Pre-Christmas Fun

We've been having a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas. Holly got into the holiday spirit while we were shopping at Walmart and picked out some cute reindeer antlers. Here she is sporting her new look.

She got to make sugar cookies for the very first time at daycare. She didn't actually help make the dough, but she spread the frosting (with help) and decorated (no help needed) them. Apparently, she had a great time dipping her fingers into frosting, then the sprinkles, and then licking her fingers. They tasted delicious, although Van thought they were too sweet, so that meant I got two instead of one (minus one bite)!
We came up to my parents' house on Friday afternoon. I had begged them to wait to cut the Christmas tree until we got there. Since Van has never celebrated Christmas, this is part of the tradition and fun of the holiday and I wanted her to experience it. What I didn't know is that it was going to snow 3 feet before we got there! Van kept saying that she wasn't going to go out in it because she would die. I assured her that just BEING in the snow wasn't going to kill her. Here she is standing in the snow when we first went out to find a tree.

Holly was much more agreeable to being out in the snow. As a matter of fact, Nana tried to take her inside after Holly's cheeks got too cold and she kept taking her gloves off. Holly cried and screamed louder and louder the further away from us she got. Finally, Nana brought her back, tears streaming down her face, and Holly was perfectly happy to have Mama carry her back to the warm house while Pop Pop had to drag the Christmas tree all by himself.

My nephew's birthday is the 21st and we decided this year to go on a family sleigh ride to celebrate. We had so much fun that we have dubbed this a new family tradition! We went up to the Western Pleasure Guest Ranch for our sleigh ride. I grew up in this area and had never been up there. Its absolutely beautiful and was loads of fun! They have a lodge where we went in to warm up and have some hot cocoa before the horses were ready to take us for a ride. Here are Van & Holly in an old sleigh they have in the lodge that would have been pulled by one horse.
Holly and Van played the piano for quite a while. Van plays much better than Holly, but they both had a great time and it kept Holly entertained for a long time.

Finally, we were ready to go! We piled into the sleigh, covered ourselves with blankets, and had two thermoses full of hot cocoa. Holly got a sippy cup with hot apple cider, which she loved, since I don't really give her juice that often.

The sleigh ride was a little under an hour and was just gorgeous. It was snowing the entire time, much to Van's dismay. Every once in a while, we would have to duck under branches hanging in the trail so that snow wouldn't dump down the back of our coats. Let me tell you, there's nothing better than a sleigh ride at Christmas time!

After we were done, Holly wanted to pet the horses. The ones that pulled us weren't super excited about that, but we found others who were friendlier and let us pet them. We did eventually get the Christmas tree up and decorated, all our shopping done, and the presents wrapped. I even got most of my Christmas cards sent out finally! We will go to Christmas eve church service tonight and then out to dinner. Afterward, Holly will get to wear her Christmas pajamas to bed, and hopefully Santa will arrive sometime tonight! Its a good thing he lands on the roof, because its supposed to snow even more tonight and his sleigh would probably get bogged down in it all. Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and enjoys whatever traditions your family has for the holidays!

Let the Shopping Begin

We did some Christmas shopping last weekend, which quite frankly, seems like a really long time ago! Van, Holly, & I met up with my parents to do our shopping marathon, which we do every year. Usually, I get all my shopping done for everyone in those two days. Welcome to parenthood - I still have about half of my shopping to do, and I'm running out of time!

Last year, we went to visit Santa (a super great Santa, not some hokey one who doesn't even look like the real guy!) and I decided to go back to the same place again. I spent weeks looking for a new Christmas dress for Holly and finally found one the day before we went for pictures.

Just as we were walking up to Santa's place in front of the tree, one of his elves told us that he was going on a one hour break! I know that even Santa needs a break from sitting in a chair and smiling, but it was a little inconvenient. I was pretty sure that Holly was almost at meltdown stage, since she had hardly napped all day because we were shopping.

Since we had some time to kill, we went in to Whiz Kids, a great toy & educational store for kids...like Holly and my dad. ;-) She had a fun time playing with the train set and eventually found the cars that you press down, roll backward, let go, and they ZOOM down the aisles. Holly entertained everyone by crawling around on the floor in her (cringe!) cream colored dress playing with the cars. I have to give Whiz Kids a 2 thumbs up for cleanliness, because Holly was as clean when we left as she was when we went into the store.

We got back to Santa's place a little early to get in line. Holly loved looking at the Christmas tree and kept telling us that it was "UP!" pointing way up to the top of the tree, which was about 3 stories high. She wanted to touch that tree soooo bad! She kept climbing onto the rails and could have fallen over the top if I hadn't been paying any attention. Here she is checking out some kids in front of her going up to see Santa.

