. But I didn’t mind having so many places to go and people to see. I feel lucky to have all of my family living close by, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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