Christmas

Our Christmas Eve was quiet, which was nice, considering our busy schedule for the next 3-4 days after. The only place we went on Christmas Eve was church. Daddy came along and Ryan was upset that the childrens program was closed. He did not want to come into the auditorium with us, but finally agreed. For the most part he was good. He talked almost the whole time, narrating what was happening, but it was to be expected with so many children inside. He left twice with Daddy - once because the music was too loud (he can be quite sensitve about sound) and once to use the washroom. Afterwards, there were lots of crafts set up for the kids so we stayed and Ryan made a snowman made of timbits (he got to ice them with white frosting and put all kinds of treats such as pretzels, gum drops, licorice, and sprinkles on it to make eyes, arms, buttons, etc....). He did not want to eat his snowman, but wanted to make another one instead. At home after a nice dinner we had Ryan open about 5 of his gifts. We left out cookies and milk for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer. Ryan kept asking if Santa was here yet and I had to keep telling him Santa would not come until he was asleep. He slept till about 8:30-9am but when he woke up he was so excited to go down to see if Santa was here. We had a great time opening all his Santa gifts in his stocking and then had breakfast and opened all his gifts from us.

We left for Angus just after noon and spent the day at my sisters. We had a big turkey lunch and opened all the gifts for the kids. This year there was no gift exchange for the adults, except for some handmade ones, such as a handprint snowman ornament Ryan and I made for my parents. On boxing day we went to Hamilton to visit Daddys parents. Some of Ryans favorite gifts this year were an air hockey table, a chuggington train set, alphabet fishing game, hungry hungry hippos game, a toy saxophone, a set of planets (which we were going to hang, but he wants them as toys), a handy manny tool set, a fur-real dog, a wubbzy toy that makes sounds when you move his tail, and a word builder magnetic toy for the fridge.

Halloween is over, bring on Christmas!

Ryan had so much fun trick or treating this year. He had a lot of fun last year as well, but not as much as this year. First of all the weather was so much warmer this year. We were out for over 1.5 hours. He was so excited he exclaimed over and over again "I love halloween", "I love trick or treating", and "I love you Mommy, thank you for trick or treating with me!". He was singing songs about trick or treating in between some of the houses (I think he made them up!). He really wanted to trick or treat with all the other kids. It would be nice for him to have a friend to go with next year, like he did last year. He talked (a lot) to most of the people who gave him candy. He told them he will be careful on their steps, that he liked their pumpkins, happy halloween, thank you, I love this candy, or have a nice night! He got a lot of candy. Also some crayons, a book, goldfish crackers, and real fruit snacks. He has also been listening to a halloween cd regularly and knows a lot of the words off by heart now. He is not scared of anything and if I pretend to be scared of ghosts or witches he tells me not to worry - they are just pretend, just decorations for halloween. I don't particularly like him listening to songs about zombies, spiders, ghosts, and scary hauntings... but he loves it so much. It's a fine balance. I didn't put some of the scarier songs on this cd I let him listen to, and I try to focus his halloween crafts and activities on stuff like pumpkins and cats rather than ghosts, monsters, and zombies. I'm happy to put this cd away for another year and move on to other less frightening and dark songs.

From halloween right into Christmas.... yesterday we went to sherway to pick up tickets to go to the santa experience ... a 20 minute event where santa does stories and songs with the kids and then there is a photo opportunity. Ryan saw them setting up and knew what we were signing up for so he's been talking about Christmas non-stop since yesterday. When is Santa coming? Is Santa coming next week? He wanted to sleep in the car in the Sherway parking lot so we could wait for Santa's arrival to the mall! He has a long wait ahead of him! He has also been telling random strangers that we are going to see Santa and what he is going to ask Santa to bring him at Christmas. One of these items he mentioned is a product called "HexBug". It's really rather disgusting - a bunch of crawling insect robots that crawl around a maze of tunnels and circles. I don't think he would be terribly disappointed if he doesn't get it, and I think in time he will forget, however I also think if Santa brings him this toy for Christmas it will make him happy. And I want him to be happy. We aren't getting anything large for Ryan for Christmas this year and really need to watch what we spend. He is already getting a personalized cd and DVD, a Wubbzy doll and DVD, a board game I know he likes, and some glow in the dark stars and planets for his room. It's only November 5th and I already have enough ideas (half of it purchased already) for Christmas. I'm really early this year. But I have to be. I have a full schedule of play dates and activities, a large party to plan for over 125 guests, and a whole list of other things I'd like to accomplish. I won't have time to be searching the stores, shopping for Christmas, so while I see things and out already I might as well get a head start. Has anyone else started their Christmas shopping already?