We're in the 'long winter's nap' portion of Christmas '14 and there was so much goodness this year I had to get to the blog before I forgot.
Three is the most magical age for Christmas and B has been saying all day (and last night), "This was the best Christmas ever!" Seeing Christmas through his eyes really is the best Christmas ever!
Highlights from our best Christmas ever….
Visiting Santa at Bass pro. B was mesmerized by the Christmas set up there. He froze when he saw Santa but managed to ask for 'Planes Fire & Rescue' movie. Once we explored the store, he had added several other wishes to the list (an ice fishing tent and four wheeler topped the list).
Working the clothes pantry. Our local clothing pantry does the wishing tree for local families and we were blessed to get to help out with it several days. For the first year, B really got the concept of meeting the needs of others and really got it when we went shopping for our wishing tree family. It was a huge improvement from even packing shoe boxes the month before. Having him actually put in the work before the shopping gave him a lot better idea of what was going on. He will randomly talk about it and say the sweetest things. His little (huge) heart just melts me every time.
Decorating gingerbread house and cookies. We had never done a gingerbread house but B kept asking for one this year so we (finally) got one. He was very meticulous in his decorating. Only putting on candy that made sense (donut holes for 'bushes,' a gumdrop for a 'ding bell,' green candy for 'grass,' etc.) and eating the rest. He definitely did more eating than decorating. I finally asked if he wanted to decorate it some more and he said, "Let's just eat it instead!" It wasn't long before even the roof was being eaten. When it was time for the cookies, I took the advice of my friend Angie and bought the pre made/prerolled gingerbread cookie dough from Hy-Vee. Genius. Easiest cookie making ever (we used the leftover gingerbread house frosting). B made a couple gingerbread men then asked if he could make some angels instead so we ended up with mostly angels. Perfection.
Caroling. Confession: I missed out on it this year. In the past we've taken our niece and nephew and made goodie bags to go along with the caroling but we didn't get to that this year. We were in charge of planning this month's cg social so we planned on caroling at the nursing home followed by soup/dinner at our house. When it was time to leave, R admitted he had no idea how to finish the soup so he ended up taking B caroling and I stayed home to finish the soup. I heard B was adorable though. Of course. ;)
Tree Farm. It was our first visit to the tree farm and our first real tree. B is SO proud of his little tree he picked out and decorated himself. He loves showing it to everyone. It is definitely a tradition we'll add to the to do list.
North Pole Express. Or Polar Express? I'm not sure of the name anymore.. but we watched the movie then rode the train with B's cousins. He was SO excited about it. The boys looked adorable in their matching jammies and the dinner beforehand was delicious but B was a little disappointed he didn't actually get to get out and play at the North Pole. The movie had set his expectations up pretty high so we would have been better not to watch it. :) I thought it was great though because he was bummed and tired so he sat in my lap and snuggled the whole way back to the train station. I'll take all the snuggles I can get so that was probably the highlight of the trip for me. Since then, he talks about the train ride all the time so I think he really did love it, even if he was sad he didn't get to hang with Santa more.
Brunch with Santa. Our local orchard does all kinds of fun stuff during the Christmas season. We spent one Saturday morning there eating pancakes with Santa, taking a carriage ride through the farm, and visiting with Santa. B was thrilled to get to hang with Santa for a bit since the other two times he got to see him, Santa was pretty busy. We spent another morning there making Christmas ornaments with friends and I spent an evening there with mommy friends making our own Christmas crafts and eating dinner. So much fun stuff so close by. Definitely a must do if you're in the area.
Advent countdown. We joined our friends at the library and made the cutest advent tubes to hang up (we used last year's Advent stick to hang them from). We read 'Advent for the very young' and B totally gets it. He would wake up most mornings the month of December asking to 'talk about Jesus.' It really encouraged him to pray more too (and prayers other than 'thank you for my toys'). He can (mostly) accurately retell the story of Jesus' birth and loves finding all the different nativity scenes (aka 'baby Jesus barns' at everyone's homes.
Christmas Eve Candlelight. This didn't go as great as I had pictured in my mind but one sweet moment that I don't want to forget… when the candles were handed out and the kids lined up along the wall together, it got real quiet as they were getting ready to begin and B started (not so quietly) singing, "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. I whispered to him that it was quiet time and he said, "but we gotta blow out Jesus' birthday candles first!"
