merry christmas.

I think my 'Christmas hangover' is almost over. I love, love, love the Christmas season. I love decorating the house, all of the seasonal concerts and events, the big family dinners, choosing gifts for my family, and finally the big reveal on Christmas day. Our Christmas was jam packed this year - I think we ended up having four gift exchanges with family, not counting exchanges with friends and co-workers. So much fun but utterly exhausting. I feel like I need a recuperation period from this holiday every year. Whew!

Chris's parents came up on a surprise visit and got to spend the week of Christmas with us. It's safe to say that Nate was royally spoiled that week! Lots of time with grandparents makes for one happy boy. Chris's dad walked Nate through his first batch of no-bake cookies. I think Nate ate his weight's worth of sugar...

On Christmas Eve, Nathan set out some cookies for Santa and ended up 'borrowing' some from Santa's plate. Thank goodness he wanted Santa to come this year. Last year, this process ended in tears with Nathan hiding in his room because he was terrified of Santa.

We also ended up taking a trip to the local emergency room that night where Nathan was diagnosed with a hernia -- more on that in another post. Back to stealing grub from Santa...

Christmas morning was absolutely precious. This is the first year that Nathan has understood what will happen on Christmas morning and asked Santa for specific gifts. When he came down and saw the stuffed bear and monkey, he was absolutely thrilled  that Santa remembered :)

We also got a pretty cute family photo in that morning...

Chris does an amazing job cooking Christmas lunch every year. I play clean-up detail but he is the one who pulls off cooking for a group of twenty or so people. One of Chris's gifts was a metal brand this year (yes, I can't believe I gave him that!), which he used on his enormous rib roast. If you're looking for a unique gift that can be personalized for your guy, check out this company -- Chris loves it!

Let's see - after having our little family Christmas, Christmas with Chris's parents, and our Christmas lunch, we were able to get a really cute picture of Nate with all of his grandparents. This little kiddo is so well loved!

After Christmas with my grandparents, it was time for Christmas with my parents and brothers. We were smart and got a group shot before any of the real action started :)

One funny thing that we always do with my family to kick off the gift giving is to have some sort of exchange with dollar store products. One person does all of the shopping and wrapping - in past years we've done a raffle, but this year we spiced things up with a white elephant exchange. Some of this year's 'gifts' included pink house slippers, yellow hair extensions, toilet paper, a rooster statue, and oversized sunglasses. So funny!

We also got a really cute picture of Nathan in front of the Christmas tree - I mean at this point, he had this shot down to a science. Can you see the absolute joy on his face?

What a great holiday season! I've had so much fun experiencing Christmas through Nate's eyes, as well as through my own experiences in being a parent during this season. The splurge shopping, present hiding, Santa endorsing, Elf on the Shelf adventuring, and event attending escapades of this holiday season have been a true joy. Christmas has always been a magical time of year and experiencing it through my child's eyes certainly tops the list!

christmas concert.

Nate's preschool puts on an annual Christmas concert where each class is able to sing a few songs for all of the parents and families. I cannot get over how cute these little concerts or how much they make me cry. Granted, I tear up at about anything that is celebratory or sentimental, but I love watching all of the little kid antics that pop up during these performances.

This year Nate's class dressed up like reindeer and all of the kids had a red Rudolph nose. I might be biased, but my kid is pretty stinkin' cute.

Also, posing for pictures is an ultimate act of cheesiness right now and we get the biggest hugs!

When we got home, I think Chris felt a little left out that Nate had a red nose and he didn't. Cute make-up took a whole new direction once my husband got involved and we ended up with what, in my opinion, looks like hobos:

elf on the shelf, week 1.

I jumped on the bandwagon for Elf on the Shelf this year and it's surprisingly addictive. I found someone selling the whole elf ensemble on a yard sale site and jumped on the deal because this little guy retails for over $30 in the store! While we weren't able to get in a full month of elf antics, two full weeks will be a good trial run. I hope to do this again next year!

