Away in a Manger

As Christmas draws near, I manage to keep Tommy busy by doing what every pastor's kid does. No, not sneaking out and getting someone to buy him alcohol! He plays with our various Nativity sets. His favorite is by Little People, and it really is adorable. He sits at the dining room table with it all throughout the day and just plays with the different characters. He's really amused that although the angel is supposed to go on top of the stable, any of the characters can fit on the post, so he'll put a sheep or a camel up there.

In the last few days he decided to add some more of his Little People to it, especially the characters from his zoo (he has a ton of Little People!). So lately as he describes the Nativity scene, he talks about Mary, Joseph, the wise men, the donkeys, the polar bear, the seal, and the monkey in the tree!

Christmas Tree Down!

Well, it finally happened. We figured that eventually with a very active two-year-old and a nutty 90 pound lab in too small of a house, the Christmas tree would eventually become a casualty. And the other day, it did. But not in the dramatic moment that we thought it would. We were not all sitting out here, singing Christmas carols, basking in the glow of the twinkle lights. It didn't happen when we were trimming the tree, drinking hot chocolate, and teaching Tommy how to hang ornaments without ripping the branches off. No, it happened when the living room was empty and Tommy was taking his nap. Dorsi was in her kennel, so she can't even be the culprit. But, no matter, Dean and I heard a loud crash and rushed in to confirm our fears. The entire tree was on the ground and the already sloppy job I'd done of hanging the lights was even sloppier. And of course I had just watered it, so there was about a gallon of water all over the floor as well. We managed to get it back up, clean up the mess, toss the lights back on, and rehang the ornaments. I'll admit it looks pretty sad now, but at least it's got character.

Singin' Santa

A couple years ago, some family members, who will remain nameless, bought us a Surfin' Santa. You know, one of those singing, dancing, bouncing Santa's dressed like a member of the Beach Boys with a Santa hat and glasses. At the time, we had just found out we were pregnant with Tommy but hadn't told anyone yet. So they had bought this Santa just for us. Well, now Tommy is obsessed with it and it's all we hear. And he wants everyone to dance with him. At 7:00 in the morning. I'm not a morning person!

Another great thing about this Santa is that you can start the music, stop it at any time and then start it over. That way if you like the introduction, you can hear it over and over and over again. Good thing we haven't shown him the dancing Christmas Tree yet. I tell you, the fun never stops here!