Love is Patient: Christmas 2014

Man...do I LOVE Christmas!!!!!!!!! It is, by far, my favorite holiday of all time. I've loved it ever since I was a little girl. But...I have to say...it is SO much more fun now that we have Seiden here to celebrate with and continue with traditions that I grew up doing. And, of course, we are starting our own traditions as well! Elf on the shelf is the main one we are doing that we didn't do growing up. And...Seiden has a new Christmas shirt or Christmas outfit for everyday in December :-) The things we are still doing, we still continue to do with my family and it is SO much fun to continue on with them. On Christmas Eve: Christmas Eve service at Beltway (new since we started going to Beltway 6 years ago) followed Christmas Eve dinner and then watching a Christmas movie (usually The Santa Claus with Tim Allen), Seiden opening up one present (this started when Michael and I were little...we just couldn't wait until Christmas morning), writing Santa a note and leaving out his favorite cookies with a glass of green milk (green milk now because Cupcake...the elf...insists on this), going to sleep and waiting (not-so-patiently) for Christmas morning to see what Santa brought! Christmas Day: getting up early and starting breakfast (dad ALWAYS makes his famous sausage balls and now I just add in some extra things so there's a big breakfast meal), Santa comes and visits our house specially to see Seiden Grace (another new tradition we've started since we had Seiden last year), Seiden playing with all her presents while breakfast finishes up, sitting down together and eating a yummy Christmas breakfast together, opening up presents as a family (mainly watching Seiden open up her presents and play with all her goodies), resting...HA!, going to mom and dad's for Christmas lunch, followed by opening up presents at their house, more resting...for real this time!, then eating leftovers for dinner. The whole day is just filled with precious family time, great food, and fellowship. We watch lots of Christmas movies (poor Cody is so sick of Christmas movies by this point...I'v had it on the Hallmark Channel since before Thanksgiving!) and just rest and relax while spending time together. It's so nice to have uninterrupted time with no errands to run or things to do other than enjoy each other. And of course...mom, Mimi, Seiden, and I hit the day after Christmas sale at Dillards on the 26th. Hey...you can't break tradition!

I have to tell you all about Seiden and her first, true experience, with Christmas! Last year was her first Christmas. But, she was only 2 months old. So...she was pretty much just sleeping and snuggling the whole day! Well...first things first...Santa Claus. Little miss princess does NOT like this jolly old fellow :-( There were 4 different times Seiden had an interaction with Santa and none of them were exciting experiences! The first one was at the Junior League Christmas Carousel family event. I bought our tickets ahead of time for that event since I'm in Junior League thinking it would be SO much fun for us to go together. The event was a family movie night, featuring "Arthur Christmas," with hot dogs, cupcakes, and hot chocolate for dinner. And, Santa and Mrs. Claus would be there taking pictures! There was also a little craft to make a snowman out of a cup, pipe cleaners, pom poms, and googly eyes. It was precious and SO much fun! Oh...you could also wear your pj's...which we totally did! Everything about the event was perfection. And...we got a decent picture of Seiden with Santa and Mrs. Claus...I just had to sit in Santa's lap with Seiden in mine. Hey...make it work! Encounter #2 was the Santa at the mall. She did so great and was so happy while we waited in line. We talked about Santa and she even got a glimpse of other kids sitting in his lap and waved once. But...she was not about sitting in that sweet Santa's lap! So...mommy had to help Santa's little helper and sit in his lap with the little Elf in hers! Oh well...it's still cute! Encounter #3 was at her day care Christmas Party. Santa came into her class and she smiled and waved so big. Then...puffed out that bottom lip and started crying and saying, "no, no, no!" I was standing by the door while she and all the other kids were sitting in their chairs eating a snack. So, I went and gave Santa a big hug and said, "we love Santa!" She perked up a little...but was still far too unsure to be super happy about it. Santa had to head off to see the other kids in their classrooms, she was started to get upset again. But, she managed to wave and say bye-bye in between tears. I know it's terrible...but she was so cute throughout each situation. Especially the Santa at her school! The last and final encounter was at our house on Christmas morning. When Santa opened the door, Seiden was so excited to see who was there. When she saw it was him, she popped right up, and ran over to me. All the while crying and saying, "no, no no!" She did, however, let Santa pull all the toys of his bag he made just for herI just want her to love Santa so bad!!! Oh well...maybe next year!

Seiden was more than happy to see what Santa brought her though! She say all her goodies under the tree and all the goodies from Santa's special bag for her and was going..."ooooo what's that?!?!?" while she pointed and grinned and giggled and smiled so big whenever we said those are for Seiden! It was absolutely precious!!! She sure knows how to light up a room. Santa brought her all kinds of fun toys that she couldn't hardly wait to play with! At our house, Santa brought her: a pretend nursery, a Corrolle baby doll, baby doll accessories, baby's first mega blocks building set, a "God Gave Us Christmas" book, and a stocking full of Care Bears stuffed animals, and a Care Bears movie! And when Santa came to visit Seiden on Christmas morning, he brought her: a Madam Alexander Christmas doll, a pretend lunch box set that sings and makes cute noises, a pretned tea pot set complete with a platter full of pastries (we have hot chocolate and coffee every evening from this set!), a new blanket, some outfits, and a pair of pink UGG boots with a sweet little bow on the back...so precious! When we opened presents, she also got 2 new Little People princess castles and one Little People family play house. She LOVES Little People...so those were a big hit! She is just so much fun. She has the best personality and is so full of life. It has been so much fun to watch her grow and to see the sweet little lady she is becoming. She is strong and and courageous and independent and absolutely knows what she wants. But, she is also sweet and loving and kind and compassionate. She is just this tiny little person that is full of perfection and grace. We are loving being her mommy and daddy and can't wait to see what else God has in store for her. Here's to many more Christmas's with this fun-loving little princess!