Snowflake Arrives
Once we made it back to Fairfax, after a late Thanksgiving, Chad and I went to work getting the house ready for Christmas. Snowflake timed her arrival perfectly. When Lauren woke up the next morning, the house was completely decorated, and there was a new Mickey Mouse Jack-in-the-box waiting for her. She loved the small tree set up in her room and got a huge kick out of the "BIG" Christmas tree downstairs. At first, she did try to re-organize the ornaments,and I tried very hard to let it go. I am quite particular about my tree, so this was no easy feat. Luckily, she soon got tired of it and left the tree alone.
The rest of the month, Snowflake took it pretty easy. She moved around the house on a frequent basis, but stayed out of trouble. (I was very exhausted this year and did not have the energy to get as creative as last year. Hopefully Snowflake will be up to her old antics next Christmas) But this year, she hung out with some bobbleheads, got caught up in our cuckoo clock, and even brought Lauren some Big Sister books.
Playing with the Trains
While I was busy decorating the house and getting everything ready for the holidays, Chad set up one of his favorite Christmas traditions...the choo choo train!! He spent a week getting it all ready. Most of the pieces were from Grumpa and Grammy's house, and then he added the Dicken's Village homes that Lauren has given him every Christmas. It was a huge success. Lauren especially loved dumping logs onto the train, and telling Chad when to make the trains go fast or slow. Every night, she would wait for Chad to get home and then demand to go in to the basement to play with the trains. This is definitely a tradition we plan to continue each year!!
Visiting Santa
At the beginning of December, Lauren and I met Chad for lunch at the Fair Oaks Mall. Santa (or as Lauren calls him "Claus") was there and she was very excited to meet him. As we rounded the corner, she saw the large Santa display and yelled out "I'm coming Claus"! It was very cute, but I wondered if the excitement would continue once it was her time to sit on Santa's lap.
This year, the Santa was different because this was the one day they brought in a sing language Santa Claus. There was only one other kid there, and it was neat to watch him sign with Santa and the Elves. Once it was Lauren's turn, I walked her up to Santa, put her on his lap, and walked away. She did great!!
But, on the way out, we were asked if Lauren would like to meet the Ice Princess. As soon as she heard there was a real princess, she appeared to go into shock. That picture did not turn out as well.
Shopping for Toys for Tots Gifts
One afternoon, I took Lauren out to shop for Toys for Tots gifts. She did a great job and really enjoyed picking out a bunch of toys. When it came time to put the toys in the donation bin, she helped with all but one toy...a Mickey Mouse Drum Set. It took quite a bit of work and consoling to get that toy out of her hands, but eventually she did place it in the bin.
I know that she is too young to fully grasp the concept of donating toys for children less privileged than herself, but I plan to make this a yearly tradition, in the hopes that eventually she will learn the importance of giving to those less fortunate.
(She did end up getting that same drum set from Mee-maw and Grumpa and it has been a favorite toy ever since.)
First Snow of the Season
During December, the Fairfax area received a few inches of snow overnight and luckly it fell on a weekend, so that Chad was able to stay home and enjoy the day with us! Lauren immediately noticed the snow outside and it took all of our efforts to keep her inside long enough to get her dressed. Once she got on her snowpants, coat, hat and mittens, she headed outside to play.
She especially enjoyed playing on the balcony, while peeking back inside at Chad, Wrigley and myself. And she also enjoyed playing out in the back of Chad's pick-up truck. It was the perfect snow playground, because she was contained and the snow was untouched by cars or other kids. We brought her broom outside and she went to work sweeping up all of the snow.
Baking Cookies
Lauren went to Salisbury, for a week, to visit with the grandparents and Aunt B. When I went to pick her up, at the end of the week, we stayed a few more days for our annual cookie baking day. Lauren, Aunt B, Mee-maw and I baked sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, and fudge. Lauren especially loved sitting at the counter and eating the cookie dough. And she also tried to help frost the sugar cookeis, but Aunt B and Mee-maw ended up doing most of the work.
They turned out great and did not last long!!
Delivering Cookies to the Nursing Home
Once the cookies were done, Aunt B, Mee-maw, Lauren and I headed to the local nursing home to deliver the cookies and wish the patients a happy holiday. Aunt B no longer works at the nursing home, but most of her patients were still there and they definitely missed having her around.
It took a while before Lauren was comfortable enough to personally hand over the boxes of cookies, but after a few stops, she was eagerly walking into the rooms, handing the patients the boxes and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! She wore multiple Christmas hats and really seemed to brighten everyone's mood. Once again, this is a tradition that I hope we will be able to continue through the years!
Enjoying Spring-like Weather
Right before Christmas, the weather suddenly changed, and we experienced spring-like conditions. Chad, Lauren and I decided to go outside to enjoy the 65 degree weather. We headed to Gravelly Point Park, north of Reagan Airport, to walk around and watch the planes land/take-off. Lauren had a blast trying to catch airplanes, while sitting on Chad's shoulders. Of course, the good weather did not last long and we are back to really cold temps. But it was nice while it lasted.
It was a busy and wonderful December, and of course more stuff happened, but I will leave that to the additional blog posts! Chad and I are truly blessed to be able to create these moments with Lauren and hope to continue all of our family traditions through the years. Hopefully all of our future Decembers will be just as busy and wonderful!!
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