after complaining
non-stop about
how much i hate
the holidays,
something interesting happened
this year…
i suppose i could
wait until the
end of the post
to tell you that
i actually
enjoyed this one,
but why keep
you in suspense?
so here’s why
this one didn’t suck…
i watched as
my california girl
fell deeply in
love with a climate
few can stand.
i suppose
it had little to
do with this:
this:
and this:
and more to do
with this:
this:
this:
this:
and this:
to top it all
off, maddy got to
crawl through
her very own snow fort.
and as if
watching her enjoy
all of
these winter adventures
wasn’t enough,
i watched
as all of
our individual
families came together
to form
a serious voltron-like
family to help
maddy take
part in a christmas
tradition that
was a big part of
her mother’s childhood,
as well as her
brookie’s childhood.
i also got to watch
my daughter enjoy
christmas the way
i used to when
i was a kid:
and the way i used
to when her
mom
was alive:
and the way that
we do now.
and then the best
part for me…
to experience
all of this
from her perspective.
to see her not
worried about any
of the things i
worry about at
this time of year.
to see her happy
to be surrounded by
family both
old and new.
to see her
go from scared
to excited when
she opened up
that remote
controlled tarantula.
to see her
lose her mind
over those talking dinosaurs.
to listen to her
inside a huge
box yelling,
“open your gift, daddy!”
and to hear her
laughing as i opened
up the box
to find her inside…
well, it’s pretty
impossible to hate
a holiday that
includes all of that.
84 Comments
So glad to see you had such a wonderful holiday with your families! I wish you a very Happy New Year with wonderful things to come in 2011!
You blog now, Matt?
Adorable. She is so cute.
It only gets better Matt. I have a 7 year old and we just had the best Christmas..she still relishes the entire experience. In her words, “it’s magical!”.
I have been following your site for a wile and seeing Mady geting big is so much fun. I bet her room is filled with gifts and love.
Happy Holidays!
It looks and sound like you guys had a very magical Christmas. I’m pretty excited to be able to see and have that sort of fun through my little boy’s eyes.
So happy you, Maddy and Brooke had a wonderful Christmas. Happy New Year 2011. Hope it’s filled with much love, health and happiness! Safe travels!
She got a Bilibo – sweet! My girls love ours . . . and find about 100 uses for it.
Glad to hear you had a good one Matt.
~C~
Looks like you guys had fun. I’m really happy for you.
Being from Australia, I have absolutely no concept of just how cold that is! It is going to be 40 here tomorrow (well over 100) and that’s the way I like it!
Matt…that’s awesome. BTW…I’ve been out and about not checking in as much. Busy life on this end of world. However, I love love love how Maddie is growing up to be such a cute adorable little girl She’s so beautiful. God Bless You!
I always come here and I was reading old post when maddy was a newborn up until 7 weeks..and reading todays post so much has change for u and ur dd since then..so happy for you Matt ..happy holidays to you maddy brook
You have too be the best dad ever. I’d definitely give you the award. Im happy you all had a wonderful Christmas.
You know you are so blessed to have a women like Brooke and she is just has blessed to have a man like you. Wishing you a happy new year from me.
In tears. She’s a beauty and growing so so fast. Liz is a shining star shining down on us all and especially your sweet baby doll! Happy New Year Matt!
Asalamu Alaykom and Happiest of Holidays,
Once again, I can only anticipate the photos as the Egyptian ‘net connection is so slooooooow.
Whatever is shone in the images can’t be any nicer than reading your words. There is hope, love, and peace in every thought.
Alhumdulillah.
LOVE your quinzhee hut. Looks like you had great Christmas and Maddy was enveloped in traditions. Happy New Year to you, Brooke, and Maddy!
I love that she hid in the box and had you open it. So sweet and funny. My daughter is the same age and I had the same attitude about you about the whole season. Like you, seeing it thru her eyes changed everything.
Of the entire post, what struck me is how you say “her Brookie.” My husband is a widower (most people think that sounds funny, but you understand I’m sure!!), and I have been mom to his daughter for 10 years. She is now 16 and calls me “her Beaner.” I never expected to be “mom” – she has a mom already. But I am just fine being her Beaner.
Happiness to you all!
What a wonderful Christmas in MN! LOVE the snowfort with the Christmas lights inside, what a great idea!!
Happy New Year!
Love it! I am glad you had a great Christmas.
Is that the yule log on the TV! Yes, we laugh every year when we turn it on. I am glad we are not the only ones! Have a great 2011
you all look SO happy. merry christmas, and a wonderful 2011 to you and yours.
Just beautiful, Matt. She’s so adorable. Would love to meet her.
It was fantastic to read about your “very Minnesota” Christmas. here’s to an equally enjoyable 2011!!
Take care
That sounds like such an AWESOME Christmas – and my boys and I are LOVING that snow fort!!
