Happy New Year’s Eve, Tumblr! I hope you’ve all been enjoying the holiday season.
Around this time 4 years ago, I was probably rehearsing what I was going to say that night when I proposed to @nancydrewnickerson… And coming up with a couple contingency plans in case we suddenly found ourselves on a case.
It’s been a busy time for us here between the holiday season and celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary. Yes, it’s already been 3 amazing years.
The Yule Ball was the weekend before our anniversary. We took Hannah up on her offer to watch Henry for the night so we could have the night out to celebrate.
Carson wasn’t able to attend this year, so Nancy did have to work the room a bit and represent the Drew name. We still got in plenty of dancing, though.
It’d been a bit since we danced without Henry. Some nights when we’re trying to get Henry to fall asleep, we’ll put some music on softly and sway slowly with him between us until he starts to settle down.
I love those moments, but every time it’s just the two of us, it takes me back to that first slow dance, when I was afraid I’d step on her feet and then elated when she politely declined anyone who tried to cut in.
We went to a hotel afterwards, and ordered dessert from room service. And let’s just leave it at, we really enjoyed the night.
Our anniversary was the next Wednesday. We didn’t take the day off from work; my office closes the week between Christmas and the new year so that’s always a busy time. But Nancy made sure to send sweet notes to my robot, and I personally delivered flowers before we took an extra long lunch together.
I’m sure we’ve said this before, but our families take turns watching Henry while we’re at work. He was with my parents that day, and Mom surprised us by having a delicious lasagna waiting at home for us.
We watched our wedding video after dinner. Henry was more interested in getting us to build towers with his blocks than letting us watch it, though.
We considered pausing the video and waiting until he was asleep to finish it, but there was just something that felt really right about hearing our vows recited while we were playing with our son.
Presents waited until after his bedtime. With Christmas less than a week after our anniversary, we always say we won’t go extravagant and instead focus on more sentimental anniversary presents.
When I read that pearls are the gemstones that represent third anniversaries, it reminded me of Nancy’s mother’s necklace, which Nancy wore on our wedding day. I found a bracelet that isn’t a perfect match to the necklace, but complements it nicely.
Nancy went with the traditional–leather–and modern–crystal–gifts for third anniversaries. She gave me a leather wallet that was engraved on the inside with our initials and wedding date. And I’m going to have to find room on my desk at work for her other gift, a crystal frame with a picture we took with Henry on our last anniversary.
It’s such a sweet photo, and it’s almost hard to believe how much Henry has grown since then.
Our anniversary wasn’t the only thing keeping us busy this month. We have a lot of family traditions we like to keep, and new ones we’ve started together.
Last year, Henry loved all the lights. Because he’s mobile this year, we were concerned about him touching the tree and getting hurt, so we put up a baby gate a safe distance around it to make sure he wouldn’t get too close. Space was an issue, so it’s not really a big tree, but better safe than sorry.
Nancy found a really cool craft idea online so that Henry could have his own tree. We–by which I mean mainly Nancy while I kept Henry entertained–cut a tree pattern about Henry’s height out of felt, which we stuck against a wall.
And then we–really we this time–cut out little ornament shapes from other colors of felt. And then we stuck velcro pieces on them so Henry would be able to stick them on the felt tree, pull them off, and stick them back on.
Henry really enjoyed playing with it, and he wanted everyone who visited to play too.
I think Henry’s favorite part of this month was visiting his great-grandparents’ farmhouse and getting to see the horses. We let him pet my grandparents’ gentlest horse, Peaches. He’s not old enough to ride, of course, but Nancy and I went for a little ride ourselves.
We spent Christmas Eve at Carson’s house. Eloise was there, and my parents came too, and we all exchanged presents then.
We made everyone salt dough ornaments from Henry. Both of our families’ trees still have ornaments we made when we were younger, so it was pretty cool seeing his hanging up beside our own. (We made extra for ours, of course.)
Mom gave us some presents to put under our tree from Henry.
For our joint present, Mom painted Merry Christmas in cursive on a canvas and then had Henry press multicolored fingerprints along the words so it looks like a string of Christmas lights.
Dad filmed the whole thing, thinking Henry’s reaction might be hilarious to rewatch. It was actually a lot more sweet than funny, though. For the most part, Henry was happy to let his Grandma do whatever she wanted. But he did reach for Mom a lot, so she ended up with his fingerprints all over her too.
(Dad took a picture of the two of them once the project was over, and he put it in a frame for her for Christmas.)
Mom also had him help make individual presents for both of us. For mine, Mom gave him a blank piece of paper to scribble on with crayons. (He loves ‘coloring.’ When he sees me or Nancy writing, he always wants to try it too, so we’ll give him some crayons and paper.) And then she put it in a frame alongside a picture I had drawn at a young age too.
I was, of course, partial to my gift, but Nancy’s was great too. Mom gave her pot holders with Henry’s handprints and “Mommy’s helping hands” on it. She has them hanging near the oven as decoration only. I don’t think them getting ruined is quite a risk with her, but me on the other hand…
After we opened presents, we headed to my parents’ house. Carson, Hannah, Eloise, and a lot of my extended family were there too. Henry got plenty of attention and even more gifts. Everyone was really generous–so generous in fact that I think Henry officially takes up 99% of the apartment.
I can’t believe we’re almost going to ring in 2018. I’m excited for what the new year will bring for my family. I know 2017 hasn’t been a good year for a lot of people around the world, but hopefully some of those problems won’t carry into 2018.
I hope everyone says safe tonight, whether you’re going out or staying in like us. Happy new year!
