It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Waving to Santa as he circles the Christmas tree in his train

As most of you know, Christmas is my hands-down favorite time of the year for a multitude of reasons. In fact, before the last remnants of my Thanksgiving meal have fully digested, I am already making preparations for the holiday season to come. This year I am doubly blessed during this time of year, as I finally have a willing cohort in all my holiday hijinx—you guessed it: Miss Ava Brooklyn Smith. She has embraced Christmas with a gusto I hadn’t actually expected. Not just the typical Santa excitement, but every single aspect of the yuletide. Let me expound upon a few such happy moments between Christmas-crazed mother and daughter.

Making the tree beautiful

Perhaps my favorite tradition to share with Ava was the time-honored ritual of decorating the Christmas tree. (Note: last year, since it was our first Christmas in the new house, Erik lowered himself to allow me to purchase a live tree, which in my opinion is the only tree worth having; however, his allowance came with a price; namely, that every year thereafter we must use an artificial tree.) I, however, have refused to let this transgression dampen my spirits in any way. Moving on….

Ava literally vibrated with anticipation as I unpacked the ornaments and other decorations for our tree. She had personally selected some shatter-proof balls at K-Mart to add to our collection, and she could barely wait for me to attach the hooks. You may not be able to tell in the pictures, but the entire bottom section of the tree is fully ringed with these beautiful blue, red, and silver balls. All courtesy of Ava’s hard work. I focused on the upper levels of the tree, and between the two of us we are quite pleased with the result. Still, I will forever cherish the memory of my little daughter meticulously selecting her ornaments and finding just the right spot for them. Priceless!

Posing with our masterpiece (ignore my pants, please, there is no excuse!)

Next we tackled Christmas cookies. Ava saw a commercial for Betty Crocker sugar cookies on TV that featured Santa, so naturally she simply had to make some herself. Thus, we duly armed ourselves with a package of the very same Betty Crocker sugar cookies, plus icing and a variety of holiday sprinkles. After assuring Erik that making a mess was all part of the process (even if our cookies weren’t entirely homemade), we dove right into the project.

And Ava? She mixed dough. She rolled said dough into balls. She arranged said balls on the cookie sheet. She (with a bit of help here) added icing to the completed cookies. She sprinkled to her little heart’s desire to finish the cookies. She smiled her beautiful smile. What a wonderful way to start our cookie tradition!

Lastly, I want to share a moment that occurred as Ava and I were unpacking the Nativity scene. She is quite familiar with this story, as last year Mimi and Papaw got her a Fischer Price Nativity set that she plays with year round. Her favorite piece? Baby Jesus, of course! Our actual Nativity scene—as you can imagine—is quite breakable, a fact I was trying to impress upon my little adult. She simply couldn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed to play with these pieces like she did with her own. As gently as I could, I pried away Mary, then Joseph, then the wise men, and finally the various animals. As I did so, Ava vehemently clutched the breakable Baby Jesus in her tiny fist. Her mouth set firmly, her eyes daring me to try it—just try it. Finally I broke the silence.

Mommy: Ava, honey, I’m going to need to add the Baby Jesus to our Nativity scene.

Ava: Mommy, you can’t do that to me! PLEASE DON’T TAKE THE BABY JESUS AWAY FROM ME! I need the Baby Jesus! I LOVE the Baby Jesus!

This was said in such a desperate pleading voice that I went against my strong Catholic tendencies and let her play with the Baby Jesus. And you know what? She didn’t so much as chip the little figurine.

Ah—I love miracles at Christmas time!

Sweet Stuff

Because it's so rare to capture that adorable Ava sweet smile on camera, I simply had to post this picture. Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for it (thank you, Jordan!), but I can nevertheless revel in the fact that she's not glaring, shouting, picking her nose, or sucking on her fingers. How sweet!

Thanksgiving

Although I am late this year sharing my Thanksgiving thoughts, it by no means reflects my lack of appreciation for all that I have been given in my life. In fact, as Erik is quick to point out, we try to be thankful year-round, not just on a single day. As you may notice from this blog, we in the Smith family take joy in the simple pleasures that daily life offers us. However, in honor of Thanksgiving (which was wonderful, by the way, full of incredible people and delicious food!), I would like to list some of what I am most thankful for in my life.

