Personal – Page 71 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Isla's Christmas with Carter's November 14, 2014

Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s: Relaxing Family Time

As I mentioned yesterday, we tuck into a delicious meal cooked by my very talented mother almost immediately after opening the gifts from under the Christmas tree. When we finish our Christmas lunch, everyone admits defeat, and we normally go to the living room and lay on the couches in a food-induced coma. After being all dolled up for a few hours in fancy clothes, we will change into more casual, comfortable outfits to ‘play’ with our new gifts. Last year, Sasha gave me an iMac, and I stared in awe at this big screen for hours and hours, never wanting to leave its side. Most of Isla’s presents this year will be stuffed animals (she already loves this laughing monkey that she got to ‘preview’ and BabyLit’s A Christmas Carol) or developmental toys, so I know she will want to lay and play too.

The perfect outfit for Isla to change into after being in a dress all morning is the 3 Piece Long-Sleeve Body Suit (love the solid red and floral pattern), with the adorable Sparkle Pants and this amazing Fuzzy Faux Fur Vest from Carter’s Holiday Collection. In fact, I’d love to be a baby and wear that entire outfit.

There is a park less than a quarter mile from our house, so we will bundle up and walk there (burn off those Christmas cocktails!) with our sweet dog, Belle. Although it’s not freezing cold in December in Texas, it’s definitely cardigan weather. I adore this sweet Shimmer Cardigan. We love seeing extended family and friends on Christmas after spending the morning and early afternoon with my parents. How sweet is Isla’s friend, Kevin, in the Stretch Jeans, Poplin Plaid Bodysuit, and also that adorable Polar Bear Tee (found in stores, not online – similar here)? Carter’s entire holiday collection (boys and girls of all ages) is so perfect for relaxed play.

How do you spend Christmas afternoon? Do you eat? Play with gifts? Travel to visit family? Please share your traditions in the comments below!

In case you missed it, you can read Monday’s post our annual family photo tradition, Tuesday’s post about the Christmas Eve candlelit church service, Wednesday’s post about opening stockings on Christmas morning, and yesterday’s post about gifts under the tree and Christmas lunch.

Make sure you enter to win the $100 Carter’s gift card and free outfit of your choice from the Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s series! The deadline is tonight at midnight.

Isla's Christmas with Carter's November 13, 2014

Isla’s First Christmas With Carter’s: Opening Presents

As I mentioned yesterday, the Santa stockings are opened at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning – who has the control to wait any longer? After ripping through our stockings, we were made as children to go upstairs and get dressed up for the big present opening. As a child, this killed me. It used to be so difficult to see the gifts under the tree but know I had to put on a dress before finding out what was inside. Now I love this tradition of getting dolled up! It makes Christmas all the more exciting to have the entire family look fancy.

We’ve always opened the gifts by the big tree in my parent’s living room, and will do the same in our house. Our living room connects with our dining room and the entrance (it’s very open plan), so I had to decorate everything in a similar rustic Christmas theme. Getting to decorate the house is one of my favorite activities and traditions of the year (and involves lots of trips to Hobby Lobby, Crate & Barrel, West Elm and Target).

After we finish opening all of the gifts (distributed to everyone by my dad, who sits right beside the tree), we settle down at the dining room table and enjoy a delicious Christmas lunch. Since my family is from Scotland, this meal has always been a much bigger deal than Thanksgiving (an American tradition we adopted after a few years in Texas). We’ll have to factor in Isla’s feeding and nap times in the equation, but I know we’ll make it work and am so excited to have her be a part of this tradition.

The Holiday Collection at Carter’s has a number of sweet fancy dresses for little girls (and equally cute formal outfits for boys) that are perfect for our present opening celebration. When I saw this sweet Shimmer Satin Dress in Pink, I knew I had found Isla’s first Christmas day outfit. It is not overtly Christmasy, which I like, as she can wear it again and again. However, it is very cupcake-esque, and I think it’s just perfect this big occasion. Isla absolutely loved the tulle layer, and by loved, I mean wanted to eat. As for a baby boy’s Christmas attire, I’d have him in the Button Front Shirt and Corduroy Pull-On Pants. Seriously so precious!

What are your Christmas tree present traditions? Do you open them right when you get up? Are they wrapped or unwrapped? I love hearing other family’s traditions!

In case you missed it, you can read Monday’s post our annual family photo tradition, Tuesday’s post about the Christmas Eve candlelit church service, and yesterday’s post about opening stockings on Christmas morning. Make sure you enter to win the $100 Carter’s gift card and free outfit of your choice from the Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s series!

Isla's Christmas with Carter's November 12, 2014

Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s: Santa Stockings

I still remember the excitement of waking up on Christmas Eve and crawling frantically to the foot of my bed to look for my stocking. Had Santa arrived? Oh yes, he had! I would run to my sisters’ rooms to wake them up (always the first riser at around 6am, ouch!). We would grab our stockings and head to my parent’s bedroom, where we all sat on their bed together and opened our gifts excitedly. This tradition continued up until last year (seven grown adults on my parent’s bed seemed a little odd!) and now, Sasha, Isla and I will get to create our own stocking tradition as a little family. As Isla is too young to get excited about Santa, it won’t be quite as thrilling this year as it will be next, when we’ll be able to do cute things like putting out cookies for his arrival. On Christmas morning, Isla will wake us up at the crack of dawn, and we’ll open our three stockings in her room by her cute little tree. I ordered these furry stockings from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child, and I’m so happy with them! We hung them on her crib, as we don’t have a mantle – and we spend most time in her nursery.

