The holiday happenings
Well, now that December is in full swing, so are all of the holiday-related activities. So, I'll do a rundown of what we've been up to.
The Santa Train
We went to Coopersville last weekend and rode the Santa Train. You were pretty darn excited to see the trains, as I knew you would be. You sat in Daddy's lap and watched the slow progress we made out the windows. Santa came into our car first and you were fascinated by the hubbub. He sat in a seat in the middle of the train and all of the kids got to go up and visit.
After one year of screaming when you sat on his lap, and another year of refusing to go anywhere near him, the third time was indeed the charm. Although you sat very quietly and just nodded at everything the "elf" asked you. The only thing you said to Santa was, after looking down at the train ticket you had a good grip on, "I have ticket!" For that, you received a little stuffed penguin.
Once he left, you got a bit irritated at the slow and monotonous nature of the train ride, but you kept it together pretty well until we returned to the station. And promptly fell asleep on the ride back home.
The tree
Last year I had some trouble getting the Christmas tree. This year I thought we'd be A-OK since Daddy managed to stay well for the trip. But there's something about me and trees that promises an adventure every time. This time around you were one of the culprits. (I, myself, was the other one...a long story about re-arranging the living room furniture.)
Your half of the equation involved being INCREDIBLY GRUMPY before we even managed to get into the car. "I DON'T WANNA GO. I WANNA STAY HERE!" This coming from a boy who normally demands to "go to bookstore" or "go shoppin'." So I figured the trip was doomed as Daddy was stuffing you into your snowsuit and you were trying to nail him with a left jab.
Then we got to the tree farm and it was closed. CLOSED! We found another one
and it was closed too. Apparently tree farms don't open until noon on Fridays. Whatever. So we went to a nearby greasy spoon to eat lunch and kill time before getting back to the farm. By the time we finally got out of the car to get the tree, I was too cold and grumpy to go cut one down. So we payed $50 for a pre-cut tree and Daddy tied it into the trunk.
The ornaments
Of course I had you help me with the ornaments. And you were truly amazed by the box filled with snowmen and Santa Clauses. You listened very nicely while I explained that some of them were breakable so we had to be careful with them. In fact, many times during the decorating, you would hold up an ornament and ask, "This one made of glass?"
That part went very well. But you've had a hard time keeping your hands off the ornaments now that they're on the tree. Especially anything that has a bell. So I've had to monitor you a bit closely. Although my monitoring could use some work because there's a reindeer ornament hanging from the closet doorknob.
The advent calendar
After Christmas last year I found an advent calendar in the Pottery Barn catalog for 50% off. I was excited to put it on your wall this year, with your name proudly sewn upon it. And I was pretty darn geeked about filling the pockets with cute little things to help you celebrate the coming of the holiday.
What I didn't anticipate was how hard it would be to come up with things for the pockets. And that once I put something very cool in there, all of the other "things" had to measure up to some extent. Which is why we should never have started out with the mini car. Because every day after that you tend to think there's going to be another car. The whole enterprise has become more about materialism than I'd ever wanted it to. Although you seemed fairly happy with the homemade snowflake that popped up one morning. I'm hoping that you forget this whole thing next year and we can start anew with simple little surprises that aren't about collecting things. Fingers crossed.
The holiday party
Yesterday we had the annual holiday party for Mommy's side of the family. You had a great time at Aunt Nancy's house, hanging out with your big cousins and playing with the gazillion toys she keeps there to entertain the little ones. You ran helter-skelter all over the basement and even had a chance to play musical chairs. Cooper (I think he's nine), took a liking to you and helped you play along, carrying you around the circle and stealing chairs from your other cousins for you to sit in. And you and Calihan graduated from fighting over sippy cups to fighting over remote-controlled cars.
Maybe you should leave your arms inside of your shirt
