The most wonderful time of the year
I have been extra excited about the holidays this year. I attribute this to Lucy being a little older and thus, more aware of Christmas and all the fun that brings, and also because we've been having mini-celebrations for a few weeks now, with our friends.
We kicked-off the holiday season at a party at the house of our friends, Ivette, Adam, and Ethan. We shared a potluck dinner, the kiddos decorated gingerbread cookies and exchanged Secret Santa presents, and each family brought a toy to donate to the children's hospital. If you think celebrating the holidays is super fun with one kiddo, celebrating with multiple kiddos just makes it exponentially more fun!
We got up early the next morning to get our tree. I was super excited, but the littlest member of the family wasn't really into it.
We got lucky and found our perfect, little tree right away!
Later, when we decorated the tree we let her put ornaments where she wanted (which resulted in clusters of ornaments scattered throughout the bottom half of the tree), and then she had the honor of putting the star on top of the tree.
Lucy must have been a good girl this year, because we have been fortunate enough to see Santa three times so far! I would be remiss if I didn't mention how less than enthused Lucy has been about seeing Santa this year. Luckily, she warmed up to the idea. Our first encounter with Santa was at mommy & me school, where he came to visit and gave out books to all the kids. Lucy wanted nothing to do with him, but after Teacher Kathy handed Lucy her book, I was able to convince her that she should get up closer to Santa to say thank you. As we approached, Santa (aka: Gabby's grandpa Ed- shhh!) greeted her by her name and before I knew it, she was up on his lap! I'm sure she didn't recognize him, but perhaps there was something familiar enough about him that she felt more at ease. Anyway, it was cute. :)
Santa sighting #2 happened later that same day, when Santa and his LAPD sleigh came to our neighborhood. Again, as we waited, all I heard was, "I don't want to see Santa. You can go." Um, okay. Thanks to our experience with this last year, we knew exactly where to hang out and line up ahead of time, so we were near the front of the line again this year. Which was nice, since he was late and it was nearing dinner time. As we waited, I tried a different approach. I said that I really wanted to see Santa, but I was a little scared, so could she come with me so I wouldn't be afraid. I'm not sure how well that reverse-psychology worked. When it was our turn to walk up the sleighmobile, I carried her and she fake-cried until we got up to see him, and then we sat up there and she was, once again, fine. She even said hi and bye to him. :)
Our third visit with Santa happened a few days ago, when several of us got together to take a group photo with Santa at the mall. This was either going to be totally awesome or a complete disaster. We were the first to arrive, which turned out to be a good things, since she was able to get used to Santa as we sat and as we waited the rest of our friends. Once everyone else arrived, we got in line and it was still up for grabs as to how this whole thing would go down. Shockingly, no one had a meltdown! Sure, none of the kids were looking at the camera, but considering no one was crying, we considered it a win. :)
As we all know, I bake every year. This year I looked forward to doing some baking with Lucy. (Actually, I've been looking forward to holiday baking with Lucy since before she was born, but this is the first year we did it. It was also the first time we donned one of my most favorite baby gifts- our matching mommy-daughter aprons from Leslie!) I did my "gift" baking at night or while she was napping, but I enlisted her help in making gingerbread people. She was a great helper! She did a great job helping to press the cookie cutters down into the dough and then removed the excess dough around the sides. Turns out playing with play-doh really prepares one for making cut-out cookies. :)
A couple days later, Lisa, Reid, Kyra, and Ally came over to exchange gifts and decorate the gingerbread cookies. The girls had a great time, and so did I. I intend on making baking with the girls a holiday tradition. Hope they're all okay with that!
We even made a few new ornaments to add to the tree. I vividly remember a set of purple, glittery bells that I made in preschool. I always loved it, so I decided to try to recreate it with Lucy. Some egg cartons, scissors, glue, glitter, and ribbon later and we had some bells. I happen to love them!
She has been so excited about seeing all the Christmas decorations everywhere we go, shouting, "Decorations!" whenever she sees lights or decorations of any kind. In the car, we've been listening to the all-Christmas songs-all-the-time radio station. She asks what every song is called, although ironically, she can "name that tune" within 3 seconds of the beginning of Feliz Navidad. Ha! Sometimes she even gives songs her own names. She's warmed up to the tree, although she keeps wanting to take ornaments off. She has not yet seemed to grasp that you decorate the tree once and then enjoy it. But I suppose that's okay, since I'm probably enjoying it enough for the both of us. We have a small, very colorful tree this year, decked out with multi-colored lights and ball ornaments, glass icicles, and handmade ornaments. I couldn't love it more!
Well, I have to go, finish packing for tomorrow. Christmas Eve is tomorrow and I'm so excited for the next couple days! Happy Christmas Eve Eve!
