Christmas in July

I know it's cliche, but I truly felt like it was Christmas in July this year! Just like "the most wonderful time of the year," I got to spend time with family, attend parties, and receive some amazing gifts. Allow me to break those down for you:

Spend time with family: We spent a week in New Hampshire at the beginning of the month. It felt like that wonderful, "home for the holidays" type of trip, because I hadn't seen my family in almost three months (although, that's not too bad, considering our usual absences of 6+ months). We enjoyed many family meals (and pretty much ate every kind of meat you can imagine, including "lobstah"), sitting around talking on the back porch, and even some movie nights that I love so much! All we were missing was the Christmas tree and snow!

It was also our first time visiting NH in summer since we've been married! For that reason, we got to relive nostalgic moments of our dating days when Super Husband (then Charming Boyfriend) would come to visit. Perhaps my favorite moment of nostalgia was during our two day trip to the Camp--our family cabin in the mountains, capitalized because it's one-of-a-kind...it's not a camp, it's the Camp!

This is where we came to swim in the river (and jump off the 18 ft rock because I wanted to impress Charming Boyfriend with my bravery...even though that jump still scares me!), where Dad "tested" Charming Boyfriend by asking him to go down into the well and scrub the walls with bleach (he passed with flying colors), and where Charming Boyfriend became my fiance 3 years ago! We even revisited the exact spot--a beautiful meadow up the hill, where an old inn once stood at the base of the mountain. We were there to see if we could get a cell phone signal, but neither of us overlooked the "sacredness" of that place. It was there we were promised to each other, and where we shared our first kiss. I couldn't have chosen a more perfect proposal spot. "The boy done good!"

Attend parties: The day after our arrival in NH, we got to take part in a welcome party for our family's latest addition, my sweet nephew! Mom and Dad threw an amazing shindig and invited a lot of relatives and family friends, whom I always appreciate seeing. Super Husband makes fun of me for using the word "festive" to describe an event--he says his grandma uses that term, which makes me want to use it all the more! So there!--and it was a very festive time. My family really knows how to host a "pahty" (sorry, the Boston accent kinda boils to the surface when I visit New England). Welcome Benjamin! I don't think you know quite how crazy this family you've been born into really is! Not yet, anyway...

Towards the end of our stay, we got to celebrate America's birthday old-school style. My hometown turned 250 years old this year (a blog post about that to come) so it was an extra special time to introduce the annual parade and fireworks to Super Husband. We had our own little party, complete with a few relatives and some of our own fireworks. (That last one...sometimes yikes. Sometimes wow. Not sure if it's a good idea to let Super Husband and Sworn Brother pick out the fireworks.)

Gifts: I bet you know this one already, don't you? It's obvious, right? The biggest gift of July...my favorite, sweetest little gift...was a bike! (Please tell me you know I'm kidding.) I do really enjoy my new toy and I'm grateful to Super Husband for finding and buying it for me. But the greatest gift actually arrived in June. I didn't get to "receive" him fully until this trip. My handsome little nephew, Benjamin! While he has many nicknames already (unavoidable in this family), one of my favorites is Baby Benja! It sounds a little like "ninja," which is probably why I like it so much.

Of course, Christmas isn't about getting but giving!

I made this little cape for my ninja nephew. His aunty knows he's going to be a superhero someday. ;) I think he's pretty super already! As predicted, I cried when I first saw him in my sister's arms, both in a picture and in person ... especially in person. It was so surreal holding him in my arms. It's a bit of a jet-lagged blur (stupid red-eye flights), but I remember a bit of our first conversation. It went something like this:

Me: Hi Benjamin!
Him: *sleeping*
Me: You're finally here! We've waited so long to meet you.
Him: *still sleeping*
Me: I'm your Aunty and I love you so much already!
Him: *starts wiggling and face gets all scrunched up...you know where this is going*
Me: Welcome to the family!
Him: *mouth opens wide...I'm not the only one to say this kid has a big mouth...and cries*

As you can see, he slept through most of our "conversation" and seemed a little freaked out to have me as an aunt...because it certainly can't be because he has us as a family! ;) I think we're pretty cool--lots of quirks, humor, love, and fun all around! In reality, Baby Benja fits in quite nicely. He's already making faces and raising his eyebrows at us. :) Yep, he's my sister's son alright! And I looooooove him!

So, that's a very brief summary of our Christmas in July. Now I look forward to Thanksgiving and the start of the official Christmas season, because I'll get to see my Benja again!...oh, and the rest of the fam too. ;) I hate to think of how much he will grow by then, and all the firsts I'm sure to miss. But I'm grateful for our little FaceTime dates and updates from "BenjaMomma" (she graduated from PregoSis, obviously). So thrilled to see him and his fantastic parents settling in and doing well. And Grandma and Grandpa are over the moon, of course! Have I mentioned how talented they are? Within Benja's first month, both of my parents had composed their own (silly) lullaby for him. The kid's in for a treat--after 25 years of having songs "made up for me" (usually stealing other tunes and putting new words to them), I know what it's like to be both amazed and embarrassed at what innovative parents I have! Good luck, kiddo!

In the next post I plan to talk a little more about summer here at home. Stay tuned and subscribe if you don't want to miss an update! I can't guarantee I'll post a link on Facebook, especially if I keep up this blogging spree and post more often! (Here's hoping!)

Oh, and a very merry early Christmas to you!