With the Christmas season already in full swing, we've been enjoying lots of fun activities with Emma this year. Since last year she was only 8 months old at Christmastime, it's like having a first Christmas all over again because she can experience so much more of it. Of course, it also means we've had to up our ante when it comes to watching what she gets into!
Decorating the tree
Kevin is the go-to person when it comes to putting together our Christmas tree. I'm in charge of unboxing ornaments and cleaning the silver bells while he puts them on the tree (It helps that he's tall and can reach it all). We had to restring the tree lights this year, and Emma was very interested in what her daddy was up to; she loves anything to do with lights. She also thinks she's a great "helper" - whether it's working for or against your intended goal. Kevin was also using his headphones while he was decorating, so Emma decided she needed to try those out too.
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| Checking out the lights Daddy's putting on the tree |
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| Trying out Daddy's headphones - it's like magic! |
Now once we got the tree up, we didn't have time to put the ornaments on right away, which probably ended up working in our favor. Those Christmas tree lights must send out little homing signals to all toddlers saying, "Touch me, touch me, touch me!" because every time I stopped hearing any noise coming from Emma playing I knew exactly where she was. Sneaking off to touch the Christmas tree! You know how you end up vacuuming up Christmas tree needles for months afterwards because they track everywhere? Yeah, it's like ten times worse when your little one MUST touch the tree at least once every 30 minutes.
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| "No mommy, I wasn't in there playing with the tree..." |
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| "Hmm, I think Legos are the perfect thing for this tree." |
We had to make sure we were strategic about ornament placement this year because the urge to go mess with the tree definitely increased once there were fun shiny things on it. Emma's been pretty good about just going and looking at the tree though, and she only gravitates to a few certain ornaments, which she repeatedly brings to show me. She also loves to dance around to the music played by our silver bells.
Some supervised touching of the tree
Pictures in front of the Christmas tree
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| Emma's best Home Alone impression |
Visiting Santa Claus
Last year we started the tradition of making a day trip to Brenham with my parents to see Santa Claus, and this year my brothers joined in on the fun. I have to say that this Santa is the best Santa I've ever seen, and I love the fact that the kids get to see the same person year after year (he also visits in the summer for pictures). Last year, Emma did great with seeing Santa because she has no fear of strangers (yay?!?), but we weren't so sure we were going to get her to sit still long enough for a picture and get her to smile. We made sure to bring along our camera this year, so we could capture all the shenanigans that go into getting a toddler to take a good Santa picture.
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| First, they must get you overcome the urge to run back to mommy. |
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| So, they distract you with a marshmallow. |
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| Except you've never had marshmallows before and aren't quite sure what to do with it. |
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| So you eventually eat it, but then get distracted by the door that's open to let fresh air in. |
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| This causes them to deploy their secret weapon: the feather duster! |
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| And you finally giggle and smile! (Kevin's photo) |
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| 2014 Santa picture - it's a keeper! |
Afterwards, we all browsed around Brenham's downtown shops for a bit before heading off to get some lunch. Emma loved getting to pal around with her uncles and Pappy, and it was great just getting to relax and hang out with our family and make new memories.
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| "Mom, I already smiled once. I'm not doing it again." |
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| Messing around with my Uncle Stephen and Pappy |
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| Chowing down after a quick wardrobe change |
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| One of my favorites from the day - Uncle and Niece engaging in a serious conversation... |
...which quickly became a meme amongst Stephen's friends!
