Tuesday, January 19, 2016

In Pursuit of Magic: Reflecting on Reasons to Live in the Moment During the Holidays

Christmas

I'm having a moment...With all that's going on in the world today, from attacks on everyday freedoms and innocent children, to just dealing with the struggles of the day to day I'll be the first to admit I believe in and seek out the magic of the holidays. During that time of year I put blinders on and sift through all the negativity to make sure my kids enjoy the holidays, and by no means does it mean by just anticipating the presents left under the tree from the Jolly man above but to truly revel in all the moments spent with loved ones and to count our blessings one by one before the year is out. Living in NYC what's not to love about that time of year? The lights, the stunning holiday window displays, skating under the Rockefeller Tree and of course standing on those insanely long lines to meet Santa. I live for those moments!

I must apologize for just sort of disappearing before wishing you all a Happy Holiday and a joyous New Year but the weeks leading up to Christmas were actually way more stressful than I could have imagined and I just never really got the chance to sit down in front of the computer to fill you all in.  But if you follow me on Instagram I tend to post little intimate blurbs from time to time as a quick way to get it all out. All of December I tried my darndest to keep up with the magic of the season even though I just wasn't feeling it, maybe it was the unseasonably warm weather (70 degrees in NYC on Christmas eve was just crazy), maybe it was just me coming down from a year of running around & 6 months of back to back event planning. A time out was needed and I just took it and ran.

Of course because of the stress ultimately a Crohns disease related flare up snuck up on me and has been kicking my butt since the start of the new year. But today something clicked and I decided to muster up some energy and to get back to writing but not before sharing my pursuit to keep the magic alive. Warning - this post will be lengthy, maybe a bit wordy but bare with me o.k, It's a rarity. 

The Accident that Put it all in Perspective:


Driveshop

On the 11th, an unassumingly normal Friday, I kissed the hubby and my 5 year old lil' monster goodbye as they headed off to school. Only to receive an anxiety inducing phone call from my husband to say that they were in a car accident just a block away from the main entrance for morning dropoff. Despite my husbands assurance that he and Tristan were fine, it was one of the most gut-wrenching pangs I'd ever felt and I was literally frozen in fear. You have to love the resilience of children because the only thing that was on Tristan's mind was that he got to ride to the hospital in a cool ambulance and during our brief conversation he said to me "We're OK mommy, but we definitely broke the car". 

What was even scarier to me was that I think I had a premonition about the incident the day before when I decided not to post a picture of Tristan in front of the car. He was beyond excited about showing his friends the red Mazda 6 we had on loaner to review and couldn't wait to show his friends how his new favorite sweatpants matched the cherry red new car. I was going to put a little anecdote after noticing the sticker highlighting the car's award for safety in the rear window about how most car accidents happen only within a few blocks from home, but for whatever reason didn't. All though both cars were pretty banged up we are all truly blessed that the other driver and my boys could walk away to tell the story. 

After that car accident my mission to revel in the whimsy of the "most wonderful time of the year" commenced full throttle, well slowly..... I'll admit we didn't put up our tree until the week before Christmas and it remained up as the first week of January rolled on by. Don't judge me! And some how I found myself wandering the aisles of Target one by one for last minute gifts the night before Christmas eve. All I knew was that this Christmas could have played out so differently had the accident been worse than what it was and I was just thankful that the hubby and his mini me walked away (the hubby a bit more shaken up then I'd ever seen him) without so much as a scratch.

Stop Knocking Santa - Go Ahead and Believe:


ABC Carpet and Home Santa

Imagine my frustration trying to be all jolly while my tween CJ starts tossing around skeptical questions about the "realness" of Santa. As the years pass I can see the idea of Santa slowly diminishing, it's not the first time he's questioned St. Nick and certainly won't be his last, until the truth comes out. I nearly went off on one of the hubby's co-workers who took it upon himself by whispering to CJ "the real deal" on Santa by having him question how Santa really gets in our NYC apartment without a chimney - but everybody knows Santa just takes the stairs from the roof, C'mon! 

