Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are all having a lovely time with your families.
As you may know, Santa came to us three weeks early this year with our most treasured gift, baby girl Maia. We are only just getting our heads around parenthood and because our little treasure keeps us up at nights, we decided to stay in London and celebrate Christmas at home, just the three of us. Flying to Finland to my family with our newborn baby was out of the question (surely she’d need a passport?) and even the train ride to Newcastle to my fiancé’s family seemed too much of an undertaking. To put things into context, I have not yet been further than a walking distance away from home with Maia.
I’m a girl of tradition and I love Christmas! I’ve spent most of my Christmases following a specific “programme” – making a gingerbread house, taking candles to grandparents’ graves, having a big meal with the family, giving presents, going to sauna, and attending midnight mass at our church. Needless to say it has been a very different kind of Christmas this year. Different but nice. ☺️
Last week we had a few good nights during which we woke up only every 2-3 hours and Maia even slept a bit in her own bed (a result!) but last night we barely slept at all… Mindful of the sleep deprivation, we had decided not to put pressure on ourselves and to have a very relaxed and quiet Christmas. I wanted the option to sleep when possible and not worry about putting on make up or getting out of my pyjamas any sooner than I was ready to. I did wonder whether it would feel like Christmas at all and I was even a bit sad about it but I shouldn’t have been as we have had a lovely time!
On Christmas Eve, when Finns traditionally celebrate Christmas, I played Finnish Christmas carols from Spotify, we had a modified version of the Finnish Christmas meal (with the ham plus trimmings) and opened a few presents. Back home we decorate the tree on Christmas Eve but I’ve happily adopted the British way of bringing the tree in days (or even weeks) before Christmas as that way we’ll get to enjoy it for longer. We don’t have a sauna but we bathed Maia again. She loves to bathe and usually sleeps better after a bath too. A “fun fact”: as I was carrying naked Maia to the bathroom she both peed and pooped on me!! Mum life…
The next morning we opened the rest of the presents – mainly for Maia – and went for a long walk with Maia sleeping in her pram. She has been quite unsettled and irritated lately (tummy ache?) and we really enjoyed the two hours of peace and quiet!
In the evening of the Christmas Day we had a more British style Christmas dinner with a roast chicken, stuffing, roast potatoes and vegetables, Yorkshire puddings and “pigs with blankets” – not forgetting the sticky toffee pudding for dessert! And in all transparency, it was not me who did the cooking but my fiancé! While he cooked, I was lying on the sofa feeding my cranky baby and trying to get some rest myself.
It was all very lovely and stress free, just as we wanted it!
In our former pre-baby life we didn’t have much time to watch TV but since we’ll be spending more time at home now with Maia we finally got ourselves Netflix. Over the past weeks, having I’ve spent what feels like hours and hours a day breastfeeding, I’ve been really getting into TV series like the Crown. Talk about a life change haha!
I’m truly enjoying having my fiancé back home with me until the New Year. He was working last week and although I had a fair amount of family and friends visiting, it’s not quite the same. Over the holidays we wish to just spend some quiet time together (with the aforementioned Netflix), without any major plans. It’s of course a real game changer that I can give Maia to her daddy in the mornings to have a nap myself but it’s also nice to share the responsibility of taking care of her and to see him bond with her.
The most exciting event of today is happening elsewhere however, as my dear friend is in labour with her first baby!! I’ve been thinking about them all day and just waiting for a message saying he has arrived safely. Giving birth was an intense and a quite scary experience for me and somehow knowing what she is going through makes me a bit anxious. Praying all will go well!!
Happy holidays!
xoxoxo,
Sini