Baptism by, well, Water.

I've split this post up in order to give both Christmas and Arrena's Christening, each their due. That's right, after a lovely long weekend up North for Christmas, we headed BACK up two weeks later for a family event. Arrena, and her cousin, Kayla, were christened together at the family church, and by everyone's favorite priest, Father J. Lucky for us, Arrena was gifted a lovely christening gown by her Aunt L before she was even born. So, this time we jumped on a plane, and Northern CA welcomed us once again. We flew in on Saturday and spent some quality family time, just hanging out. Arrena immediately looked around expectantly - after all, this is where she was showered with gifts not even two weeks earlier. Clearly disappointed, she settled for hugs and kisses from everyone.

Sunday arrived in a flurry. It was made worse by the fact that my darling daughter decided to wake up at 5am. Ugh. And to then hold a conversation with - who knows - at the top of her lungs. I take that back, I've heard the top of her lungs and that was no where near it. We managed to have breakfast (coffee was a must) and get dressed and arrived at the church on time. Arrena was a vision in white.

It's a special treat that Arrena and her cousin Kayla did this together. I hope it's the beginning of a special bond between them. Somehow, I think this significance was lost on Kayla.


Still, we now have some priceless memories of the girls, and for the girls when they get older. We managed to get a shot of them with their great-grandmother that we will always treasure. That's her in the jaunty hat - looking none of her nearly 92 years (am I allowed to say that??). And we can't forget to give a shout-out to Arrena's Godmother, who is the best. Even if she threatens to give my child the shopping disease she obviously has (favorite saying: Can you say Gucci, Gucci, Pucci?). This one's for you, Godmommy.

Tales of Christmas Past

O.K., it's been way too long. So much has happened. Arrena is now driving...............uh, no. But she did enjoy her first Christmas, partying like a Rock Star in what we like to call, The Grandparent World Tour.

We left on Friday, the truck loaded down with goodies and Arrena equipment. That means, everything we need to keep her occupied and occasionally happy. We drove 400 miles to see Poppa and Gigi and Uncle W. Of course, the girl was sufficiently charming, and managed not to cry incessantly. Mom and Dad were happy because we were loaded up with sweets to take with us. We're talking cookies, candy, chocolate - the works. Arrena let it be known that she wanted some, and I assured her that she would be getting some, albeit....uh.....indirectly. After Poppa, we went to see Grandma C, where we spent the night. On Saturday, we had a lovely breakfast with G.C., Aunt L, and mommy's friends. Then, off we go for 135 miles for the next set of Grandparents.

Granda S was first, then to Grandpa D. By the evening, we were at Godmommy's house for gumbo! O.K, We had gumbo, the girl doesn't know what she's missing, and I don't have the heart to tell her. Still, it was her first Christmas party and she seemed to enjoy herself.
In the morning, she seemed surprisingly unimpressed with the Christmas morning excitement. Oh, she enjoyed being with family and opening gifts - she just had an air about her that said, "well, of course I'm being showered with gifts - have you seen how cute I am?" Then she began tearing paper off things with the ferocity of a black bear just out of hibernation. Sadly, our plan to purge the car of bulky gifts when south when we realized that for every gift we gave out, 2 took it's place. By the time we headed back South (8 hours!!), the car literally groaned under the pressure every time we hit a speed bump or pothole. All in all, Christmas was a big success!!