Reflecting, remembering and recounting: The week we welcomed a new year

Hello, and Happy New Year! A food blogger I follow recently shared her weekly posts where she recaps the simple instances that make up her and her family's life every day and I thought it was a wonderful exercise. At the end of the year, she had a whole series of entries capturing the small moments with family and friends that you may forget over time, but that make up our day to day lives. I was inspired to do the same, and what better time than now, with a new year upon us!

I've been grateful to have had time off recently to celebrate Christmas and New Year's. In early December, we spent a week with my in-laws in New Jersey. Anytime I can enjoy my mother-in-law's delicious cooking for a week straight, I consider that a huge win. It was so nice to see everyone and simply spend time together. We were with my family for the Christmas holiday and this year was special. I am so thankful to have family just a drive away and grateful for our health, too. This year we incorporated new traditions, including gingerbread house decorating! I had so much fun attempting to show off my artistic side. My sisters both decorated, too, and they are decidedly both more talented in this space than me. The end results were lovely. I'm all about traditions, and it was fun to start a new one. We also did a Secret Santa exchange, filled and opened our stockings, baked and decorated Christmas sugar cookies and had a usual Sood Family music and dance extravaganza. I know I will be able to look back in the future on these memories and moments and smile. Aadil had so much fun all week and so many people to play with. He was more than happy to receive new children's books to add to his collection, too.

After celebrating Christmas with family, we headed back to Michigan in time to ring in the new year. We had a special dinner. I made tomato bruschetta for our appetizer, and baked turkey meatballs to enjoy with zucchini noodles. I had not planned to be up at midnight to see the ball drop. With baby coming, my bedtime seems to creep earlier and earlier each week. But Aadil woke up around 11:30 p.m. so the three of us all stayed up together to watch the countdown and welcome 2021 with open arms. There is nothing like the feeling of a fresh start. I'm hopeful 2021 is a better year for all.

Hard to believe my birthday week is here! We started the celebrations Sunday night with an Italian meal from Licari's, a favorite restaurant of Amar and mine. I ordered a gemelli pasta with sausage and Amar had a spinach salad. Aadil loved his pasta, too. After a delicious dinner with minimal cleanup (which was a huge bonus for me), we had a family photo session! I was so happy to see my two guys dressed up and matching, too. I hope you enjoy some of the photos from our session!