'Tis the Season for...well,
everything! I realized just yesterday that we have not had a new post since Thanksgiving! My how time flies!
We have spent the last month doing the usual family holiday things...Thanksgiving celebrations with family were fun, but tiring.
Collin, Cousin Avrie and Uncle John enjoying a nap together at Grandma Nola's house....
After Thanksgiving, it was time to start the Christmas season. A Christmas party for the families of 3M employees gave Collin one of his first chances to
talk to Santa. Last year, Collin would not go near him, although this year he did agree to sit
next to him. I don't think that his reluctance is a bad thing....Although we do have a few Santa themed trinkets around, we don't really promote the concept of Santa at home... If you ask Collin, Santa is the guy that helps parents get presents to everyone for celebrating Jesus' birthday. I am actually pretty happy that he questions the logic of sitting on the lap of some stranger in weird clothes that he's never met before....Call me scrooge if you want, I
do think it is an odd tradition....
Collin also had a Christmas program at his daycare one Sunday afternoon. Check out our "Wiseman"....
We also put up our own Christmas tree and decorations at home. I am happy to say that this year we took the time to go to a tree lot to purchase a real tree instead of using artificial...No, we have not yet ventured out to cut down our own tree...maybe next year. I keep envisioning the Griswolds from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (one of the best movies, ever) and can't get myself to take that plunge.
I remember picking out the family Christmas tree every year as a child and wanted Collin to have those same memories. Although our perfectly full, pre-purchased store tree with it's themed ornaments suited Doug and I well as a couple, our family is better suited with a real tree. Our tree and our home is now adorned with an eclectic array of decorations, ranging from new gifts Collin received at daycare to ornaments I had as a child.
(A small nativity scene that my Grandma Rose had in her home and our stockings all in a row...)
We will be opening gifts here, tonight, on Christmas Eve, then heading west to visit with family for the weekend...assuming the weather allows it! It is definitely a white Christmas this year!
And, although I will not taint the actual day of Christmas with anything that could be considered "political", since today is December 24, I just cannot resist sharing one "greeting" of the season that I received via e-mail recently...
To All My Liberal Friends: Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
To My Conservative Friends: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
