Even though we don’t believe in the religious aspects of the holidays, we still celebrated Christmas; mainly for Niko. If Niko wants to learn more about any type of religion, I will be happy to oblige and when he is older, he can do what he wants.
Niko and I did visit my parents during Hanukah and they lit a candle to show him, but he was more interested in a stack of papers on the counter and I didn’t care as it wasn’t important to me. I know last year, I wanted to celebrate Hanukah this year with Niko, but that obviously didn’t happen. Maybe next year, I can try but not with candles, just with gifts. It may be fun for him; I would probably have to start planning now rather than later. I know he would be a great helper to make potato pancakes. He already likes the chocolate coins; aka as Hanukah gelt!
Celebrating Christmas doesn’t bother me, nor does a tree, stockings or lights. It’s very pretty and I have to give all the kudos in the world to Nina for doing the majority of it; including purchasing the gifts for Niko. Niko did help me wrap the gifts I got for Nina.
I like getting gifts, being with my family (well, this year, it will be just the three of us), I like having a day off from work, and I like seeing Niko’s happy face as he opens his presents. I also enjoyed the traditions we are establishing for the three of us.
Niko got a lot of awesome gifts, but his biggest one was from Nina’s dad and stepmom; a red bike with training wheels. I am going to buy myself a new bike in a few weeks so Niko and I can bike together and I will see if we can get Nina’s handlebars replaced so she can ride with him.
Besides a red bike, he got magnetic tiles, legos, his own gardening supplies, a huge bubble wand, chutes and ladders board game, uno, a toy microscope a spiral graph, a toy cash register, and some candy. Along with the bike, he also got a red helmet. He unwrapped everything in the morning and his question to us was what is it? After that, we went downstairs and his bike helmet was sitting on his chair. He put it on and we told him there was something special in the garage.
Of course, we went outside and started to teach him how to ride. I have a feeling he will be an expert in a few weeks. Then, after we were finished playing with his bike, we had bacon, eggs, and pancakes for breakfast. After eating, that is when he wanted to go back upstairs and really open everything up and play with it.
One of the nice things that happened in the morning was Nina’s dad setup a zoom get together with us, her brother and his wife, and her step-brother and his fiancée. When I saw them all, I laughed because they were all bundled up due to extremely cold weather; they live in Ohio and Massachusetts. It was even snowing in Ohio and we got to see. We then showed them our beautiful blue warm sky and told them we were turning the a/c on!
