Before we took off, we got another delightful treat from Tess’ birth family. Their family tradition for advent is handmade calendars for each kid in the family. The offered to include Tess in that an sent us one! It’s beautiful: hand-stitched mittens of sheet music, ribbons, greens. Dave and I were in awe…and hung it immediately. With all the construction we planned to keep Christmas and its trimmings solely at her house this year. With one grand gesture, Kat, Spencer and crew brought holiday cheer to Tess’ first Christmas!

Tess continues to amaze. She is such a good flyer the flight attendants gave her a certificate. More importantly, upon arrival a mom across the way said, “oh my gosh! I can’t believe there was an infant on board – she didn’t make a peep!” I was bursting with pride.

Dave and I were more worried about getting through the airport than the flight, to be honest. Getting all the baby gear through the airport (we love southwest – insanely family friendly) and checked in/distributed (we didn’t even know what to check or carry), figuring out the correct baby hand off through the metal detector and remembering to pull out all permitted yet plentiful baby-related liquids, getting the stroller stripped and gate-checked…not terrible, but a challenge. I don’t think there’s a sexy, streamlined way to manage that. Please feel free to correct me.

In the airport, Tess had huge eyes the whole way through and kept craning her neck to see where sounds were coming from. She was also practicing her beguiling gummy grins on strangers, which I found quite entertaining. On the plane, Tess cried a few times but mostly slept and ate. She was awesome! We are relieved. Now if she does a repeat performance on the way home, we can check this off the list of current baby issues. (I’m guessing her travel skills may shift as she gets older/mobile. :))

We’re in Florida for family time among palm trees. Its cloudy and rainy, the way dave likes it. Taking a long weekend right after Thanksgiving seems decadent and glorious; something to repeat. We’re off to enjoy it! More coming soon. 🙂