Colorado Christmas Recap

This year we headed to Colorado to spend Christmas with my side of the family. We lucked out with fantastic warm weather which was awesome considering they had feet of snow on Thanksgiving. Kip was pretty okay on the plane. Only one moment of raging crying which the people in front of us were vocally annoyed by but all things considered, he did good. It was great having Mandy for extra hands and entertainment.

There is something really special about seeing all the Christmas stuff you remember from childhood.

When we got to my parents house, Kip immediately started playing with (and mastering) this little rube goldberg machine toy that my mom got him. He loved it and it was super fun for adults too.

We played cars both inside and outside.

On Monday, Uncle Greg arrived with his adorable dog Lucy, she was SO fun and Kippy loved her. This was when Kip was trying to share his cars with her.

We went to the park to play and that night we all saw Blossoms of Light at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

It was absolutely stunning and Kip enjoyed walking around and we got our Christmas lights fill since we missed Dyker. At the end there was a choreographed display set to music that I could have stood and watched over and over. So beautiful.

On Christmas Eve, Auntie Jessy babysat Kip with Aunt Mandy while Dan and I got to see the new Star Wars movie in the theater. It was pretty good although my theory about Rey and Kilo Ren proved wrong (I thought they might be long lost twins).

Kip did not sleep well for most of the trip because of the two hour time difference so he was waking up at 4 am but on Christmas morning he blessed us with a 6 am wake up which was really the best gift of the day.

When we got up he wanted to "open presents?" And he loved passing out the presents to everyone and saying "what is it?" with every gift. He was so fun to watch and really, as an adult, the magic of Christmas is really when you witness it through the eyes of a child.

Honestly I lost track of how much stuff he got. Santa got Kip a train conductor dress-up outfit and a box of toddler Plus Plus building toys. He hasn't played with either. But he loved the Lego train from my parents (that stayed in CO) and Auntie Jessy got him a Bo Peep toy, Mack truck car hauler from Cars, trains, a medical play kit, and more.

Spoiled beyond belief this kid. But he was grateful and sweet and played well so that made me happy.

Family Christmas jammies!!

We played all day.

I try to photo document the best I can but sometimes I get caught in the moment and forget. I regret we didn't get a family photo, or at least a photo of Kip with my parents...however uncooperative he would have been.

The day after Christmas my mom, sisters, and I went to see Little Women in the theater. It was a  gorgeous film. My advice is to watch it without comparison to the older version and just appreciate it as its own adaptation. Highly recommend.

Auntie Jessy and Uncle Greg left the day after Christmas, but Mandy, Dan, Kip, and I had one more day to play with Marmee and Poppa.

We flew back Friday. The flight was smooth and Kip did great. We got him hooked on the Polar Express movie before we left Brooklyn so he was happy to watch that about 25 times the whole of Christmas week. The taxi ride home was the only bumpy moment but we got back to the apartment by 6:30 and were unpacked and Kip was in bed by 8 pm. We had the whole weekend to recover and reset for work and the New Year ahead.

It felt like a cramped and short holiday season this year but we packed so much in. Seeing both our sides of the family made the hustle all worth it.