Put a lot of thought into that post title, I did. Oh December, I love you. So much that I enjoyed it, tried to be present, and ended up taking very little pictures. I was so in love with how excited Lily and Sawyer were with EVERYTHING, that I couldn't help but get wrapped up in all the fun myself.
Photo credit: Nicolas the amazing Carrasco
Photo credit: Nicolas the amazing Carrasco
This year I wanted to make Christmas a little more memorable and meaningful. I'm still trying to figure out traditions, and what will work with our family. I'm still REALLY confused if Santa is real or not.
Oh dear, fat, imaginary man who terrifies young babies, I'll try again next year to get up the guts to lie to my kids so they can squeal with excitement at you breaking and entering into our home once a year. If you ask Lily, Santa brought her candy and a toothbrush. Gulp. That's all the lies I could stuff into her stocking at this point.
I decided this year to make most of my presents, those that I could. It turned out to be a process. I struggle with finding something personal for each family member at stores and now that I have banned the mall for our entire family (oh, don't get me started on the nudey men posing outside Ambercrotchy and Witch with their beautiful abs), I've got to figure out some new directions. I did have a good time coming up with little things to make, and loved how some of them turned out, and didn't take one stinking picture of any of them (wasn't thinking blog at the time).
I made a really cute advent calendar that was kid friendly (Hello FELT! My new found friend.) and each day Lily and Sawyer got to pull a little activity out of the pocket and hang up an ornament. It made the traditions part a little easier. One of our new traditions is taking my budding ballerina to the Nutcracker each year. She was in heaven when she realized what our special surprise was and sat on the edge of her seat with her big, blue eyes glued to the stage the entire two and a half hours.
I decided this year to make most of my presents, those that I could. It turned out to be a process. I struggle with finding something personal for each family member at stores and now that I have banned the mall for our entire family (oh, don't get me started on the nudey men posing outside Ambercrotchy and Witch with their beautiful abs), I've got to figure out some new directions. I did have a good time coming up with little things to make, and loved how some of them turned out, and didn't take one stinking picture of any of them (wasn't thinking blog at the time).
I made a really cute advent calendar that was kid friendly (Hello FELT! My new found friend.) and each day Lily and Sawyer got to pull a little activity out of the pocket and hang up an ornament. It made the traditions part a little easier. One of our new traditions is taking my budding ballerina to the Nutcracker each year. She was in heaven when she realized what our special surprise was and sat on the edge of her seat with her big, blue eyes glued to the stage the entire two and a half hours.
Like church, she kept forgetting to shush up and would call out loudly throughout the performance things such as, "Look at her sparkly dress!" "She's on her toes!" "Mom! She can spin and spin and spin on her tippy toe!" "Oh no! He's going to drop her!" "There's a yittle girl up there, like ME!!!" I'm sure we annoyed everyone sitting around us, but bless their hearts they didn't say anything.
After the show I asked her if she wanted to take a picture with the Nutcracker on stage. She made a BEELINE when I said the word stage and ripped off her shoes mid-run and was dancing before I could catch her. She danced her heart out and near the end of her personal Nutcracker performance someone even turned the spotlight on her. She was in heaven.
Another thing we had fun doing was getting packages in the mail (who doesn't?). I couldn't let those big cardboard boxes go to waste, so we recycled them into little houses and they are both still playing with them.
Yes, Lily is in her house in a swimsuit. I walked in that afternoon after putting Sawyer down for a nap and found her in the middle of the living room, standing on a stool in her swimsuit, singing her heart out about a skunk that climbed up our Christmas tree onto the roof and sprayed the whole house into a stinky mess. The songs finale included a tomato juice bath for our home. Random.
For Christmas Eve we hit this awesome Hibachi Grill with our good friends, the Lawrences. They make us laugh and it was good to be with another family on such a special night. Lily discovered baby octopuses and brought one to me on a fork to try. I refused...
So Steve gave it to Sawyer to try instead. Sick!
And December brought a graduation! Lily is moving onto the big kid Primary at church and is ecstatic. I think she won't be as excited when she realizes there are no toys there...but at least she is going to be in Liz's class...who just happens to be one of her favorite babysitters (and the one who led her to the baby octopuses that fateful night for Sawyer).
Sawyer crashed on Christmas day at church. All this excitement was wearing him out. All this blogging is wearing me out.
Lily's Christmas dress (on Christmas day). I made her bow to match Sawyer's tie. I am THAT mom, shoot.
This little guy was so hyper with all the excitement that I couldn't get him to sit still for a picture.
Christmas was wonderful this year. We were blessed with so many thoughtful gifts and kind friends who took us in for celebrations so that we didn't feel alone. We feel immensly grateful for our family and friends their generosity towards us, and for remembering us.
