Holiday Festivities

We starting decorating for Christmas at the beginning of December. We decided not to go overboard because, well, we're lazy and hate putting crap away. This year we kept Makaela in mind when decorating....that meant no fragile figurines within reach of little hands and no dangling lights or garland within reach of little hands. Oh and we didn't put ornaments on the tree, just colorful lights (not because of Makaela, but because of that whole lazy thing....shhhhh, I know)

One of her favorite decorations is a plush penguin and snowman display that plays music. Who doesn't love a good Christmas jam?

Our little elf decided to "help" decorate for the holidays in more ways than one. She was primarily interested in relocating and unpacking boxes...

Every night before bedtime we go into the room where the tree is and say "night-night" to the Christmas lights. She always gets the biggest smile and then ever so gently touches a light or violently shakes the tree depending on her 'tude. 

One evening we caught her hiding out under the ol' fake tree...

We also got her a miniature tree for her room. Decorating that thing was more work than decorating the family tree!! But I'm sure Makaela appreciates the fruits of my labor, right? Ha.

We've done more than just decorating and poking at trees though. Little missy and I went to a tree lighting festival before Tim got home. It was super close to home and lots of fun. There was delicious hot chocolate that I enjoyed in the 75 degree weather, lovely music and a beautiful tree. Santa even made an appearance, but we held off on visiting with him because we wanted to wait and do that once Daddy got back home.

Mom. Stop dressing me like an elf!

We visited Santa at the mall. Ohhhhhh what fun. We were unaware, but apparently Santa likes to sleep in on Sundays, so he didn't make his grand appearance until 1pm....at which point the line to see him was wrapped around his holly, jolly tree. Good thing MikMak took a nap before the big meet and greet....

Yep, she still likes sleeping with her head dangling. Strange, strange girl. 

Fortunately, we did manage to see him before his 3 o'clock break (Santa needs 45 minutes to "help the elves"). 

The photographer was not on her game. Call me a scrooge, but I'm just being real. Makaela was sitting on Santa's lap for a good 3 minutes before she even startedddddd taking photos. Come on now. I'm a new mom and even I know that you gotta snap those pictures FAST before the kid realizes how creepy it is to be sitting on a stranger's lap!! Sadly, she missed some GREAT shots of Makaela gazing into Santa's eyes and grabbing onto his white glove :( and of course we were not allowed to take pictures. (I know how Santa has enough money to buy toys for all the good boys and girls...his time is MON-EY)

Anyway, I digress....we did get some fun shots...

If I had to caption that one it would be..."Are we done yet? I can't believe you expect me to think this fool is real." Such a sassy face on that little one. Her eyebrows are ACTUALLY raised.

And then there is this one...

I think she might be imagining herself flying in Santa's sleigh. Take off in 3, 2, 1.....

And because it wouldn't be a baby's first Christmas without photo overload, we also did a lil photo shoot of our own at home...

I've had tons of fun picking out gifts for Makaela for Christmas. Perhaps I started her Amazon Wishlist several months ago. No, I wouldn't do that. That's crazy...... 

We feel very blessed for all that we have and to be able to purchase gifts for our baby girl. After the holidays, I'll share some pictures of her opening her new toys. I'm sure she'll be just like every other baby and find the wrapping paper most entertaining.

In addition to shopping for family and friends we "adopted" two children for Christmas. A local church had an angel tree, so we snagged a couple tags off of it and had a good time shopping for the kiddos. This year, we opted for older children. Often they are forced to grow up too fast and make sacrifices that no one should have to make, so we wanted to make sure we did our part to make them feel special this holiday. 

We can't wait until Makaela is old enough to understand the importance of giving back. Maybe once she is old enough, we'll make a tradition of adopting children the same age as her, who knows. 

Some of my fondest memories of the holidays as a child involved going shopping for the children or families we adopted at the holidays or volunteering to ring the bell in front of our local grocery store in support of the Salvation Army. There were also years where our family was struggling and our holiday was made bright by the generosity or others. 

Tis the season!