I can’t believe how excited I am at the upcoming Christmas festivities!
Previously I have been slightly indifferent to the Christmas season, seeing it only as an opportunity to spend time with loved ones and to eat a heap of excellent food.
Having an almost 3 year old has brought back the magic and joy into this celebration so much so that I almost can’t wait until Christmas day!
We have so many things planned. We hadn’t intended to go all out this year however our little elf has shown an interest in the whole Santa thing and now it has infected us all.
We have been busily thinking of all the little things we can do to make it exciting for her and it feels all warm and fuzzy making up our own family traditions that will hopefully be observed in the coming years.
We have been running with the Christmas story that I blogged about previously and that has been going pretty well except for a couple of small misunderstandings. Our little one is very excited about Jesus’ birthday party especially because Santa is organising it.
I guess she thinks that if you are going to have a party and you need someone to organize it then Santa is the right guy to have around.
There is the Christmas tree with all the shiny decorations to be put on. We tried to have a “decorate the tree” night but we really were kidding ourselves and much more fun was had throwing the decorations around the room.
We did however manage get the three little angels that I had brought to represent Mum, Dad and bub on the tree in some sort of ceremonial manner so that was something at least.
Unfortunately for everyone else, Dad (aka me) has been singing carols for almost as long as the shopping centres have been playing them. Thankfully my main audience is our toddler and she doesn’t seem to mind at all, singing along in the bits she knows and even occasionally clapping when I sing one she likes. Jingle Bells is the current favourite. I haven’t sung so much for ages and I’m loving it!
Santa Claus has been carefully approached in the shopping centers over the last few weeks. Firstly there was a shy wave from afar. As the weeks progressed we shouted “Hi Santa” from a gradually decreasing distance to an eventual high-five from the safety of Dad’s shoulder.
She even consented to a photo with him last week so Santa really has gotten himself into the good books. Of course now that they are such good friends we must not forget to leave a couple of carrots out for Santa’s reindeer and maybe a nice big glass of milk for Santa himself.
We are planning to leave some small sweets and lollies scattered around her presents at the base of the tree. We might even leave a small gift or sweets outside her cot leaving only a suspicious trail of sparkly magic dust an the occasional where Santa has walked leading out of her room towards the Christmas tree.
I managed to find some multi-coloured confetti that should make excellent magic footprints. I wish I could see her face when she wakes up and sees that.
The plan is that she will follow the trail of magic sparkly dust that Santa has left to the sweets and presents under the tree where we will all eat yummy stuff and open gifts and generally have a bit of a morning party.
I’ve got to tell you I don’t think that I can wait!
Only three sleeps to go….!