I had a similar experience this holiday season with my
21-month-old daughter. Her enthusiasm for the snow has made this
crazy Minnesota winter a lot more fun!
It’s so fantastic to see your kiddo’s enjoy the holidays!
My two enjoyed them with major colds and it was amazing how they
rallied with the power of ‘santa’. It makes all the crazy headaches
of the holidays worth it.
Ooh my 8 yr old got the same spider and he LOVES it. Loves
to scare his sisters with it. Have fun! So glad to see that
everyone had a great holiday. Freezing rain tonight? I think I’d
rather have the snow thank you very much =0) Can you take me back
to California with you? Please?
So so happy for you and Maddie. This post made me smile
from ear to ear!
oh and I forgot to say I am cracking up at the television
in the background with the video of the fire, LOL! Don’t know why
but that makes me laugh.
Yeah, I can’t imagine anyone hating the holidays with a kid
around. It’s impossible to watch their joy and not feel it
yourself. I have a feeling that Mr. Grinch (by that I mean you!)
over here is going to look forward to the holidays from now on!
Wishing you all a very happy New Year!!
Amazing Christmas for you guys! I’m so happy to hear that
you enjoyed one, finally.
It would indeed be pretty hard to hate all that. Glad it
was a good one for y’all.
So awesome! What a wonderful Christmas and she is now at
the age that she will start having memories of these. Hope you all
have a wonderful New Year!
Christmas for me this year also vastly improved. I don’t
have kids but it wasn’t as dreadful this year as the last 2
years.
Sounds like you had the perfect Christmas. This is such a
I’m so happy that you enjoyed
fun age for them to celebrate Christmas. I was almost waiting for
you to tell us you decided to move back to Minnesota after the
wonderful holiday you had.
it!
Dang – listen to that kid of yours talking! It’s been far
too long since I’ve seen her… Merry Christmas to you guys -
looking forward to catching up when you get back from your NYE
travels – xoxo
love.
how wonderful!! so glad you ALL were able to enjoy the
How cute is Madeline, hiding in an
celebration of Christmas!
empty box as your present!
Nice Fort…I must give kudos as a 36 year old kid, that
looks like a mansion! My big brother used to build them like that,
and I loved it. Matt, Maddy & Brookie…Happy New Year, and
I’m wishing you continued peace and love for 2011!!
I want to climb through my own snow cave now!
As always you reach right to the heart of the matter.
Although you have lived through a great tragedy your heart is
filled with love and life.
sigh, it will always be Dayton’s to me! But it’s nice that
Macy’s kept the tradition.
You’re an amazing dad and I hope you know that. I’m glad
you both had a great Christmas.
Great blog. Loved the snow pictures of Madeline wanting to
go down the driveway. I’m so glad you enjoyed your Christmas this
year. Remember they will just get better and better. Love to you
guys for the coming new year.
Amazing how kids can make pretty much anything not suck
isn’t it. I’m glad you had a great holiday season, you guys deserve
it. Maddy *almost* made me miss Minnesota…almost. I never had a
snow fort like that, maybe if I had I would have stayed;) That is a
kickass fort!
I love watching her grow! Thank you for letting us experience such a special time with you. You are such a great dad! It keeps my outlook on people more optimistic when I see such a warm and loving family. <3
Nothing like the love of a child to melt away the grinch in us! Spending Christmas with a child makes the holidays magical. You look happy. Maddy looks thrilled! The video with Maddies grandmother laughing is Priceless! I love it!
I love this post. We were walking Christmas Eve in downtown Wiesbaden Germany. Cold as hell. We passed this record store that is a classic all in its own right. All I could think of was your post about you and Madeline visiting one. It is a huge store here!
Glad to hear you guys had a fantastic christmas!
It sounds like everyone had a truly amazing holiday. We are all jealous of Maddy’s incredible snow fort.
Matt, it only gets better and better!!!
Happy New Year to all of you!!!
LOVE IT! oops caps lock!
we so enjoyed the holidays this year as well with our almost 3 year old. but, I’m a little disappointed, no pictures of the gorgeous frost covered trees?
I’m sorry but the fireplace on the TV is priceless!!
Looks like everyone had a blast.
Love the boots with the jammies. So stylish!
I realize Madeline is a California girl, but, she does have Minnesota in her blood. Must you dress her like Buzz Aldrin to play outside in the snow? Oh, and way to add the lights to the snow fort– showing us all up again.
SOOO glad you had a great Christmas!! All of those things DO make for a great one!
Hope you have a great New Years as well!
Isn’t this age just awesome. Charlotte really *got* Christmas this year. So much fun! Glad you guys had a great time. Oh, and Maddy? Can I come play in your snow fort?
Very cute! My son has that same remote control spider and we have enjoyed many fun hours with it! Merry christmas and happy new year!