We kicked-off the holiday season at a party at the house of our friends, Ivette, Adam, and Ethan. We shared a potluck dinner, the kiddos decorated gingerbread cookies and exchanged Secret Santa presents, and each family brought a toy to donate to the children's hospital. If you think celebrating the holidays is super fun with one kiddo, celebrating with multiple kiddos just makes it exponentially more fun!
decorating cookies
getting ready to exchange their Secret Santa presents
We got up early the next morning to get our tree. I was super excited, but the littlest member of the family wasn't really into it.
We got lucky and found our perfect, little tree right away!
Later, when we decorated the tree we let her put ornaments where she wanted (which resulted in clusters of ornaments scattered throughout the bottom half of the tree), and then she had the honor of putting the star on top of the tree.
Lucy must have been a good girl this year, because we have been fortunate enough to see Santa three times so far! I would be remiss if I didn't mention how less than enthused Lucy has been about seeing Santa this year. Luckily, she warmed up to the idea. Our first encounter with Santa was at mommy & me school, where he came to visit and gave out books to all the kids. Lucy wanted nothing to do with him, but after Teacher Kathy handed Lucy her book, I was able to convince her that she should get up closer to Santa to say thank you. As we approached, Santa (aka: Gabby's grandpa Ed- shhh!) greeted her by her name and before I knew it, she was up on his lap! I'm sure she didn't recognize him, but perhaps there was something familiar enough about him that she felt more at ease. Anyway, it was cute. :)
"Grandpa Ed" Santa with Ivette & Ethan, Alicia & Bregan, me & Lucy, Kelly & Dylan
Santa sighting #2 happened later that same day, when Santa and his LAPD sleigh came to our neighborhood. Again, as we waited, all I heard was, "I don't want to see Santa. You can go." Um, okay. Thanks to our experience with this last year, we knew exactly where to hang out and line up ahead of time, so we were near the front of the line again this year. Which was nice, since he was late and it was nearing dinner time. As we waited, I tried a different approach. I said that I really wanted to see Santa, but I was a little scared, so could she come with me so I wouldn't be afraid. I'm not sure how well that reverse-psychology worked. When it was our turn to walk up the sleighmobile, I carried her and she fake-cried until we got up to see him, and then we sat up there and she was, once again, fine. She even said hi and bye to him. :)
Our third visit with Santa happened a few days ago, when several of us got together to take a group photo with Santa at the mall. This was either going to be totally awesome or a complete disaster. We were the first to arrive, which turned out to be a good things, since she was able to get used to Santa as we sat and as we waited the rest of our friends. Once everyone else arrived, we got in line and it was still up for grabs as to how this whole thing would go down. Shockingly, no one had a meltdown! Sure, none of the kids were looking at the camera, but considering no one was crying, we considered it a win. :)
Mall Santa with (again) Ivette and E, me & Luce, Alicia & B, and Kelly & D
As we all know, I bake every year. This year I looked forward to doing some baking with Lucy. (Actually, I've been looking forward to holiday baking with Lucy since before she was born, but this is the first year we did it. It was also the first time we donned one of my most favorite baby gifts- our matching mommy-daughter aprons from Leslie!) I did my "gift" baking at night or while she was napping, but I enlisted her help in making gingerbread people. She was a great helper! She did a great job helping to press the cookie cutters down into the dough and then removed the excess dough around the sides. Turns out playing with play-doh really prepares one for making cut-out cookies. :)
my little baker!
A couple days later, Lisa, Reid, Kyra, and Ally came over to exchange gifts and decorate the gingerbread cookies. The girls had a great time, and so did I. I intend on making baking with the girls a holiday tradition. Hope they're all okay with that!
We even made a few new ornaments to add to the tree. I vividly remember a set of purple, glittery bells that I made in preschool. I always loved it, so I decided to try to recreate it with Lucy. Some egg cartons, scissors, glue, glitter, and ribbon later and we had some bells. I happen to love them!
She has been so excited about seeing all the Christmas decorations everywhere we go, shouting, "Decorations!" whenever she sees lights or decorations of any kind. In the car, we've been listening to the all-Christmas songs-all-the-time radio station. She asks what every song is called, although ironically, she can "name that tune" within 3 seconds of the beginning of Feliz Navidad. Ha! Sometimes she even gives songs her own names. She's warmed up to the tree, although she keeps wanting to take ornaments off. She has not yet seemed to grasp that you decorate the tree once and then enjoy it. But I suppose that's okay, since I'm probably enjoying it enough for the both of us. We have a small, very colorful tree this year, decked out with multi-colored lights and ball ornaments, glass icicles, and handmade ornaments. I couldn't love it more!
Well, I have to go, finish packing for tomorrow. Christmas Eve is tomorrow and I'm so excited for the next couple days! Happy Christmas Eve Eve!
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