It was very amusing to me when Anjali corrected me when I told her that I was drinking a coffee one morning saying it's a cafe latte which it more precisely was. I usually make myself one in the morning and she has taken to making them (with her teapot set or any other cup like item she can find) as well, instead of the chai which she made for us while in India. Anjali is making tremendous progress with her English language skills. She is super talkative and will try to give these long explanations of things even though she doesn't quite have the words to get her explanations across. Keep working at it baby girl...it won't be long I say! Every day new words come into her vocabulary and the Christmas season brought new words that only Christmas can bring: Santa Claus, Christmas tree, sleigh, chimney, elves, reindeer...
It's hard to believe on Christmas Eve last year we were heading to India to see Anjali for the first time. It seems like forever ago. My parents came to Raleigh the week before so we could celebrate early, but really our Christmas present was getting to meet our daughter.
Having Anjali home for Christmas this year was a dream come true and all Adam and I wanted for Christmas, really. We had fun getting Anjali ready for Christmas which can be a bit overwhelming for a child who has been in an orphanage. We got 4 books about Christmas from the library that we read throughout the month of December. Her favorites were Santa Claus, the Number One Toy Expert and my favorite Christmas book from when I was a child, Morris's Disappearing Bag. Night Before Christmas and Twelve days of Christmas rounded out the collection. She now enjoys being read to every night and Adam and I take turns doing so. We will usually get through 3 books and then it's lights out. No one ever has to go to sleep when lights are out, but Anjali generally falls asleep within 10 minutes after snuggling with Adam or I in her bed. After a couple of weeks of reading, Anjali was very excited about Santa coming to bring her presents. Although, packages were coming in the mail almost daily for little Anjali, we decided we would wait to put presents under the Christmas tree until after Anjali had gone to bed on Christmas Eve. She did find some of the presents that I had wrapped for other people and brought one to me expecting to get to open it and it turned out to be a good teachable moment even though there were some tears involved where I explained to her that those presents were for her family and we would be sending them to them. It was a moment she understood that you give presents as well as get them.
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| Anjali the first day we met her |
Having Anjali home for Christmas this year was a dream come true and all Adam and I wanted for Christmas, really. We had fun getting Anjali ready for Christmas which can be a bit overwhelming for a child who has been in an orphanage. We got 4 books about Christmas from the library that we read throughout the month of December. Her favorites were Santa Claus, the Number One Toy Expert and my favorite Christmas book from when I was a child, Morris's Disappearing Bag. Night Before Christmas and Twelve days of Christmas rounded out the collection. She now enjoys being read to every night and Adam and I take turns doing so. We will usually get through 3 books and then it's lights out. No one ever has to go to sleep when lights are out, but Anjali generally falls asleep within 10 minutes after snuggling with Adam or I in her bed. After a couple of weeks of reading, Anjali was very excited about Santa coming to bring her presents. Although, packages were coming in the mail almost daily for little Anjali, we decided we would wait to put presents under the Christmas tree until after Anjali had gone to bed on Christmas Eve. She did find some of the presents that I had wrapped for other people and brought one to me expecting to get to open it and it turned out to be a good teachable moment even though there were some tears involved where I explained to her that those presents were for her family and we would be sending them to them. It was a moment she understood that you give presents as well as get them.
The week leading up to Christmas was a lot of fun. First off, Adam and I actually got to go on a date. We decided it was time to start getting Anjali used to being without us. We found a wonderful babysitter who is an elementary special education teacher by day and former social worker. We had left Anjali previously with Adam's mother once, so we thought this would be a good next step. On the Sunday afternoon before Christmas, we went to the North Carolina Art Museum to see the Da Vinci/Escher exhibit and then had time for a glass of wine at the Wine Authority before heading home. Anjali did fine...another milestone accomplished! It was wonderful having some alone time with Adam and we realize we need to do it more often now that we are starting to get settled here.
When we got back from our date, we made Christmas cookies with Anjali. We ended up doing it over a few days, but Anjali had a lot of fun at each step. She loved rolling out dough and using the cookie cutters. We decorated batches of cookie with sprinkles and frosting the following days and of course made two special one with Santa's name on them.
On the 23rd, Adam and Anjali wrote a letter to Santa and put it in the special pocket of her stocking reserved for letters to Santa. We also listened to Christmas songs throughout the week.
On Christmas Eve we had a lazy morning then headed downtown for a 3:00 Christmas service geared towards young children at the Church of the Good Shepherd. That evening we had our Christmas dinner. Anjali and I got Santa's cookies and we decided to make him a cafe latte since he seemed to drink a lot of them in the book Santa Claus, the Number One Toy Expert.
I thought it might be hard to get Anjali to go to sleep on Christmas Eve, but as is her usual routine, we read a few books and she was out. Adam and I, however stayed up until after 1 am putting all of the presents out and assembling the two kitchens she received.
In hindsight, it might have been better to give her all of her Christmas presents over an extended period of time as she was indeed a bit overwhelmed by the number of presents and certainly couldn't enjoy them in one day, but she got so many nice things and we were grateful to Santa and everyone else for sending them her way. She was in awe when she came downstairs and saw all the Christmas presents. We relaxed all day and had a delicious late brunch. It was 80 degrees, so we spent some time outside helping Anjali use her bike and then took her for a walk down to the creek. She accidentally fell in while throwing leaves in the creek, but it was 80 degrees...so not too much to worry about. Papi and Leela joined her. We were able to facetime or talk on the phone with family as well. Our first Christmas together with Anjali was truly a special one that I hope she won't forget and her parents certainly will always cherish and treasure.
In hindsight, it might have been better to give her all of her Christmas presents over an extended period of time as she was indeed a bit overwhelmed by the number of presents and certainly couldn't enjoy them in one day, but she got so many nice things and we were grateful to Santa and everyone else for sending them her way. She was in awe when she came downstairs and saw all the Christmas presents. We relaxed all day and had a delicious late brunch. It was 80 degrees, so we spent some time outside helping Anjali use her bike and then took her for a walk down to the creek. She accidentally fell in while throwing leaves in the creek, but it was 80 degrees...so not too much to worry about. Papi and Leela joined her. We were able to facetime or talk on the phone with family as well. Our first Christmas together with Anjali was truly a special one that I hope she won't forget and her parents certainly will always cherish and treasure.
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