Oh December you are here at last!

We have been looking forward to December and Christmas in this household for a very long time!   Christmas is by far my favorite season- I love decorating for it and the hustle and bustle of this time of year.

So far, we have had breakfast with Santa:  pancakes and sausage, with crafts, cookies and a photo session with Santa provided by her preschool and the "big school" at church.  She asked Santa for a baby swing, and Littlest Pet Shop frog, ladybug, sheep, and gecko. 

Also Isabel has been VERY into all things Rudolph.  We had to construct our own reindeer antlers, a jingle bell collar and a red nose, of course.  I was a little shocked to find out (after I had already hand-made her these!) that Target's dollar section has reindeer antlers! But it was fun and she has really enjoyed dressing up as Rudolph and watching the classic movie about him.

 

 

We've also been busy making glittery Christmas crafts and baking a red cake with green icing to get into the spirit!

We got our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving from the same Christmas tree stand that we go to every year.  Each year they have a merry-go-round set up for the kids to ride on, and when we were driving there I asked Isabel if she remembered it and she said, "yes, it's blue"...sure enough, she was right!  We always go to pick out our tree at night, because the cold air, dark night and twinkling strung light bulbs just make it so magical!  She raced through all the trees and a couple times I panicked a little because she was so fast I thought I'd lost her!  They blow up a giant 2 or 3 story inflatable snow man every day and the tree stand is right beside our church and her preschool, so every school day she says, "Oh look! There's where we got our Christmas tree!" as if it impresses her each time she sees it.

What else?  She got to hang all the ornaments on the lower third of the tree, but has taken her favorites, the birds....off the tree and includes them in her play toys.  I thought about stopping her, but they are kid friendly ornaments and Christmas is only once a year, right? ;)  She also talked me into buying "noodles" a.k.a. those shiny, somewhat tacky "icicles" that you hang on the tree.  So our tree is covered in those and the cat and dog both enjoy taking them off the tree.

Guess that is it for now! I'll try to keep you all better updated!