Waterpark Christmas. Again, not exactly as we pictured (a cancelled flight for R's sister changed some plans and we ended up with an impromptu- but fun- middle of the night airport run) but still super fun. B LOVES the water park and is a big fan of the pirate ship. He's also a big fan of his cousins and family so he of course had an all around blast. I love seeing him hang out with his cousin B (they are just months apart in age), they act like little old men together. One of my favorite quotes from eavesdropping on them was when B said to his cousin, "It's okay [BP], I like wearing diapers too." The stuff they say cracks me up. And if you follow us on instagram, you may have seen our lovely family picture from the night. It was clearly a wear your best pajamas party. I think R succeeded at that. B was spoiled with gifts at all Christmases this year and he got a super cool set of Magformers from grandma this night. If your kids (or you for that matter) don't have them, you should definitely look into them. Pretty sure these span the ages more than legos. So fun for the littles and big kids!
Christmas Eve at grandmas. Again, B loves playing with cousins so he had a blast. My favorite moments were watching him with his baby cousin Clara. He is a big fan of hers and is so sweet and gentle with her. He talks about her all the time and talks about how she and [sister] will be such good friends. The fact that he thinks ahead to stuff like that is so awesome. I think he'll be an awesome big brother. He got a super cool Plasma car at this Christmas but his favorite gift was nutcrackers. He opened the box and screamed, "NUTCRACKERS!!!!" They were the first 'toy' he went to this morning when we woke up and he talks about them all the time. (The story behind him getting them is that every time we've been to Target this winter, he asks to stop and see the nutcrackers. He plays with every single one of them each time we visit the store and asked for one every visit but never got one. He was so excited to get some of his own.)
Christmas day. I feel like this needs it's own blog post. The short story is he slept in late (yay) so I had time to make peppermint waffles (with whip cream and red/green gummy bears). When he woke up, I snuck into his room and said, "Merry Christmas, buddy." He said, "What?!?" He had no clue it was Christmas morning. He jumped out of bed and looked out the window and said, "It is! It snowed! It did! It is Christmas! Santa came!" (We aren't sure why he associates snow with Christmas but he does.) We headed out to the living room where he saw his new race car waiting for him and the look on his face was priceless. He was SO excited about it. He decided it was okay that Santa came to his house and was even impressed that Santa ate all his cookies (though the truth is that Dakota ate them instead). After soaking up the new car smell, we encouraged him to open his gifts. He gets one Santa gift, three gifts from mom and dad, and a stocking. He opened his three gifts and was SO excited and thankful for each one. He got 'Planes Fire & Rescue' and said, "It's just what I always wanted!!!" He got Frank the combine and a tractor for tipping (from the movie Cars) and was completely obsessed with them. He literally carried them around ALL Christmas day. He also got a Pigeon matching game. I wanted to start getting him some games or things he can do where he has to follow rules so this was a good start. (We played today and he has a little ways to go before mastering the rule following part.) ;) He dug through his stocking and LOVED everything in it. His favorites were a 'lazer gun,' a Chicago Cubs nutcracker ornament, super hero socks, a lego shirt & a flashlight (don't tell but that may have been re-gifted from one of R's students)… He's been playing with or wearing everything on that list today and keeps saying, "Oh mom thank you for…. (fill in the blank)." He was super excited for mommy and daddy to open their stockings. (He did the shopping this year and did an awesome job.) Then we had him open [sister's] stocking for her. He picked out her goodies at the store as well and 'showed' her each one as he told her about them (socks, a swaddling blanket, a toy car, booties & a teddy bear). He was very excited when I told her she loved everything he got for her. After presents, we ate breakfast (those peppermint waffles) and got ready for grandma's where we spent most of the day. On the car ride there, he was asking to see Jesus again (this started after we told him baby Avery went to live with Jesus) and closed his eyes real tight as he prayed. That will never get old to me. We had a nice laid back day at grandma's then headed home for naps before picking up from Christmas. It was almost bedtime before he had a chance to drive his race car so we pushed bedtime back and went for a late night cruise. B drove his car up and down the street while R & I walked behind (and Dakota too). It was the perfect end of Christmas day activity. At bedtime, he laid in bed and told Daddy, "This was the best Christmas ever!!" And since waking this morning, he's been saying it ever since.
We agree buddy, we agree.
I hope you and your family had a very blessed Christmas too.
We have so much to be thankful for.
(Pictures to come once I get them off the camera but you can check out some of the fun on instgram.)
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