We practiced smiling while we were standing in line. I'd say "smile" or "say cheese" and she would smile her biggest smile at me, then giggle at how fun that was. But just like last year, we got her up to Santa's lap and there were no smiles to be found! Holly was so solemn, even after being given a candy cane. That's ok though, because she is still so cute and beautiful that a smile isn't necessary. Besides, it will be great to tell her as she gets older how she never smiled for Santa when she was little. Just as we were getting finished up there, a brass ensemble came into the mall and set up to play some Christmas carols. We went over to listen for a few minutes, and Holly got out in the middle of the floor and just danced away. It was really comical because the musicians were playing some slow, not-so-super-cheery Christmas songs, but you would never know that by looking at Holly! We kept waiting for a faster, peppy, happy song, but that never happened, so we finally left.
This was BY FAR the most adorable shot of the day! Still no smile, but oh so cute! It reminds me of the "I look like an angel, but I've got a little devil in me somewhere" kind of picture.

Now I just need to find some time to finish up my Christmas shopping. I'm glad that Christmas is on a Thursday because I'm going to be one of those last minute shoppers that I have always made fun of. That's the Christmas spirit, eh?

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving around here! As usual, we went up to my parents for the long weekend. We had a lot of fun hanging out, walking to the mailbox in the snow (I told Mom it was like Jeffie from Family Circle was out there!), and going to a hockey game on Saturday evening. Holly now says "hockey" and "Boomer," the mascot of the Spokane Chiefs.

Van was trying to use the computer, but Holly had different ideas. Sitting in Van's lap for her snack was what Holly had in mind! Van is so, so patient with Holly.

Somewhere along the way on Thanksgiving day, someone commented that the table was set so nicely, but that there should be a centerpiece or flowers or SOMETHING in the middle of the table. So, Pops said he would take Van out to find some greenery and whip something up for the table. As the were heading out the door, he also mentioned that he was going to let Van drive the lawn tractor...

She was a bit embarrassed that I came out to take pictures. But she was Speedy Gonzales, and went zipping by me sooo fast! She had a great time. Although this isn't the highest quality picture of the bunch, it is my favorite. Please also note that Van is NOT wearing a coat. She always says how cold she is, but refuses to wear a coat. Hmmm...any connection there? Van proudly hauled in the Charlie Brown tree that they cut down to turn into table decoration. And Holly helped make it into manageable, table-sized pieces. Everyone showed up for dinner, including my nephew and his girlfriend. Here is a nice picture of Holly and Kala. Carving the turkey is one of the most important parts of the day, isn't it? It is in OUR house, at least! Everyone stood around to watch (and to be ready to give carving advice, probably, although that wasn't necessary since Pop is almost a pro!). Van was especially interested in the process. Holly found a pen and notepad while we weren't paying attention. She crawled up on the bench and decided to draw a picture of something. Fortunately, I keep a close eye on her when she's wielding a writing utensil. I'm really OCD and paranoid about her writing all over things other than paper! Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! That was a lot of work for the small amount of greenery on the table, wasn't it?! ;-) Holly enjoyed her Thanksgiving meal far more this year than she did last year. I tried to give her some yams last year, but she wanted nothing to do with that! Of course, she was not quite 8 months old, so what should I have expected? This year she enjoyed her yams, mashed potatoes & gravy, turkey, pie, sparkling apple cider, and anything else she could get her hands on. When we got home on Sunday, I hauled all the Christmas stuff out of the garage and got the tree put up. Holly and I decorated the tree on Monday, and I also put up some lights. Tonight, I finally got the last of the inside decorating finished. My outdoor lights from prior years died, so I am now debating whether to bite the bullet and buy more now or wait until the day after Christmas and buy them on clearance for next year. I HATE getting up on the roof to put them up, so I'm a little ambivalent about it. Anyone have an opinion and want to vote on which I should do?

I feel like I have gotten a lot accomplished in the last couple of days, but have a few more things on my RIGHT NOW to do list. They include turning all of Holly's onsies into regular T-shirts, so I don't feel irritated that I wasted money on them since they are way too inconvenient now that she is potty training. I also have my "Old Year's Resolution" to finish Holly's life book by the end of the month. This was my "New Year's Resolution" in January and my goal was the beginning of February, before I went back to work...so you can see why I call it that. Her Advent calendar is on my list (or its going to be over before I get it done), and getting packages sent to my niece and Van's parents this weekend. That's not very much, is it? Lol!

Everyone knows I love to end my posts with a cute shot of Holly. I think I'm going to try to teach her how to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in the spring. We all know that she's going to be a Cubs fan whether she wants to be or not. I also taught her to say that we go "watch hoops" when the high school basketball teams are playing.I have so much to be thankful for! Family, friends, happiness, and health. What more could a person ask for?