Holidays | Heir to Blair

Resolutions, three weeks late.

18 Jan posted by heirtoblair

I look to 2012 & what I wish to accomplish, all I see is a desire to grow. Personally, by selling our house & buying a new home where we can expand our family. Creating a super-fun new series for everyone to laugh & be themselves. Developing a new skill, maybe taking structured sewing lessons. I’d like to take where I am now in life, push against the walls until my arms are shaking & my voice feels tired, but everything around me expands.

When I try to pin one word to 2012, I am suprised that my initial reaction is not “grow,” but HOW I wish to grow. How I wish to expand & breathe deeply & where to exhale my heart.

PRETTY.

A surprising word to shape a year around, no?

I look to delight in life in 2012. To soak in new books & pretty words, to paint walls & furniture. To iron pretty shirts & wear red lipstick & take care of myself both inside & out. For the home to be clean, but full of laughter & sunshine & Matchbox cars strewn across the floor. To live the abundant life & a beautiful life, to feel worth of feeling pretty all around me.

I think “pretty” can be bone-deep joy & thankfulness.

The pretty found in the muck & trenches of life. Seeking God, but feeding souls by passing bread rather than Bible quotes. To let faith become a life-altering beat in my heart to where prayer is not whispered on knees, but servitude with dirty hands that scrub away years of doubting myself.

I’d like to put my heart back on my sleeve.

I’d like to share all of those things on here.

Do you have a word for the year? Something to strive toward?

Source: Uploaded by user via Beth Anne on Pinterest

HeirtoBlair500x150 v41 Resolutions, three weeks late.

30 Comments
Filed Under: All about BA, Fears, Finding Balance, holidays, Life in General, Love It, Oversharing Extraordinaire

To the new year.

3 Jan posted by heirtoblair

People see the new year differently. A new start, a continuation, perhaps the end (especially in 2012).

So they count it different ways. Numbers on the scale, resolutions written in ink, goals scratched in journals, or one word.

I have been silent this week because I do not know how to begin 2012. How do I begin with one word when I want to strive for so many words? How do I narrow that down? How do I resolve to get healthy before growing our family again without sounding cliche, all while waiting with anxious breath for one person to fall in love with our home?

The past year I fell in love with motherhood & battled demons & changed jobs & took on my first hard-core paid writing gig. We balanced on a fence throughout most of the year, waiting for chips to fall & our lives to finally settle. Some of them have, some of them haven’t, & I’ve found my voice oddly silent during these times. Maybe that’s maturity & wisdom that being 28 in 2011 brought me & will continue teaching as I turn 29 in 2012. Maybe it’s that little piece of me that keeps changing & growing & spinning bigger to where it’s not such a little piece anymore…it’s me.

All of me.

newyear To the new year.

The silly. The mother & wife. The spiritual. The career woman & homemaker. The blasphemous. The girl that struggles with life & contentedness & body image, who loves pretty pictures & yellow roses & yes, a good set of shapewear.

p.s. i have scribbled down words & resolutions & goals. i’ll be sharing soon.

25 Comments
Filed Under: Adult Club, All about BA, Fears, Finding Balance, holidays, Life in General, Oversharing Extraordinaire, Things that aren't perfect despite my best efforts

The magic of Christmas Eve & Santa.

30 Dec posted by heirtoblair

: 11:45pm on Christmas Eve, putting in the 417th screw & an empty whisky glass beside me.

As I said a wee bit ago, we do Santa in our home.

When I wrote that little manifesto, I held so much anticipation in my heart for the coming Christmas Eve.

That night, we sang by candlelight in church & ate spaghetti with family around the dining room table. Later than normal, Doug & I tucked a very sleepy Harrison into bed with Christmas jammies & The Polar Express. After changing into comfy clothes & pouring whisky & gingers, we sat down on the living room rug with Santa’s presents. We began with the most challenging piece, Harrison’s play kitchen. Over the next two hours, Doug & I laughed & talked about the past year. How much Harrison has grown, how he will love his new toys, how this season has been so amazing with his ability to participate. With Christmas carols playing in the background, I really got it.

Watching the presents come together, presents I bought for my little boy, carefully selecting what I thought he might like. I realized that these twelve hours between bedtime & Christmas morning were a parent’s best part of the year. The sacrifice & joy & complete infatuation with my child, all coming together on one day. When we laid down a little past midnight, I felt more excitement as a parent than as a child on Christmas, simply imagining his reaction at the gifts by the tree.

