Dear 2011 Me

<- 2011 Me, hope you can handle 2011 Melissa!

*This is a letter for myself to be read in exactly a year - cheesy, I know, but hey, so is my blog :)*

Hey girl! Didn't this year just fly by? I'm guessing, judging by the one before. Or maybe it went slower, since now you've gotten this motherhood thing down. Please tell me you do.

I hope you found a way to do laundry that doesn't turn your living room and bedroom into utter chaos. Actually, I hope you live in a bigger place. I hope you own it and it has a nice yard.

Did you lose weight? Sorry, I don't mean to nag, but it has been awhile since you had a baby. Just tell me you haven't gotten bigger, and I promise not to give you a hard time about it. Much.

Are you still making time for writing? For your husband? To bask in Melissa's cuteness? I know, it's a lot to fit into your day, but remember, it's a blessing to have so many things you love. It's hard when more than one (or all of them) demand your attention, but just take a deep breath and do whatever's the most urgent. I know, I'm saying this while I still don't know what I'm doing, and you might be reading this in 2011 saying, "Ha! How clueless was she."

I hope you dress better, eat better, and have better thoughts about yourself. That you don't have a secret nervous breakdown inside when you make a mistake. You've gotten better at this in 2010, but it highly depends on how much sleep you got. Or how much chocolate you've had. I hope by now you can still forgive yourself even without either.

Whatever happens, and whatever you end up doing, I look forward to meeting you there. And that's not because I'm sure you can handle it, but because I know God can.

Christmas Aftermath

Hope you all had a great one! A few highlights of mine:

This Purse

My first super cute one! I used to buy purses with just a not-ugly criteria, but after spending my days cleaning Melissa's messes/pukes/poops, I thought I deserved a treat.

This Pie

I made it! I made it! I made it! And it was overnight, which sounds so complicated, but it's totally not. Pretty much just fry the bacon, then add it to a mix of eggs/cheeses/milk/hash browns, put it in the refrigerator till the next day (or 2 hours min), then put panko crums over it and bake it. Don't I sound so Betty Crockery?? I'm telling you, it's the magic of Christmas!

Now, a couple low points...

Larger Pants SizeI know, I know, new jeans, yay. But bigger butt :(. I have no idea how this happened (cough-baby-cough-brownies).

Melissa's Pukes

Don't worry, no picture here, ha. But she's been having acid reflux, so that means unexpected episodes whenever something doesn't agree with her tummy (around 6 times on Christmas day).

So this was my holiday in a nutshell, with lots of eating, shopping and a LOT of cleaning. How was yours?

You Know Christmas' Coming When...

<- Mommy, are we done staring at the computer?


- You've stopped counting the calories since the last holiday party (or way before that - my case);

- Your daughter has bells on her socks;

- Charlie Brown's Christmas soundtrack is glued to your car's CD player;

- Lifetime movies become appealing;

- Starbucks becomes your Meca;

- Ugly sweaters become fun;

- You're poorer than normal, more tired than normal, and even more stressed than normal, but somehow happier than normal. It's the magic of Christmas!

Cheeeeeeez!!

After many many many trials to make Melissa smile, while balancing the camera on the tv, FINALLY we have a Christmas card picture :).

I'll Be Late For Christmaaas....

...you can count on thiis... (from "I'll Be Home For Christmas", if you can't tell.)

That's how I feel about this Christmas. Like "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date" (from Alice in Wonderland - aren't I full of quotes today :). We got our tree only a couple of days ago, and even though it's just after Thanksgiving, I still felt like everyone else had a tree, but us.

Another "lateness": pictures!! We haven't taken Melissa's 1 year old professional portrait like I'd planned (she's already over 13 months), and we haven't even gotten close to taking our Christmas card picture. Christmas cards, by the way? I'm pretty sure we should have had those done and sent a long time ago. We've already started receiving from friends, and I feel SO bad (but not bad for receiving them, so friends, please keep sending! :). I'm SO behind!!

Oh, one more "lateness": Melissa's birthday thank you notes. Ha. I think I was supposed to send those like the week after. Right now, I've pretty much blocked it out of my mind, 'cause I have a million other things to worry about that I haven't even mentioned here. So if you came to the party, you might have to be content with the gift of our friendship.

Speaking of gifts, at least all Christmas' ones are pretty much bought. The tree looks nice, a nativity set is on our dining table and there's even a snow globe on top of the tv. I guess I should rejoice. Hopefully this weekend we'll catch up too - we plan on taking a family picture in front of the tree and finally printing out those cards. That just might come with a thank you note attached to it :).