Celebrating Christmas

Is it just me, or does it look like Lamby
and Pink Bear are smiling too?

Confession: I've been excited for Christmas 2011 for about a year now. Kalina has been too, and Elise is just happy to be a part of the festivities, as festivities in general involve all kinds of sights, sounds, textures and tastes. Thank goodness we've had Easter, birthdays, hundreds of kitten/Lamby birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and other real and pretend events to pass the time.

But now the Christmas season is finally upon us, and we're stocking up on ribbon and sprinkles, making up new words to all the old songs, and trying to give Baby Jesus a boost in popularity when stacked up against present-doling Santa Claus. And we love it.

We began our festivities shortly after Thanksgiving with Christmas CDs and a pretend Christmas tree for the girls. Before this, I refused to let the girls ogle the Christmas decorations in stores too much. "We'll look at those when it's actually Christmastime," I'd say a bit more loudly than I needed to in front of managers. Kalina quickly decided that Rudolph was her favorite song (the second year running--and ever since she's had an opinion!) and that Jingle Bells is Elise's, which probably isn't too far from the truth, as the little girl often hands me a jingle bell toy and demands I sing the tune.

Kalina introduces Lamby
to the Christmas tree.

Our first Christmas tree this year was made of felt, with ornaments to match (see previous blog for picture). Kalina immediately adopted it as Lamby's Christmas tree, and we went around in circles several times to make sure she knew that no, it belonged to Elise and Pink Bear, too. The situation was remedied with the creation of a Lamby-specific ornament or two that Kalina can stick safely out of Elise's reach.

Our real Christmas tree came a few days later. A book we'd read about "The Littlest Christmas Tree" initially steered Kalina's search, until Matt adeptly managed to convince her to go toward the bigger trees (I think he, personally, was hoping for a 10-footer!). We came home with a nice one, and set out to decorate our house.

Look closely and you can see the
animals marching two by two,
bearing some reclining sheep.

The beads are always fun.
We made a train with ours.

The nativity scene again provided lots of hilarity. Why was Camel banished to the guest bathroom? Why were only the cats good enough to share the stable with baby Jesus? And why were the animals lined up two-by-two, carrying other animals on their backs, away from the stable? These and other eternal questions, are likely to go unanswered.

We love our tree!

Kalina loves our Christmas tree, and often insists we all say "good morning" to it when we descend the stairs first-thing. She has not named it (supposedly it doesn't get a name until Christmas), but has nevertheless adopted it as one of her good friends. Yes, the girl can anthropomorphize anything. And what about when Christmas is over? She's happy in the idea that the Christmas tree will be able to go out and play in the snow. Please, let there be snow on Christmas tree pickup day!

Decorating the tree became quite the challenge, as most of our shiny, glittery ornaments overpowered Elise's tot-sized willpower. But we managed, and I decorated in layers: the top third being the most special, most
breakable ones; the next third being ones that Kalina is allowed to touch but not Elise, and the lowest third--the sparsest of the three--being ornaments that Elise probably can't hurt, nor will they hurt her.

What a festive little cutie!

And then came the Christmas lights. In no more than a twinkling, Elise decided that the glimmering displays are the best things since sliced grapes. She spent full minutes staring at our neighbor's lights while I cooked dinner, and has since pointed out every decorated house she's seen with her characteristic enthusiasm: "Gah!!!" in a very high-pitched, adorable squeal. Grateful for the displays we've all enjoyed in years past (and especially the ones that weren't taken down until February), we figured that this year it was our turn. So we decorated, including wrapping some down the pillars in front of our house, and both girls have enjoyed seeing the different colors they can make their hands (and Lamby's paws). It's truly a magical season when your hand turns green.

Although I'm not big on the, "Be good, because Santa's watching!" type of child-rearing, I have found that Christmas makes everything nicer. For instance, toast is much more fun when it's cut into a festive shape (or a cat) and decorated with a smattering of green and red sprinkles (Christmas toast!). Same with applesauce. Same with who knows what else. It's easier to get Kalina dressed when I can point out green or red in her outfit, easier to motivate her out the door to Target when she knows we might see some Christmas decorations, and easier to get her to quit whining when I can just drown her out with festive holiday music (true story). Elise, too, can be easily distracted by anything Christmasy. It helps.

Our somewhat fuzzy family photo.

And the treats! And crafts! Kalina and I have loved baking spritz cookies, cupcakes, peppermint brownies, white chocolate pretzels, and more. She's devoured her first candy canes, and has also put together some festive Santa, Rudolph and candy cane crafts. Although not quite ready for crafts and baking yet (but happy to ride on my hip to watch the activities), Elise shares in the fun by stacking and restacking Christmas candles onto candle holders, and carrying around our snowglobe while I keep a hand under it at all times (I really need to find a heavy duty plastic one). What fun.

At this point, Kalina believes in Santa (as well as Baby Jesus), and has visited him twice in the mall--which for her, means waving from afar. We even waited in line for her to stand back and wave, and he's indulgently waved back while she grins ear to ear, but refuses to actually go up and say hi. That's the closest we've ever been to a Santa picture; I wasn't even going to try with Elise. But how does Baby Jesus stack up in our preschooler's mind? I made sure Kalina knew the story, that it's Jesus' birthday, and that he was surrounded by farm animals. This, and the fact that Kalina is into babies right now, have certainly given Jesus a boost. In fact, she's even raced our little nativity Jesus around in his manger as though he's riding in a car, which is a sure sign of affection, right?

Aunt Nancy's Christmas box
becomes a boat. Would she
rather it arrive with presents
or a couple nieces?

We've done quite a bit of Christmas wrapping, making and shopping, including a legendary run to Michaels during which I managed to shop for stocking stuffers without either girl noticing too much. Kalina loves to wrap presents, and in fact, surveyed her family members to discern their favorite colors to use for bows. She also had fun choosing the labels and lining up the packages in a very straight line under the tree. Elise has miraculously left all of them alone, although she occasionally, and very gently, undecorates the tree.

Beautiful little girl attends
ballet with handsome
Daddy!

Finally, Kalina got to see the Nutcracker! With Daddy, as Mommy was at home with a stomach virus and Elise. She liked getting dressed up in her Christmas dress, she liked the ballet, she liked the Christmas tree, and she liked the ice cream Daddy bought her on the way home. I didn't get much out of her about the experience, except that she shared her ticket/seat with Lamby; enjoyed the music, dancing, and Christmas tree; and that she didn't see a nutcracker on the stage, except the one a girl dancer was holding. But that's pretty good for a 3 1/2-year-old.

And there's more in store: Christmas Eve church, more baking, more wrapping, family arriving, and, of course, the presents. I'm pretty sure it will continue to be a wonderful Christmas for our whole family.