Home For The Holidays

Dear Gabriel,

It is so fascinating at this time of year the feelings of joy, peace, happiness and HOMESICKNESS that take over. I just can't WAIT for Christmas to be around my family! The song 'I'll Be Home For Christmas' has completely taken on a new meaning since I have been away from home. I LOVE my family so much. They are my best friends and I never feel like I get to see them enough.

I can't wait to have you play with your cousins, to have you talk to Grandma Mi Mi, to see you cuddle with your Grandpa, to see you laugh at your uncles, to hear from your aunts how much you have grown... I just can't wait to be around everyone with you there by me. All of these thoughts cause me to think about OUR family in 20 years. I hope you will feel the same way about 'coming home' for the holidays. I hope you feel the protective power of our family, the love and the joy we can have together and the feelings of peace, joy and happiness.

Creating our own 'Home For The Holidays' is a completely new culture. Just like I can't wait to be home with my family, I also can't wait to create that same feeling for US. As the years go by and the memories are created, I hope you and your future siblings all will feel the nostalgic glow of being home.

I love you,

Your Mom

Time Passing... Lessons Learned

Dear Gabriel,

How are the holidays just around the corner again? I have no idea how that happened. Time keeps getting faster and faster and faster and faster! You are already a YEAR old. Your cute personality is coming out more rapidly each day. It just reminds me to soak in every moment with you at this stage in your life because it is going to be gone in a blink of an eye.

I wonder how you are going to remember the moments of your life... Your time passing? Every family and every parent has quirks. It is just how it is. There are going to be things about me that drive you crazy as your mom. There are going to be things about your dad that inevitably you are going to want to be like (hopefully :-). It is just amazing to think that as time is passing... you are developing into YOU... into your person.

How humbling it is to be a parent. You are going to be part me, part your dad and part of everything else you allow to influence you in your life, including the natural gifts you came to this world with. Every time a minute passes, it is a minute that will be gone forever, and hopefully means that you and I have learned valuable lessons from one another.

I love you,

Your Mom