dripping with passion

this christmas was the best christmas of my life. it was just brimming with exquisite christmas joy. becoming a mother and having a baby has created in my heart new pockets of capacity to feel deeply – and that heightened sense was so keenly realized in rich gladness at christmas. everything was more special this year – the reverent stuff and the giddy stuff alike. we celebrated heartily and loved seeing that magical christmas sparkle in our little moses’s eyes. our holiday weekend was so wonderful. here’s some photos! … on christmas eve we went ice skating at the tower of london! since we (obviously) couldn’t bring moses on the ice, we traded off taking spins around the rink (set up in the moat – pretty cool!) while the other waved from the side with the baby. i had to turn the live photos i took on my phone into gifs because isn’t this fun? i’m the one in the middle of the rink with arms outstretched here –> and don’t you just love the happy photobomber be

  i’ve only ever met one person who truly understands and shares my intense enthusiasm for and delight in festivity, holidays and pretty things. my friend brittany is my celebration soulmate. it is so satisfying for me to experience festivity, holidays and pretty things with her. {see the dinner parties we’ve hosted together by scrolling through these posts } when i fist saw the christmas shop at fortnum & mason (one of the loveliest stores on the entire planet, in london’s fabulous mayfair district) back in october, i texted a picture of the gorgeously decorated tree in the corner to brittany. somehow that turned into us furiously texting back and forth about the possibility of her coming to visit for a few days in december right before christmas (something we’d talked about happening ever since i moved here). someone that turned into her buying a plane ticket the very next morning! and soon after that there was a planning spreadsheet and a few giddy phone calls. and then,