& Harrison’s smile on Christmas Day did not disappoint.

p.s. there are 360 days until harry is three at christmas & i cannot freakin’ wait.

16 Comments
Filed Under: Adult Club, holidays, Life in General, Things I didn't understand until I birthed a child

Christmas 2011 Photobomb

29 Dec posted by heirtoblair

Hey, folks. I’m still not feeling 100% after the flu took me for a hayride this past week, but I am feeling more human & less zombie as of this afternoon! The flu hit me hard when I woke up Monday morning – I spent the entire day in bed, tried to hit up work on Tuesday only to see my doctor at 1pm when he walked in & said, “OH DEAR GOD” when he looked at me. Yeah, fun times. (& yep! had my flu shot. as an asthmatic, I’m a staunch supporter of the yearly vaccine & just got unlucky this year.) Hoping to be back in the swing of things next week after I get caught up on work & the house. Turns out the world doesn’t stop turning when I’m a human cesspool of ick.

ANYWAY.

Christmas was lovely & quiet this year. We made Christmas cookies on December 24th to leave out for the fat man & Harry may have snuck ~~one~~ ~~two~~ okay, three.

cookies1 1024x768 Christmas 2011 Photobomb

In his defense, they were delicious. That night, we dressed to impress for the Christmas Eve candlelight service, which is always my favorite part of Christmas. Being in our home church where we married & now with a small boy on my hip, I raised my candle during the final chorus of “Silent Night.” It is always the little things that get me right in my heart at the holidays.

(more on Christmas Eve & playing Santa later)

christmasexcitement 1024x768 Christmas 2011 Photobomb

I am so bummed that this shot is out of focus because this was Harrison all Christmas morning. Pure joy. I think for this particular shot, he had just lost his toddler marbles over the fact that Santa! Left! Dum-Dums! in his stocking.

santapresents 768x1024 Christmas 2011 Photobomb

Here was Harry’s haul. Tip: TJ Maxx sells Melissa & Doug for $5.00 per puzzle.

kitchen1 1024x768 Christmas 2011 Photobomb

santatrucks 768x1024 Christmas 2011 Photobomb

Dear Lord, the bed-head playing with toys.

christmashug 1024x682 Christmas 2011 Photobomb

“Thanks for the presents, Daddy!”
(it’s doug without a hat! like catching a zebra in the wild!)

tiffanys 1024x768 Christmas 2011 Photobomb

oh, Santa. You’re too sweet to me. (it was a bluebird charm)

harrypresent 1024x768 Christmas 2011 Photobomb

My favorite present with a big shiny bow on his cheek. Once presents were opened, we sat down to a big breakfast of bacon & biscuits & grits. Harrison took a long nap while Doug & I watched the latest Harry Potter. It was a sweet, relaxing day.

How was your Christmas? I have been so MIA since Christmas, so I would love to hear what you got or what the favorite moment was or if you posted about the holidays, leave a link so we can all catch up.

28 Comments
Filed Under: Harry in General, holidays, Life in General

Yes, Virginia.

20 Dec posted by heirtoblair

In our home, the tale of Santa is not a lie.

It is magic & make-believe & hope, all the things we wish to instill in our child. Wide-eyes at twinkling lights & soft stockings hung on the mantle & cookies on a plate. Santa is purity of heart, goodness prevailing. The belief in Santa is the same as the innocence that Superman can fly, that mermaids swim in the ocean, & that Momma’s kiss takes away a boo-boo.

It is not deception, but child-like faith.

It is not a story of greed & selfishness, but rather a man symbolic of grace & mercy.

In our home, Santa does not give gifts for being “good.”

Santa is not a manipulation. Santa is grace.

Pure grace in the form of gifts under the tree as an act of love & sacrifice. Gifts that we may not deserve, may not earn, may struggle with accepting, but gifts are there as a promise every Christmas morning. Steadfast & loyal, Santa brings a grace that surpasses understanding & with it, love to fill hearts & souls & bring us closer.

It sounds similar to another story of Christmas, no?

& when it comes time that our children question a man squeezing down a chimney & a red-nosed reindeer, we will tell them that Santa is grace & that as long as they believe in that, gifts will be bestowed. Just like Someone Else.

So yes, Harrison. There is a Santa Claus.

75 Comments
Filed Under: holidays, Life in General, Oh em gee, Unpopular opinions