Day 1: 

After receiving the elf through the aforementioned yard sale site, I promptly started our new elf activity with Nathan. First, we read the book that comes in the box set that outlines the 'rules' of the Elf on the Shelf. Basically the elf appears on December 1 and serves as a scout for Santa. He appears daily and then magically flies back to the North Pole to report back to Santa as to whether or not the child is on the 'naughty' or 'nice' list. To spice things up, and to make this less of a tattle-tale activity, a lot of parents now have their elves get into mischief (read: my motivation for starting this!). While reading the book, the child is asked to give the elf a name, which gives the elf his magical powers. Nathan named ours Rhino. At least it's unique!

After reading the book, I told Nate that Rhino may be in our house. I sent him to wander the house in search of this little guy, who got into the cookie jar.

Nathan's reaction to this was "Mom, that's just a toy". Total disinterest.

Daily Cost: Free! (cookies, canister already in the house!)

Day 2:

I am on a mission. I've already invested in this little elf, I've combed through Pinterest for cute ideas, and I will make him believe. I broke down and bought the movie called 'An Elf's Story'. If he sees it on the t.v. then he'll believe, right? Absolutely. This little trick worked like a charm! After the movie, I told him to look for Rhino again. We found Rhino under the Christmas tree taking an elf bath.

"Oh my gosh! Look at that silly Rhino, he's taking a bath!" said Nathan. SUCCESS!  After this night, I decide to switch to morning reveals. Much easier to set up the scene after Nathan goes to bed.

Daily Cost: Free! (used cotton balls and a bread basket)

Day 3: 

Maybe I've been listening too much of Miley's 'Wrecking Ball', but the next morning Nate found Rhino swinging from the chandelier in the dining room.

Daily Cost: Free!

Day 4:

We had a bit of snow this week, so I wanted to make some use of it before it all melted away. Who goes outside to make their child a tiny snowman at one in the morning? This girl! The next morning when Nathan went to let the dogs outside, he found this waiting for him:

I have to say that, even though I was frozen and the stupid raisins kept falling off, this is one of my favorites so far. Nathan LOVED this because it was a.) outside b.) involved snow and c.) incorporated Woody's hat.

 Daily Cost: Free! (used snow -obviously-, raisins, a hat from Nate's Woody doll, and a wooden skewer since I was not about to go dig under the snow for sticks at one in the morning)

Day 5: 

To mix things up a bit, Rhino brought Nathan a felt Christmas tree (on sale at Target for 50% off!). I thought this would be fun to have a different type of tree for Nate. We've lost a few ornaments on our big Christmas tree due to Nate's curiosity. He also has his own little tree in his room, but I've noticed that he doesn't take all the ornaments off after he finished decorating it. Perfect in his eyes, I guess.

This cute little felt tree came with 90+ pieces. See the individual red squares on the candy canes and the decorations on the ornaments? All separate pieces, which my son then happily shook all over our living room. I worked some hot glue gun magic so that there are only about 20 pieces overall. Much better!

Daily Cost: $5

Day 6: 

Uh oh! Rhino got caught!

Nathan came running down the stairs that morning to look for Rhino and said "Oh no! He's been captured by the soldiers!" :)

Daily Cost: Free! (used electrical tape and army soldiers/trucks that we already had)

Day 7: 

I'll be honest and admit that photographically, this was my least favorite day so far. One of my brothers gave us the great idea to put Rhino in the aquarium. I'm not so sure that this little guy is washable, so I didn't want him to get wet. We ended up putting him into a sandwich bag inside of a gallon sized bag and used knives to weigh him down. I wish you couldn't tell that he's so obviously inside of a plastic bag, but Nathan giggled like crazy when he saw. Worth it!

Daily Cost: Free! (used plastic bags for waterproofing and knives for weights)

The first week of doing Elf on the Shelf has been a lot of fun but it sure requires some commitment! I'll be sure to post Rhino's second week of adventures next week. According to elf scout rules, he goes back to the North Pole (a.k.a. storage) after Christmas day.

ice ice, maybe.