Instead of answering him directly I've decided to tell him that believing in Santa is a personal choice and asked him "Do you want to believe in him?" I've read tons of blog posts and comments on FB where parents have gotten upset that their kids give all the credit to Santa for the cool presents under the tree, or the debates on whether the Santa their kids believe in is black or white and I just don't get the big deal. And you may not agree and that's fine, but to me Santa is just a symbol of childhood innocence and with everything our kids could be caught up in, the idea of this magical person bringing them presents at the end of the year is the last thing I'm going to be up in arms about. But you better believe mom and dad score points for awesome presents too!


ABC Carpet and Home Santa


This year I knew I wanted to skip the Santa Land maze at Macy's since CJ questioned why multiple families could go into those little houses within seconds of each other to see the "real" Santa. So I remembered seeing my blogger friend Kristin of My Strange Family posting yearly about visiting the Santa at ABC Carpet and Home and knew we had to see him because he was the most beautiful, authentic looking Claus I'd ever seen. So majestic with the rosiest red cheeks and a beard that looked so cottony soft it would make you shut your mouth for ever doubting he really existed. When I showed CJ the post he even said "Wow, mommy it's really him!" 

Another Trip to the ER Means Bring on the Holiday Lights and Hot Coco


Christmas

 A mere week after the car accident, another premonition, this time owned by mother thanks to a Lifetime movie (that told the story of a family's loss of a child due to secondary drowning in his sleep) led us back to the E.R with our 5 year old. Tristan a completely fearless but novice swimmer, guzzled way too much pool water for comfort during his last swimming class. You couldn't tell him for one second that he wasn't an Olympic swimmer with that shiny medal swinging from his neck. But he also ended up with some what of a wheezy cough, that caused the hubby to wake out of his sleep as he ran to his bed one night. Top that with a slight fever that occurred earlier in the week and we ended up skipping our plans to attend a family holiday party and while dressed to the nines we drove off to the E.R. Completely amused by the irony Tristan smiled at the fact that he ended up sitting in the same bed from the week before and giggled while putting on a tiny gown that instantly made those pangs in my heart re-appear. How could I not have taken his coughs more seriously, what if something truly was wrong? But yet again my trooper, the little monster was perfectly fine and once cleared to go ended up having a melt down because we missed the party.


Jamaica Estated Holiday Lights

Remembering that our vlogger friend Betsy from ThatsBetsyV told us to check out a festive house in Jamaica Estates we hopped in the car in hopes that this fully decorated house would instantly make the boy's eyes light up! We're huge fans of the Holiday Light Fight show and this house that's only a ten minute drive from home was once a winner. And well deserving because it saved our night. 


Things to Do in NYC for the Holidays - Dellah's Jubilation


Things to Do in NYC for the Holidays - Dellah's Jubilation

Things to Do in NYC for the Holidays - Dellah's Jubilation

Things to Do in NYC for the Holidays - Dellah's Jubilation

By the time we finished watching the toy trains in the window and the toy soldiers dancing on the fences we were starved and headed to IHOP for hot chocolate that was bigger than the boys faces and of course they loved chowing down on breakfast for dinner!


Christmas in NYC

Christmas Eve Service & Last Minute Guests Means a Clean House Full of Love:

It's been an entire year since we've had guests over to our tiny apartment, a whole freaking year. Nope, my husband's long time childhood friend Ty and my brother don't count because they could care less that our place was busting from the seams with boxes of products to review and seasonal clothes we hadn't had the chance to bring to storage. So Imagine how I nearly lost it when my parents decided they wanted to spend Christmas day with us. I mean I was thrilled but I had some major cleaning to do, deep cleaning that required washing walls, rubbing stains out of the couches and scrubbing toilets. I'm so thankful for their visit because it gave us just the push we needed to start of the New Year. We still have a ton of laundry to catch up on, which is supposedly bad luck to entire the New Year, well that's just fantastic isn't it? We can never get a handle on laundry so what will be will be. 
Christmas in NYC

Attending church on Christmas Eve was all that my daddy wanted as a gift and it was probably the first time we'd all gone to a service as a family since we were kids other than for someone passing away. The evening's message was simply beautiful and resonated with all that was going on during the month "Out of darkness there will always be light." Celebrating being together, health and a new baby on the way (my nephew baby Quentin) was all worth praising. 


