Christmas

This can be one of the most wonderful times of year for some. Personally I have never done well during the holiday season and something always goes wrong. But, this year I am very excited for my son's first Christmas. Unfortunately with all the illness this season we did not go to local malls and meet Santa, definitely on the list for next year when Rhys can handle illnesses a bit better. I wanted so badly to see my little guy on Santa's lap and I did do some mall shopping for Christmas gifts so I saw a few of them. With Rhys only going to be 6 months old this Christmas I didn't have to go crazy with gifts but I did get enough to fill a stalking as well as one big gift. I did however buy him a new exercauser but had no way of boxing it so he got that early. I don't know about all the parents who read this post, but I do know my family has to do everything on a really tight budget, especially this year. Having a new baby is expensive enough but add on to it that my fiancé and I are trying to find our own place to live and we are planning our wedding for next summer, we are spending a lot of money and saving a lot of money at the same time. Between all of our family Christmas's (that we didn't attend previous years as family seems to come out of nowhere when you have a new baby) we spent more money than we were planning on secret Santa's and other gift giving occasions. Plus we broke our own rule and my fiancé and I bought gifts for each other when we said we wouldn't. Let me be perfectly clear my plans were to not spend a lot of money on gifts and then a certain someone went and bought me supposedly the gift of all gifts and I had no choice but to try and match as best as I could with my budget and little gifts. After agreeing not to buy each other gifts, he has 2 for me and I have 3 for him. That did not go as originally planned.

Besides money and budgeting I am looking forward to spending time with family I haven't seen in a long time. I kind of hate and love the idea that family comes around when a baby is born. On one hand I get to see more of my family than before, but on the other hand I know they wouldn't be around if my son wasn't. It just seems sad that you have to have a baby for your family to want to come around. I mean, who doesn't love babies? But it still bothers me a bit. I have also experienced the opposite, family leaving and backing off because I have a child. Both are rough and if I anyone else has experienced this I am truly sorry because it is an awful feeling. Family can be a tough subject especially when a baby is involved. Some people remain the same as they were before and some change. I know my mom seems like a whole new person (in a good way) because of my son being around. A big part of that is likely due to the fact that we live under the same roof. My mom and my younger sister (when they are home) have been a great help in raising my son, they don't by any means do it for me, but they are a huge help when I just can't. They are also good at giving me some me time when they are around because otherwise I rarely get it. My fiancé is currently between jobs and is home all the time too so he is also a huge help right now. I don't know how I would get through the holiday season without my family. Although just like everyone else I have family I don't see a lot or really get along with. I won't get into that here because if any of them see me bad mouthing or seeming to then that will make things worse. I will never get into family issues in my blog other than saying we all have family issues.

I'm hoping everyone has an amazing holiday season, whatever you celebrate. And I hope to post about everything Rhys got for Christmas shortly after the holidays, maybe before the new year, still undecided. Happy holidays and I will be back to post again soon.