Christmas with a Toddler

I haven't downloaded our pictures yet, so this picture of Ralphie from A Christmas Story will have to stand in for how Shelby felt about Santa.

We spent the past weekend doing a bunch of Christmassy things with Shelby. I don't think she fully understands the concept of Christmas yet, but we are having fun anyway!

On Saturday morning, we went to a Christmas kid's festival at a local church. There were things like crafts, cookie decorating and a bouncy house, which she was a little scared of at first. So of course I had to go in the bounce house with her! She warmed up after a few minutes although Scott said she was going to be like Reese Witherspoon in the movie Four Christmases and have a lifelong fear of bounce houses. I hope we're not traumatizing her! :)

After her nap, we went to get our Christmas tree. Every year we go to this local produce stand because they are super helpful and folksy (ie country). This year, perhaps a little too folksy! We picked out the perfect tree and when they leaned it over to put a fresh cut on the bottom, the (female) proprietor of the place declared there was a knot on the bottom of the tree that needed to be taken off. The person that usually operates the chain saw was not there, so she took it upon herself to use the chain saw anyway (she wasn't even sure how to crank it up) and when all was said and done, she had hacked about a foot off the tree! It was now a little too short for our tastes, so we picked another tree. We werent' that upset about it, but the other worker seemed apologetic so he gave Shelby some free grapes, which she was super excited about. So that's this year's tree story: a chainsaw-wielding woman and some unwashed grapes.

Shelby was excited about the tree and hasn't seemed too into pulling ornaments off yet. We emphasized to just look and point - not to pull - and she seems to be getting it so far. However, just to play it safe, I still hung most of the ornaments on the upper half of the tree, so it's not the most attractively decorated tree I have ever done, but it's still very festive. Her favorite ornament is a Georgia mascot that plays the fight song VERY loudly when you push a button on the back, so we spent the afternoon decorating the tree not to Christmas carols, but to Glory Glory to Old Georgia! I hung all of our photo ornaments on the lower branches and she enjoys looking at them and naming everyone in the pictures - mama, daddy, cat and baby.

On Sunday, we went to the mall to ride the little train and visit Santa. We worked up to the Santa visit, walking by him several times and pointing out that other babies were visiting him, too. She seemed a little apprehensive at first, but still curious. I even went up there first and sat next to him and she was OK for about two seconds and then wanted none of it! She freaked out and started crying and wanted out of there, immediately! We might try again, but it's looking like there will be no Santa picture this year. Although, I always think the crying baby Santa pictures are pretty funny! But it is definitely not funny at the time!