And so this is Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Did Santa find you? He found us...

I am trying to be patient while my family sleeps. After all, it is only 4:30. It would be wrong to wake them up and tell them Santa came... wouldn't it? I've been awake since 3-ish. Time is CRAWLING by as I sit on the couch and stare at the tree. I checked - Santa ate his cookies and drank all his milk. He even set up Hailey's gift so she could see it and play with it as soon as she wakes up.

Bentley got his gift last night - a new bed! I figured at almost a year old, it was time to try a nice bed again. He chewed five or six of them before I gave up and gave him only blankets. This is a nice big round one from Costco.  He slept all night on it, until he heard me get up and came to join me in the living room.

This time next year I doubt we will have a quiet Christmas morning. There aren't many gifts under the tree - Michael and I scaled back Christmas a lot the last couple of years, and we normally have at least another family's gifts under the tree as well, which is not the case this year. This is the first year in my whole life that I am not waking and opening gifts with my parents. I know, I am 28 years old and I have my own family now, but it's still really weird to be doing this without them. Plus, I wrapped all mom's gifts from Santa, and I really want to see what she thinks of them. She doesn't know it, but Santa "forgot" one of the gifts here at my house, so I will be able to at least see her reaction to that. And I plan to have my webcam all ready to peek in on them when they wake up.

My sister isn't home for Christmas, but I imagine she is having a lovely quiet Christmas with her fiancee. It's their first Christmas in their new home together. I am missing her and I know she will be missing home, but I hope she enjoys her holidays. I will be seeing her in about a week and luckily she is staying here so I will be seeing a lot of her.

I only have a week left as two tonne tony. Nathan will be delivered New Years Eve at 7:30 in the morning, supposing he doesn't try and make an appearance before that. I am hoping he hangs tight - I could use another 6 days of relative peace! Although I am getting a little sick of the swelling in my feet and ankles, the heartburn, the sore, stiff back and the fatigue. I was looking longingly in the Sears catalog at regular clothing. I know it will be a little while until I am back into my own clothing, but at least I can wear regular clothes fairly soon.

I feel like we are pretty organized and ready to go. Nathan's room is almost ready - Mike bought a blind but was sold the wrong mounting hardware, so we will need to make another trip to the hardware store. I'm also having issues finding a curtain rod and topper that I like. But there really isn't any hurry, as the bassinet my sister in law lent us is here and will be in our room for a while anyways. The hospital bags are packed, as is Hailey's overnight bag for her stay at Grammy and Papas. Not too sure what we are doing with the dog yet, whether he is staying here or at my parents, but he's not too hard to get organized. The car seat is chilling beside the door waiting for it's new occupant. And I packed a Happy New Year banner to brighten up the hospital room.

Now we just have to finish off this waiting game!

Kids and Santa

Does your kid like visiting Santa?

Mine never has. Mind you, she's always been a bit weary of strangers. And this year she has decided that the Santa's you meet in the mall and on the parade float are not the real Santa, but rather men dressed up as Santa. She watched her video email from "Santa" the other morning and then called my mom. She told her that she made the good list, and that Santa knows what she wants for Christmas, so she doesn't need to tell the fake mall Santa.

I remember being in elementary school and finding out that there was no Santa from an adult and being traumatized, so I wanted to try and do some damage control with this whole fake Santa thing. I told her that while she is right, the other kids likely don't know that the mall Santa's aren't the real article, and not to discuss this with them. The entire class is going on a field trip to see a mall Santa next week, and I am not sure how that is going to go. Also, on Sunday my work is having a kids Christmas party and there will be pictures with Santa. I will gage her reaction then and let her teacher know.

Did you do a video for your kid? Hailey was so excited about hers, she watched it twice that morning and has asked to watch it again. I love how they allow you to add photos and information. She loved it when Santa told her she'd been a good girl this year, because we'd been chatting about the naughty and nice list quite a bit lately. I hate using the "Santa is watching you" threat to get her to behave, because she will ask specifically "is Santa watching me now? Did he see me at this time?". I was chatting with a co-worker the other day who told me his little guy was asking if Santa could see him on the toilet. It is a sort of creepy concept. I told her that Santa stays in the North Pole but that he has lots of elves that help him assemble his list.

What do you tell your kids? Let me know at allisonleannegray@gmail.com.