Christmas in NYC

Having been so caught up with all that was going on the weeks leading up to the holiday, long hours at work and the kids in school, our tree ended up not being adorned with our star until literally Christmas morning because it's tradition that they do it with their daddy. 
The hubby whipped up homemade Belgium waffles while the lil' monsters opened their presents and us millennial children cracked jokes on the new generation of grandparents who gifted each other with gadgets and gizmos but couldn't figure out how to use them. 
 Christmas in NYC
Christmas in NYC

Ringing in the New Year

With no desire to be among crowds of folks that were ready to welcome in the New Year, we just headed to a local Applebees and then finally made it to Dyker Heights to see the last remaining holiday decorated houses before heading home round 11pm. Did you catch the show on Fox 5? Well it was full of old school tunes that had the hubby and I dancing as cheesy as we remember our parents doing back in the day. New Years day was only a week before our grandmothers 83rd birthday and she was all smiles from our visit as she cracked herself up while taking selfies for the first time.


New Year's Eve in NYC
Things to Do in NYC for the Holidays - Dellah's Jubilation
New Year's Eve in NYC
New Year's Day in NYC


Year after year what always seems to ring true is the much needed time spent with loved ones and I'm blessed upon blessed to have been able to bid farewell to 2015 and to welcome 2016 with my family. Can't wait to see what the new year has in store, how did you live in the moment over the holidays?






17 comments:

  1. Wow, you had such a stressful and eventful holiday season! I'm so glad you gained some perspective from all of it. The holidays can be such an insane time, and it's so important to remember what they're all about. Hope 2016 is a calmer year! <3

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  2. Sounds like you had a rather eventful holidays. I'm glad that everyone was fine in that accident, there's nothing worse than hearing your loved ones has been involved in one. I've been taking things one day at a time and living in the moment. My word for 2016 is Joy and I intend to be very happy. Here's to a fruitful and joyous 2016 for you.

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  3. It's amazing how resilient kids are. I would be anxious and panic-stricken if I received a call about a car accident, too. Sometimes, I think I need to follow my kid's lead and take things more lightly!

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  4. So glad your son and husband were not seriously injured in the car accident! I admit that it was hard for me to get in the Christmas spirit at first with the high temps and blogging like crazy. Then I took off the week of Christmas and the week after and living in the moment really helped get me into the spirit.

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  5. Thanks for sharing all the photos. Kids do have a way of bouncing back.

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  6. I know exactly how you feel! As Moms we often try to live in the moment but it's really hard not to let the stress of everything around us affect us. A few years back our family was in a car wreck that left me with a spinal cord injury. I really learn to be grateful for what I have and to truly live in the moment. It has been amazing!

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  7. I'm so glad no one was seriously injured in the car accident! What an eventful holiday you had but thankfully everything turned out okay! Here's hoping for a great 2016 <3

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  8. I'm originally from up north and being down south it's just not the same. It's hard to celebrate the Holidays when the weather is still in the 80's. Loved all your beautiful pictures of your family.

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  9. I love the message delivered at your Christmas Eve mass! How uplifting to hear. You have been through quite a whirlwind, here's wishing you the best for 2016

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  10. Glad your family is ok. I hate to have those feelings like something will happen. As a Mom you always have those feelings.

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  11. Oh my, what a frightening holiday season your family has had! Car accidents are so startling when you have children involved. We were in our first accident in Nov with all three of the kids in the car, it was minor and didn't really cause damage to our vehicle, but our daughter did have bruised ribs from her seat belt. The impact felt pretty forceful and was terrifying for me as a mom. So glad both of our families are safe. Dry drowning is a huge fear of mine with my youngest, he loves the water, but doesn't know how to swim yet. He for some reason purposely holds his face in the water.

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  12. I'm so happy your family is well! Sending you lots of love for a peaceful 2016

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  13. Oh my! I am so glad your family is ok!! What a scary phone call to get!!

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  14. I can totally relate to your panic at the accident. I recently got in a wreck myself. Its so nerve racking, I was so shaken up. I know you weren't in the accident yourself, but still.

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  15. Glad your family is okay and thanks for sharing! Love the photos of you and your kids drinking hot chocolate! So adorable.

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  16. Love your pics! So glad everyone is alright. Someone definitely has a good eye for a great photo. Thanks for sharing.

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  17. What a whirlwind of a holiday season! Glad there were good moments mixed in there too. I agree to go ahead and believe in the magic of Santa!

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