Here Comes Santa Claus

This year, while a multitude of adventurous souls braved the shopping craze that comes with Thanksgiving, the Smiths snuggled into Christmas decorating. A feat which took several days, mainly because Mommy was lugging all the decorations down from the attic ALL BY HERSELF, thank you very much. Also, the long process may have had something to do with the fact that the playroom (which is where we christen our tree) was in and of itself a total mess. I wish I'd taken a picture of THAT!

Of course, I needn't have worried, as Miss Ava plunged whole-heartedly into the decorating fiasco. If you need a bit of history on her holiday enthusiasm, see last year's post about this time (It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas). Surrounded by boxes and with Christmas music blaring, we transformed our humble abode into a veritable holiday castle. I'd love to take all the credit, but Ava honestly did as much work as I did. Did I mention how much I LOVE my daughter!?!

My favorite moment with Ava came shortly after we had assembled the tree. Indeed, it nearly brought tears to my eyes! I was explaining the importance of "fluffing" out the boughs before adding decorations (as any of you with artificial trees can understand). Yet little miss impatient could hardly wait to unpack the tools of the trade. Before I was able to finish properly "fluffing" the tree, I had to go into the kitchen to make Hudson a bottle. This took only a few minutes, mind you, but by the time I had returned, the entire bottom half of the tree was covered with ribbon and ornaments. ADORABLE! If you look closely at our tree, you'll notice how the ribbon is crisscrossed around the boughs in a rather haphazard pattern, all thanks to my little decorator! It was so precious I didn't have the heart to redo it, so I simply mimicked her style on the top half of the tree with a little help from her. Then we ran out of ribbon at one point, so I simply added red bows to the very top. In all honesty, it's my favorite Christmas tree so far.

Lastly, we added the Christmas train, and this was my favorite moment with Hudson. He was a rather casual observer during most of this, but as soon as we turned on the train, he was HOOKED! In true little boy fashion, he had to sit down and watch that train with real gusto. He giggled, goggle-eyed, kicked his feet, and even waved as it passed by! What a sweetheart!

Finally, Ava had to pose with the finished product. This year, per her request, we put the tree in the corner of the playroom. Personally, I love it because it's more out of the way and leaves extra room for playing! There's something about a lighted tree that makes imagination even better, don't you think?

More holiday stories to come. Stay tuned!