Christmas in Berkeley

We decided to stay local this year for Reed's first Christmas and celebrate with friends and family who are here. It was bittersweet to celebrate this way. On one hand we had a wonderful time setting up our own home for Christmas and enjoying a mellow Christmas morning together. We also loved going to the many parties we had been invited to on Christmas Eve and Christmas day sharing traditions and stories with people from all over the world (Australia and England included).

It was a little strange to be the parents this time around which made us realize that we can now decide what traditions we will bring into our family from our childhoods and what new traditions we would like to include. We appreciated how lucky we have been to have the parents that we do and to never (until this year) have had to think about what Christmas will be, it just was. Without a doubt, we missed being with our loved ones in Minnesota, Oregon and this year New Jersey and sharing our happy boy with everyone for this holiday. That said, here are some of the highlights from this year. Click here for many more pictures of our holidays

[Reed on Christmas Eve with our dear friend Liz]

[Riding my new bike on Christmas morning]

[Elliott Witort playing drums for a captivated audience (aunt Helen and Reed) on Christmas morning]

[Christmas morning music jam]

[Happy on the house Santa's lap for Christmas brunch]

[Games on Christmas night at Doug and Rachael's house (this is a picture of the women's team in a battle of the sexes]

In other exciting news...Reed is enjoying his first solid foods. We started with rice cereal and today we introduced a little avocado into the mix. He seemed a little confused but then seemed to like it. We pulled down the high chair (given to us by Jenny and Eric) from the attic and began organizing his little bowls, spoons etc in easily accessible places int he kitchen...times are changing fast. I still nurse him most of the time, but in addition to occasional solid foods we also are trying to give him a bottle of formula mixed with breast milk at night before bed. It is sweet to see the boys bond on this night time feeding and it is a nice break for me.

[Eating his second rice cereal (but the first time he got any in his mouth]