• Family, above all else, which God has continually blessed me with
• A husband who brightened my life from the moment I met him
• A daughter that gave my life meaning, joy, and fun
• Parents whom I consider best friends
• In-laws that I love
• A job that keeps me challenged
• The bubbly wonder that is Coca-Cola
• The head-spinning variety of fast-food that I cannot quite cut out of my diet
• Ok, now I'm just being silly, and besides, there are too many things to list anyway.....You get the idea!

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! On to Christmas!

The Logic of a 2-Year-Old

A recent conversation on a random week night with a particularly clingy 2-year-old.

Mommy: Ava, can you please give me some space?

Ava: What??

Mommy: It means step away and give me some room. Back up a little, please.

Ava: Oh, no, I can't back up from you! I LOVE YOU!

How can I argue with that? The logic is beautiful.

Read All About It

One of my and Ava’s most treasured routines is our every-two-weeks trip to the Huntingburg Library. From the moment I opened an account there and Ava realized the purpose of this castle-like brick building, she has adored the library. Although at first she was a bit shy and slow to participate, she now feels like an honorary visiting dignitary each time we arrive. With her head thrown back proudly, her arms swinging in her own little rhythm, she walks through the double doors, past the central counter, and into the children’s area. Once there, she first peruses the available DVDs, usually coming away with something princess-themed. Then it’s on to the bookshelves, where she meticulously selects her 5-10 books for that trip. We then stack these books on the single existing children’s table, where we read through them together to make sure Ava has made the appropriate choices.

Then it’s home with our goodies for endless reading fun!

Halloween

Looking back, we had quite a lovely Halloween in the Smith family, mainly because Ava and I finally convinced Erik to wear a costume! Sound the bells and the Halleluiah chorus! Sticking with our ubiquitous fairy tale theme, Ava dressed as Belle, I was Cinderella, and Erik wore a royal robe as Prince Charming. Not too shabby, eh?

Friday night we took Ava trick or tricking, mainly in Huntingburg to various family members where she could wallow in the princess identity she so adores. However, we did make a special trip to Otwell to Papaw and Mimi's church for their annual Trunk or Treat. All in all, it was a fun Halloween.

Then, on Saturday night, my parents threw their annual Halloween party. Once again the Smith family was out in full fairy tale regalia. We love this party because it combines my wonderful, crazy family (WHO ALL DRESS UP!) with some of the yummiest food you can imagine. Toss in a bonfire, lighted pumpkins, and smores, and it was a blast. Of course, Ava's favorite part was the new chickens Mamaw and Papaw had. She spent much of her time (still in her Belle costume) feeding and holding the new chicks. Oh, how I love my daughter! She is an outdoorsy girl just like her mother.

Yes, I let her hold a chicken! She loved it!

Incognito

There are several reasons why I love my neighborhood. For one, my 84-year-old neighbor, Bill, shares all his newspapers with me, which he hand-tosses onto my porch when he’s finished with them. Love that! I also enjoy that most of my neighbors with pets will stop by our porch, just to let Ava love up on their little cuties. She loves that! Furthermore, I found it fully heartening that most porches at Halloween sported hand-carved pumpkins with a variety of faces on them. Anyone that takes the time to carve and display pumpkins gets an A in my book, as you well know!

But perhaps my very favorite thing about the neighborhood is this: one can leave a large, fully-stocked purse in a driveway in full view for any number of minutes, and thank the lucky stars NO ONE STEALS IT!

Yes, this frightening event occurred yesterday when Ava and I left for a quick trip to CVS. Apparently while strapping her into the car seat, I unerringly left my purse in the driveway. We made it all the way to the CVS parking lot before I realized I had no purse, at which point I panicked and slammed the car in reverse. Ava was quite impressed with my NASCAR-like driving skills, and she kept up a running commentary all the way home. Mommy, you lost your purse. We’re going to find your purse! This is fun! Are you mad you lost your purse? Move it, lady! (This in direct mimic of a similar comment I made, as you can imagine.)

Thus, my love of my neighborhood swelled when I returned to find my purse still safely sitting in the driveway, exactly where I left it. Ah, the relief! Of course, Erik credits its wellbeing to the fact that it was a leopard-print purse, and according to him, No one stole it because no one could see it! It was incognito!

Here is Ava posing with the now-infamous purse: