Breakfast with Santa

Happy December to all! We have been involved in a whirlwind of events since Thanksgiving, but I feel that we are beginning to feel somewhat ready for Christmas. Olivia has really begun to understand the meaning of Christmas, at least the material meaning of Christmas. Every time she sees a new toy commercial, she'll tell me "Santa can bring me that! I want to put it on my list!". I don't take most of that too seriously unless she mentions it more than twice, then I figure that she might actually want it as opposed to an impulse.

Since this year Olivia is very excited about Santa, compared to being a bit scared by him, we decided to go to a Breakfast with Santa event. Joe and I were expecting a huge crowd, bad food, cheesy decorations, etc. Instead we had a great time with good food and a manageable crowd. Olivia loved talking to Santa - we had to pretty much tell her it was time for another child to sit on his lap in order for her to leave him, and she thought that Mrs. Claus was great since she gave Olivia a candy cane. Plus, Miss Iowa was there with her crown on, so Olivia thought that she was a Christmas princess. Ethan was really just along for the ride this year.


Olivia enjoying the food.

While Ethan couldn't enjoy the food yet, his toys were an acceptable replacement.

Olivia enjoying one of our many, many snow/ice storms that we have had in the past month. I believe that she was attempting to throw a snowball here, but the snow kept sticking to her gloves.

Making a snow angel.

Olivia was a big help decorating the tree this year. She was a pro at putting on ornaments. In fact, her decorating has yet to stop as she continues to rearrange the ornaments on a daily (hourly!) basis. Thus far we have had 3 ornament fatalities due to this, but we were at least wise enough to put the truly valuable ones on the top of the tree.

The final touch...a Santa hat on the tree. A tradition that started when Joe and I first married and didn't have a star or angel to put on top. I put the hat on top as a temporary topper thinking that I would buy a star soon, and 9 years later the tree still has a hat on top.

Santa Olivia and Santa Ethan.

Ethan's new favorite toy - his basketball. Joe has high hopes for this. Genetics are not on Ethan's side, though. Ethan has his first tooth (bottom right tooth), he is working his way through all the fruit and veggies and will soon move on to big people food, and he is attemptimg to crawl (not yet successful, thank goodness).