Monday, January 2, 2012

Christmas, interrupted

I have been woefully delinquent on Christmas posts, among other tasks of varied importance lately. Nursery preparation? Eh, we still have 10 days left! Laundry? Reprieve thanks to new Christmas clothes. Grocery shopping? Approaching mandatory when all I could find to offer Elle for dinner last night was a single pink Pez. So here's to capturing the whirlwind of a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, unabashed capitalism, and above all celebrating a baby born in a manger. Which I guess puts Mary one step ahead of me, as the bassinet is only partially assembled...

We trimmed the "fancy" tree with care... I'm not sure if it was therapeutic or ulcerogenic for someone with my obsessive compulsive tree decorating tendencies to accept help from a 3-year-old. When she wasn't looking, I regained sanity by evenly distributing her lovingly placed ornaments, making sure everything had appropriate dangle room, and ensuring proper red/gold color symmetry. Yes, I have a problem.


We were amused by our Elf's snowball fighting, snow-angel making antics. Elle seemed to think the quantity of her presents was directly related to how many meals/snacks she could provide for the Elf. Apparently he loves tangerines. And pancakes.



We braved the crowds for last-minute shopping, armed with apple smiles to derail any potential stress.



Some of us were jailed for questionable behavior. That, or we took time to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather.


And ebulliently celebrated the more festive wintry temperatures.


For reasons unfathomable to me, the gingerbread cookies were a big fail this year. Probably getting my due for overzealous pride in last year's success. Maybe I rolled these too thin? Maybe the dough was too wet? Whatever the baking faux pas, the combination of melted buttons/necklaces and dismemebered appendages makes it look like these guys were the victims of some sort of Gingerbread sniper attack. And clearly the bloodbath didn't spare the "reindeer", who look more like rabbits status post ear amputation. I abandoned any further decoration and we ate the evidence that these unsightly creatures ever existed. The photgraph was purely for the purposes of showing Santa how desperately I need new baking pans.



We lit the advent candle at church, and although I was skeptical that Elle would say the part I taught her in the car on the ride over, she proclaimed loudly into the microphone in front of a church packed full of people, "Don't be afraid! I bring you good news of great joy for all people". Pregnancy hormones + proud Mommy meant I finished the rest of the reading with chin quivering and voice wavering.


We went to see Santa, and dressed the part. E was offended that he thought she was dressed as an elf and not as the big guy himself. Can't he tell I'm a Girl Santa?! Never fear, the candy cane he gave her quickly assuaged her discontent. Then she told him we'd be sure to leave him some gingerbread carnage cookies.


Amidst all the Christmas preparation, we tried to stay focused on the reason behind it all. And according to Elle, baby Jesus has moved up in the world. I walked into the playroom to see this rearrangment of the manger scene. She then looked up at me and said, "Baby Jesus needs a nightlight!"


Guess I better go finish that bassinette...

*Speaking of which, this post will be continued at a later date, as it's writing was interrupted by having a baby...


No comments: