countdown to christmas!

Yessss, the winter holiday season is officially here! Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Christmas Countdown! Mikey and I spent the past weekend rearranging our living room to accomodate our little tree, and put up most of our holiday decorations. We've opted to make the dining room our seasonal decoration headquarters, since that's the room Natalie plays in the least. Here's what we've done so far:

Fall may be my favorite season, but Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. It's the one time of the winter when I love the snow instead of just tolerate it, and counting down to Christmas morning always feels like magic. My parents have always made Christmas incredibly special for our family, and I absolutely want to do the same for Natalie. While this first Christmas with her won't make much sense to her, Mikey and I are focusing on creating traditions that we'll stick with as she grows up. Christmas pajamas, Christmas stories, playtime in the snow (whenever it finally comes), emphasizing the importance of giving to others, and more will be staples of our holiday celebrations every year.

Natalie has been pretty oblivious to the flurry of Christmas activity around our house; gift-wrapping, decorating, and Christmas carols remain secondary to climbing, clapping, and tearing all things under three feet tall apart. She hardly noticed that our Christmas tree went up, and was too much of a squirmy blur to get a posed picture in front of it. However, she seems to be coming around in her own time now that a few days have passed. If she's ever in her little playpen while we put dishes away or wolf down our dinner, she'll pull herself up to standing and stare smiling at the twinkly lights on the tree, and has started checking the tree out a little at a time every day.

As predicted, she has also started to show some interest in destroying the Christmas tree. We were careful not to put many decorations within her reach, and left pretty much any breakable ornament packed away for this year. It's a good thing, because her reach is getting better every day, and I'm sure we're going to have lots of fun finding creative ways to block off the tree from her curious grip over the next month. It is awfully sweet to see her reaching out for the tree, however much of a heart attack I have imagining what will happen if she tugs too hard on one of the branches.

We hope you're all in the winter holiday spirit, too! Think snow... :)