Axel's First Christmas

So we got our Christmas tree yesterday. I like getting the tree as soon as possible after Thanksgiving so that we can have the entire month to enjoy it and feel like the season is upon us. We decided to stay home this year for Christmas. Since Axel was born, I felt like I would like to start our own family traditions during holidays. I feel like it's something we've put off until we had a baby. And since Johan's parents wanted to spend Christmas with their first grandson, they'll be joining us!

We've been talking a lot about our new family traditions that we'd like to start. Johan has his Swedish traditions, and I have my Okie/Peruvian/American traditions. A good example of how one would combine all of those in a day looks like this: Clay pigeon shooting in the morning along the Johnstons ditch and walnut orchards (Okie), eating tamales and alfajores (Peruvian), watching A Christmas Story all day long (American), and eating potato gratin with anchovies, meat, and glogg (Swedish). So this year should be interesting. We decided that on Christmas Eve, we'll have a Swedish lunch and go to church, then on Christmas day we'll open presents and go to my brother's house for Christmas lunch. I'll try and sneak the alfajores in there somewhere. By the way, alfajores are scrumptious Peruvian cookies that I always make at Christmas. I don't think I'll have time to make tamales this year, maybe next year. Sounds like a perfect compromise!


I started Christmas crafting recently. I made a wreath out of branches from our tree and some pomegranates. Very simple, but I love doing it every year. I also made a little decor by cutting out felt circles and sewing them on a string. I then had the idea to write the meaning of all three of our names on each circle, and it just turned out that I had exactly enough circles! Axel's name means "Father of Peace", Johan's name means "God is Gracious", and my name (Rosanna) means "Rose Full of Grace". I love it, I think it's like a prophecy of how God wants each of us to live, gracious, and as peacemakers. 

I also taught Johan how to sew. This was quite possibly the smartest thing I have ever done because he is now able and willing to help me out with crafts. He actually finished off this project of making stockings out of thrift store sweaters that I started up a month ago and never had time to finish. Then he put our names on each stocking with felt letters. They totally look homemade, but I love it that he made them.


Axel just turned 7 months old last weekend. Johan and I decided that he would speak Swedish to him, while I would speak Spanish, and we'd let the community around us teach him English. So we always joke that he'll be around 5 years old when he starts speaking. He is the absolute light of our lives. At the same time, I just recently realized that we have a kid. I think that realization hits most parents when the baby starts to be mobile. He can only roll over right now. But he has figured out that he can move across a room by rolling....no need to crawl. So I immediately baby-proofed the house. But once he realized that he has the capability to move, he started getting SO FRUSTRATED that he can't do more. So he moves around excitedly for a couple of minutes, then wails in frustration because he wants more stimulation than his body allows. This, of course, means more work for mom and dad. We have to go outside at least three times a day, and every day I try to do some activity, like going to the zoo, the dog park, shopping, playing with friends, etc. On the positive side, it's keeping me in shape. Although it can be tiring and frustrating, I feel like I am learning to not make a big deal out of everything. We will often get frustrated, and having a baby/child will be a lot of work at times, and things will feel overwhelming. But I often remind myself to enjoy this time as much as I can because he'll never be this age again. And I love him at this age, because he's still a precious baby. Here's a photo I took of him yesterday before we went out Christmas shopping. Mi chiquito rico!