Holiday adventures PART 3: White-Hot AZ Christmas

Part two of our Holiday journey involved two more airplanes, Little One keeping up Her angel routine and scoring us more praise and adulation from unlikely strangers.
Now, clearly Little One has made a name for Herself as America's Sweetheart of the Skies, and Her fame had spread throughout the masses and preceded our arrival in AZ.
Once we landed safely at my in-laws house, we were not only reunited with J, but surrounded by his parents, siblings, and grandfather, as well as my mom and step-dad and sister! My dad and littlest sis were on their way, too. It was a big family happiness extravaganza! PLUS the house was pretty well over-run at one point by friends coming from near and far to visit and observe the greatness that is Little One.

At one point, my best friend M and his lovely wife were there. M got all nervous- probably worried that the cuteness of Little One would be so overpowering that Lovely Wife would start hearing a strange ticking in her ears, and begin talking about foreign and frightening things like 'booties', and 'gymboree'.
Obviously, the risk for that was high, given the level of cuteness she was exposed to. But Little One, She's never to busy to help pal. She had M's back. To counteract Her excessive adorableness, She got Herself into position while held on Lovely Wife's lap. Then, as Little One was being bounced up and down with just the right amount of force, her diaper erupted into a spewing, molten flow of baby goo. All OVER Lovely Wife. Ha ha! Good one, Little One! Crisis averted!

We celebrated by having a big fancy Christmas Eve dinner with the whole family.
J's mom made this dinner, so it was like, 6 star quality. No wonder Little One put on Her fancy dress and the extravagant head gear. J, by the way, is a big fan of the headbow. BIG fan! He was almost as impressed by it as he was when I painted the dog's toenails.

I was pretty excited about Christmas coming. I mean, we have Little One now. You know what that means?! IT means that J and I, cast away grown-ups for so many years, are so totally back on Santa's address list. Even though, sure, he's technically coming for Little One, I was sure that he wouldn't leave J and I out completely. And I was right! I found a very special present under the tree.I have to admit, I'm a bit mushy about the whole holiday thing... A bit like cookie-dough ice cream is a "bit" delicious! Having a kid is the the awesomest thing ever for many reasons, but one is how much more fun holidays are. My mind just reels with visions of fireworks, easter eggs, construction paper valentines, and scrawny little trees (arbor day, hello). All that stuff is fun, but with a kid around to get really into the magic and the spirit of things, it is so much better. And the idea of carrying on and forming new family traditions around those days really speaks to me about what it means to be a family.

And this year, the importance and preciousness of family was brought to the absolute forefront of my mind. Because there we were, wrapping paper everywhere and cookie crumbs scattered, when I got a phone call that changed changed everything. The lesson of what not only holidays but life is about, and what matters, was brought on full force and just punched me in the gut on Christmas Day. And it set in motion the next step of our adventure...


A few AZ fan club members:








Some other favorite photos:

"nice to meet ya"

The guys are already fighting over Her. Sheesh.

Posing for fans

True that, Little One's booty. True. That.