Awesomeness! I loved the snow tunnel, I can’t even imagine who constructed that. I’m from Buffalo and think the snow looks beautiful.
I’m truly glad you had a good Christmas.
How wonderful to see how all of the Christmas traditions are coming together and how excited little M is about it all
the mind of a child is a beautiful thing. lots of memories to hold tight. all the best from my family to yours this new year!!!
she is so adorable, and talks so much. right now is when christmas is so magical to her.
awesome fort. pure magic.
Oh yeah. Her joy is contagious and must be like a balm on difficult days. She’s absolutely lovely. love, Val
Wonderful! A blessed 2011 to you and your family!
Happy is good – very very good!! Thank you for the update. I’d seen the pictures as you posted them but there’s something to be said for the wonderful story you’ve attached now. Hope you have safe travels back to California.
I’m glad you had a great Christmas! Maddy is going to have such awesome memories with her family at the holidays (and every other day of the year too). I was amused to see your “fireplace” in the background. I grew up with a fireplace and I have fond memories of hanging out in front of it. We don’t have one in our home now, but I am a proud owner of a $1.99 Walgreens Roaring Fires DVD. I played it Christmas morning while we opened our gifts and had it on when guests arrived for our dinner party the week before. I even place a small electric heater by the tv to make it a little more “realistic” (ha!). My husband likes to make fun of me for it, but it sort of reminds me of my parents’ fireplace and my kids will have memories of it when they’re older.
apparently, Channel 45 is the only TV station in the country that televises the Yule Log on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day….it’s a tradition in our house!
What an awesome snow fort!
Merry Christmas and Heppy New Year in Istanbul or wherever you are going….
I think it is the age. My son is very close in age to Maddy and this was our best Christmas yet. The excitement is hard to ignore. I fell in love with the holidays all over again. There is nothing like seeing Christmas through the eyes of a 2 year old. So glad it was a good holiday for you all.
So jealous of the snow fort btw.
She is getting so big! Listening to her talking, saying so politely, “Thanks, Grandma!” WHILE she is opening her gift…you’ve got to be so proud of her. And of yourself. And of her Brookie. And of her grandmas, grandpas and Auntie Deb…the list goes on.
As always, great post. Thanks for writing…so clearly…what it feels like to live in the present moment.
Can’t wait for the book.
Well I do think your heart grew…THREE sizes this year! Good for you, enjoy that little doll of yours.
The joy of a child has a way of cracking open the most cynical of hearts.
So glad it has been a happy season for you.
Maddy in the box must have been the best. I loved it when my son used to hide and call me, he was so excited when i found him. Pure joy. Happy New Year to you and yours. Can’t wait for the book!
I’m glad you all had such a beautiful christmas, of all the things you have written in the past this post for some reason made me cry, hope you all have a Happy New Year, and I’m wishing you lots of success with your book in April, can’t wait to read it.
Rosann
Chicago, Illinois
P.S. Probably made me cry because they were tears of happiness
Wow. Sounds like this was perhaps a bit of a healing Christmas for you, Matt. May 2011 bring you more joy and the best of many more good things yet to come. Hugs to you and yours!
Thank you so much for sharing your life and the most beautiful little girl in the world with her Stranger-Friends! I too am crying but they are tears of joy! I lost my little one while pregnant and I wish I had all the same experiences that you and maddy share! But seeing you two together is so awesome! Gives me something to look forward to when I finally get my angel….
Corriann
St Petersburg, FL
I have never commented before and have been a loyal reader from day one…I LOVE everything about this. PLEASE continue to share, forever! So many people take life lessons from these blogs. I wish there was more about Brooke. It’s amazing you brought a motherly-figure into her life, and in the right way. Little girls need that the most at her age. I’d LOVE to see a blog from Brooke, b/c it definetly is a struggle in someway, you’ll never replace Liz, but she is AMAZING. xoxo to your Family, Matthew! =)
So cute! Christmas sounded awesome.
It looks like you had a lovely Christmas! I hope you had a Happy New Years! Here’s to a fabulous new year!
So glad you guys had a happy holiday – Happy New Year to you all!
that snow fort kicks some serious butt!!! Now my kids need lights in theirs!! LOL! Next blizzard…… Happy New Year!
oh my, i want to go to that Santa’s workshop too! how awesome
WOW! Look at all that snow, and that fort! How fun!! Makes me miss the snow during the holiday season.
Happy New Year!
your posts always make me tear up, in a good way of course =) happy holidays to you and yours. you’re a wonderful father
what a wonderful celebration, and a beautiful white christmas! all the best to you and yours in 2011.
Matt I wanted to bring this story to your attention-
http://www.frugalissafinds.com/2011/01/helping-coker-family.html
This is not spam, it is a story similar to your own.
I love this! And I love that we aren’t the only family who watches the fireplace channel on tv!