We tend to exaggerate the weather here in Northern Virginia. We can't drive in it, we raid the grocery stores like there is a coming apocalypse, and we cancel school at the prospect of a single snowflake. There is some beauty in being able to have everyone at home (even though I don't get snow days because I work from home). Our snow/ice storm was supposed to result in three to six inches of snow. We got two, maybe.

We only got one 'real' snow earlier this year (and that melted away by the afternoon). Last year Nate wanted nothing to do with all of the layers needed to go outside and not freeze. He did much better this year, with the exception that he still hates wearing mittens. He still plays with icicles though...

We did manage to stay outside longer than it took to get dressed, which is a success in my book! I attribute that to Nate being able to play with some kids in our neighborhood and getting to use one of their sleds.

Of course, instead of using the pretty-awesome-for-sledding-and-not-for-mowing-grass hill in our front yard, Nate wanted for us to pull him. I love the sounds of his little giggles and (happy) shrieks.

Maybe we'll actually get a decent amount of snow this winter. After all, it's only December! Here's one more of this little cute guy!

nathan-isms, vol. 3.

Some gems from this week...

-1-

 When waking up this morning...

[sits up, looks, around]

Nathan: What happened to me?!

-2-

An apology gone wrong...

Nathan: Mommy, I'm sorry. 

Me: [scanning the room nervously] What are you sorry for? 

Nathan: [with the most serious face] You. 

(I'm still not sure what this apology was supposed to be for)

-3-

Watching a commercial on Disney Jr. -- kids on a green screen and his favorite characters, making it look like they were interacting with each other...

Nathan: Jake is TRUE?!?! 

fifty dollars.

Toddlers like repetition. Is Nate still a toddler? I don't know what the dividing line is, age wise, but he's three so I'm going to claim toddlerhood as long as possible. In any case, during tonight's bath he kept acting out the same "scene" over and over again. I have no idea what this is from:

From what I can decipher:
[big gulp of water, hits a "button", look of disbelief, spews water]
"Fifty dollars?! Joe, Joe, you don't believe this! .... Hey, let's do it again!"
[repeat]

Like I said, I have no idea where he got this from but he seems to have the theatrics down pat.

He's now moved on to singing 'ring around the rosy' and doing his own mash-up with a song from 'Jake and the Never Land Pirates'. Never a dull moment!

santa.

Last year when our neighbor told us about a local place that has an excellent Santa photo set-up, we were beyond thrilled. Malls around here have either a horrible Santa OR you wait in line for hours.

2010 - Nathan's First Christmas: We went to Fair Oaks mall, spent about 2 hours in line (maybe more?), and we got his first shot with Santa. Great Santa, but holy moly what a long wait!

2011 - Nathan's Second Christmas: We thought that instead of driving to Fair Oaks Mall, fighting for a parking spot, and then spending hours in line, we would try our local mall. It was horrible! Nathan was terrified and the Santa was beyond questionable. While it made for a hilarious picture, we vowed to find something different moving forward.

2012 - Nathan's Third Christmas: Somehow this didn't make it to last year's blog (weird, right?), but we went to Merrifield Garden Center, where they had an amazing Santa who spent time to make Nathan comfortable, involved the whole family, and there was hardly a wait!

2013 - Nathan's Fourth Christmas: We headed back to the garden center again this evening and had another great experience. Unlike last year, where we had to be in the picture with Nathan in order for a picture to be possible, Nate jumped right up with Santa. They had a funny little talk that centered more around how Santa made everything v. what Nathan wants for Christmas, made funny faces together, and had some cute little moments.

We also paid to get a family photo done. The price really can't be beat - $5 for  six digital images that they emailed directly to me! I also was able to take a bunch of pictures with my own camera :)

Once we said our goodbyes to Santa, Chris and I took turns taking pictures with Nate in Santa's sleigh. I love the decorations in this place! So cute!