Twas the Night Before Christmas...

This Christmas has been so much fun. The kids are old enough to understand, yet still young and naive enough to believe in the magic. It makes it all so exciting. I have really loved this season and experiencing the wonder of it all through their eyes.

This week we took the kids for a drive along Candy Cane Lane, a street in Edmonton famous for it's Christmas lights and decorations. It's a stretch about 4 blocks long that decks out their houses and yards with lights, wooden cutouts, nativity scenes and blow up characters. There's a line of cars cruising up and down and a lot of walkers as well. The kids loved it.

Dayven took Wyatt out for some last minute shopping for my gift (men!). The plan was for Wyatt to pick the store and present out entirely on his own. As they were leaving, I heard Dayven ask Wyatt where they were going. He said "Walmart! It's Mommy's favorite store!" It's not, but somehow he got it in his head that it is, so that's where they went. Dayven said they wandered the store for a while and Wyatt kept suggesting they get me makeup. Dayven steered him away from that and he said he wanted to get me  a jewelry box, but Dayven talked him out of that too. He felt bad that Wyatt was getting discouraged and I thought it was so cute and sweet that he was mentioning these things. He finally settled on something and he was so proud. When he came home, he told me "Mommy, I WON'T tell you what your present is. It's a surprise."

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, the kids and I baked our cookies for Santa (please ignore how ridiculously large I look in my apron). The kids had fun picking the cookie cutter shapes. Wyatt had been dying to try out the new superheroes cutters we'd picked up. I scrambled like a mad women, trying to keep the project moving along productively, while containing the mess. It's pretty much how all baking projects go when I have my helpers with me. There were sprinkles flying everywhere. Dayven is such a neat freak, it drove him bonkers to watch. He actually had to leave the room at one point. But they turned out cute and the kids were happy so that's really all that counts. The rest can be vacuumed up, right?

 

 

 

 

 

That evening the excitement was building and we had fun talking about Santa's arrival. We tracked Santa's whereabouts on NORAD and read Christmas stories before bed. The kids each selected a cookie to leave for Santa (and wanted to keep smelling them for some reason) and of course, celery and carrots for his reindeer. Dayven suggested a beer for Santa, but the kids insisted on milk. Sorry Santa! Earlier that day, we realized we had eaten up all the carrots so we tried to tell Hadley that reindeer also like apples. She wasn't convinced so Dayven ran out to the store to grab some so we'd be ready to go that night.

We told the kids that tonight would be the last time they'd see the elf Graham, until next year. When Santa arrived, he would pick up Graham and take him back to the North Pole with him (my mom's idea). They were really upset about this. Wyatt said "NO! I just want him to stay here with us every day!" and Hadley was "just so sad" she couldn't even talk about it. I reassured them he'd be back next year and they seemed ok with it.  On a side note: the night before, I thought Hadley was asleep, but she crept downstairs and caught me up on a chair moving the elf. I could tell by the look on her face she was confused and upset. After I put her back in bed, she asked in her quiet voice "Mommy, what were you doing to the elf?" I told her I was giving him a special message to tell Santa before he flew to the North Pole and that seemed to satisfy her. Phew. I didn't want to ruin her holiday fun at the ripe old age of two!

After we put the kids to bed, we headed down to the basement to assess the presents. I wrapped them all and stuffed the stockings. When we were sure everyone was asleep (ahem... HADLEY), we started bringing all the loot upstairs to stick it under the tree. We made sure the treats were eaten and Santa left a note for the kids. Dayven had the idea to sprinkle carrots and celery remnants on the deck where the reindeer ate their snack. Those messy reindeer!

Now off to bed to rest up for tomorrow's festivities!