Last weekend was a mad dash of making our lists and checking them twice. E & I both made lengthy chore lists and challenged each other to mark everything off of our lists. There may even have been a few arguments over someone crossing something off of the other person's list when the other person completed the task. There's just something exhilarating about striking that pen through an item on a to-do list. I think that he won, but I think that he had more things on his list and didn't have a little 10-month old crawling after him all day. One of the things that was on my list was to take photos of each room in our house. Yeah, didn't get done. I think that the house photos are going to wait until the new year when there isn't so much holiday'ing going on -- but you do get photos of our house doing it's holiday jig.
I'm not even sure if it's safe, but our Christmas trees and garland lights have been on constantly for the last week & a half. And my radio has been tuned to our holiday station and the radio is turned on the moment I walk in the door from work. I'm sure that E can't wait for Christmas to be over with -- but I had the thought last night that I wish that Christmas was actually in January. I always get down after Christmas is over. The festiveness fades out of the air and then you are just waiting for April to arrive and with it, spring. It's the dreaded holiday hangover.
Another thing that I'm going to miss after Christmas a nice cup of cheer. This weekend I realized the amazingness of that frosty Christmas ale in a new way -- sprinkled with cinnamon! As I took that first sip, I could hear Burl Ives singing about "Silver & Gold" while I imagined myself sledding down a snow covered hill, whizzing by snow-covered fir trees lit with colored Christmas lights. Mmmmm, delightful.
Our first big holiday memory as a family of three was made this past weekend. Finn met Santa for the first time. And I'm proud to say that Santa had a real beard! It didn't go well, but it went better than expected. We went out to eat early as a family and would hit the mall after. We got to the mall at about 5:40pm and with Santa taking an hour long break at 5pm, we decided to get in the relatively short line (maybe 10-15 families long) and wait for Santa to appear. (sidebar: Sister did really well for not having a nap that afternoon. She had taken a LONG morning nap (an hour & half) and we went shopping. I tried to get her to cat nap at around 2pm -- but she wasn't having it.) I was waiting for the epic meltdown to ensue while waiting for Santa. There would be no such meltdown. I will unabashedly admit that when we were the second family in line, I became very nervous. I had counted on her crying, so I'm not sure why I had the feeling that I was slowly climbing the tallest incline on the rollercoaster. Within the past month, "stranger danger" has arrived. If you pass her off to a stranger (or someone who she doesn't see often), the big crocodile tears are flowing. If you hold her and a stranger starts talking to her and smiling, she will coyly put her head down on her chest and look at the stranger and smile.
Well, when our time finally came to meet the big guy, I handed her over and quickly stood behind the camera, trying desperate to get her to smile (or not cry, depending on how you want to take it). Surprisingly, she didn't cry a single tear. She would look at me with fear in her eyes, look up at Santa, and then back at me, as if to say "Who is this guy and why are you standing WAY over there?!?!?!?" So we didn't get the tears that I had anticipated, but she definitely wasn't excited to see the fat man. I made E sit on the one side of him and I on the other for a family photo with Santa. As you can see in the photo, the minute that I sat next to her, she started trying to grab my arm to get off of his lap. But although no smile, no tears either.
While we were exiting, Eain grabbed a peppermint lollipop from Santa's big red bag. He thought it was only fitting to give her her first taste of peppermint after being so good for Santa. Instead of a single taste, she had other ideas... We had to pry that sucker out of her sticky hands and face as we were leaving the mall. The screaming was minimal as we whisked her into the chilly darkness outside -- the cold air stealing her breath away. She fell asleep before we were out of the mall parking lot. I mean, afterall, meeting Santa Claus for the first time is seriously exhausting...
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