We traditionally only do little presents in stockings, like candy, magazines, ornaments, socks, and gift cards. The bigger items come later. It’s hard to buy a 5 month old stocking gifts, so we went for this Carter’s bear security blanket, the ‘My First Christmas’ Santa hat, these adorable Santa slippers, and this sweet Isla teether from Etsy.

The best part about opening the stockings is, of course, wearing fun Christmas pajamas! Thankfully, Carter’s Holiday Collection has a lot of adorable (repeat: adorable) PJs, so Isla won’t miss out on this tradition. We chose this adorable Christmas Cotton Snap-Up Sleep and Play with penguins on it and, naturally, had to include a Santa’s helper hat! The entire holiday sleep collection is fantastic – we are slightly limited because Isla sleeps best right now in a one-piece. If it weren’t for this fact, she would certainly have been wearing these Santa PJs! Aren’t those perfect?

Do you have Christmas morning stocking traditions? If so, please tell me about them in the comments below!

Click here to read yesterday’s post about the Christmas Eve candlelit church service and here to read about our annual family photo tradition. Make sure you enter to win the $100 Carter’s gift card and free outfit of your choice from the Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s series!

Isla's Christmas with Carter's November 10, 2014

Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s: Christmas Eve Service

Yesterday, I shared our annual Christmas tradition of having family photos taken (read here). Another one of my favorite holiday traditions is going to a candlelit church service on Christmas Eve. Sasha went with me to Houston’s First Baptist Church for the first time last year, and I giggled at how panicked he was about there being 1,000+ candles lit in one massive chapel (plus kids holding real flames!). There is no feeling in the world quite like singing “Joy to the World,” “O Holy Night,” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” amongst so many other merry Christmas-lovers. Just thinking about it gets me so excited.

I love getting all dressed up in festive gear to go to church for the service, and I cannot wait to take Isla this year (real candles will not be involved). Carter’s Holiday Collection has so many pretty church dresses to choose from. When I saw this bright red Velour and Satin Bow Dress, I knew I had found Isla’s first Christmas Eve outfit. It’s so simple and classic and that tiny little bow just melts my heart (I love a good bow). We slipped on these sweet little Patent Mary Jane Crib Shoes, and she looked as cute as a button. My favorite Christmas Eve service outfit choice for a little boy is the Oxford Cloth Bodysuit and Ribbed-Waist Corduroy Pants.

After we leave church on Christmas Eve, we head to my parent’s house and watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. We’ve seen it a million times, but still die laughing every year. Do you have Christmas Eve traditions? If so, please tell me about them in the comments below!

If you haven’t read yesterday’s post about our annual family photo tradition yet, click here. Make sure you enter to win the $100 Carter’s gift card and free outfit of your choice (from the Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s series)!

Isla's Christmas with Carter's November 10, 2014

Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s: Family Photos (Giveaway)

My absolute favorite time of the year is the holiday season. Halloween gives way to Thanksgiving, which means Christmas is right around the corner. I get giddy when lights start to be strung on trees in the neighborhood and when wreaths and ornaments begin to adorn shops across the city. There is so much joy in this season, and I am incredibly excited for Isla to celebrate her first Christmas.

We have many family traditions associated with Christmas, and this week, I’m going to share all of them, including our annual family photo, Christmas Eve candlelight church service, opening stockings in our PJs on Christmas morning, getting dressed up to open presents under the tree, and then lounging around after a festive lunch and playing with our gifts.

As I mentioned here, my family has taken family photos for the last 18 years (ever since we moved to Texas from Scotland). We take them every November to use for our annual Christmas card, as well as to be framed around the house. I knew that as soon as Sasha and I had babies, we would keep the tradition alive as well. We were lucky enough to have our pictures taken by the very talented Paige Budde of Awake Photography. I am so pleased with how they turned out and highly recommend her to anyone living in Texas (she’s based in Houston, too!).

One of the most important decisions when it comes to family photos is everyone’s outfits. For this year’s photos, I chose a red French Connection dress and Sasha wore a J. Crew button-down and khakis. After picking our outfits, Isla was next. Thankfully, Carter’s offers classic styles and coordinated looks that are perfect for family photos, so I had the best selection of pretty dresses to choose from in their Holiday Collection (think lots of bright plaids and colorful patterns). I had the hardest time picking just one, but knew that too many outfit changes would result in a not-so-happy Isla. I decided on the classic Rosette and Lace dress in ivory, as it was a neutral color which was easy for Sasha and I to complement with our outfit choices. Since it was chilly outside, I put on these sweet Glitter Bow Tights and kept her feet warm in little sparkly gold shoes. Both Isla and I wore matching floral crowns by the very talented Jess Hamilton.

Carter’s has a ton of great options for siblings too – both their girl and boy selections are adorable. My favorite choices for little boy’s outfits are the Poplin Plaid Bodysuit with Jeans and the Jersey Henley Tee with Twill Pants.

In celebration of Isla’s first Christmas, I’m partnering with Carter’s to give one lucky individual a $100 Carter’s gift card, as well as one of the outfits (boy or girl) featured during the week-long series. Enter the giveaway below (so many entry options) to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure to visit Snapshots and My Thoughts again tomorrow to see more sweet photos of Isla, and good luck with the giveaway!