The holiday season was a little more magical this year, now that we have a little one to celebrate with. To be fair, L.J. is still too young to “get” Christmas, but we still had fun celebrating his second Christmas!
Oh, Tannenbaum
I admit to feeling a bit (ok, a lot) Scrooge-like with regards to our holiday decorations this year. Our already cozy living quarters were now being shared with umpteen toys, and the thought of putting up a bunch of Christmas decorations just seemed like more clutter than I cared to look at. I also did not want to deal with putting up the fake tree and the aggravation of trying to get the branches to resemble a real tree. Bah, humbug!
I had a few things to purchase at Costco, and when I pulled up I noticed a big semi -truck, a very long line and a sign advertising $27 Christmas trees. All of the sudden I was feeling less Scrooge-like. How easy would it be to purchase a tree, drag it up the stairs, put it in the living room and done?!
hahahahahahahahaha
You see, I had never before had a real live Christmas tree. I had no idea what I was signing up for. Giving my aforementioned Scrooge mood, Mike acquiesced and let me labor under my delusion of ease. Reality quickly set in when the tree trunk did not fit into the base. And the smell – oh my goodness, the smell. Our living room smelled like a sappy forest. It was awful. The tree fell down multiple times, and ended up spending several days propped up against the wall.
But finally, about a week later and an evening spent sawing the tree trunk in the living room we got our tree standing. And the lights on. And the ornaments situated.
(Yes, that really happened. I was tempted to take a picture of the infamous tree operation, but the steam coming out of my usually even-keeled husband’s ears convinced me otherwise…)
It was gorgeous! Two thumbs up to Costco for beautiful, full trees at a bargain basement price. And I’m also happy to report that the horrible sap smell went away quickly.
We ended up thoroughly enjoying our first live tree! For the most part, L.J. ignored it, which was definitely a blessing. Not sure which way we’ll go next year…but felt it was worth documenting my first-ever live tree.
Lights of Life
Christmas just isn’t complete without Christmas lights, so this year we checked out the Lights of Life holiday light display at Life University in Marietta. We really enjoyed it! There are plenty of lights to see, and also a Christmas “village” with a few activities for older kids. We asked L.J. to give us his best elf impersonation:
By far, the highlight of this year’s trip was L.J.’s utter delight at being taken out of his car seat while we drove through the light display. He thought riding up front with mommy and daddy was amazing. His eyes were as bright and twinkling as the lights themselves. It’s a memory I will always keep from this Christmas.
Meeting Santa Claus
Let’s be honest – annual Santa pictures are purely for the enjoyment of parents, who feign empathy and concern while silently yelling “Victory!” as the perfect screaming child photo emerges from the printer.
We were not expecting – and did not get – such a picture this year, but we did get a pretty awesome shot of confusion on L.J.’s face! Daddy set him on Santa’s lap and stepped aside, while two women dressed as elves danced and jingled bells at him. Yeah, I’d look pretty confused too…
I would like to give a shout out to Bass Pro Shops for having an expertly coordinated and FREE photo with Santa. We will be making this an annual tradition! We arrived early, picked up our “Bass Pass” for a specific time, went to lunch with Mike’s mom, returned and were completely done in 15 minutes. No interminable mall lines or inflated mall prices.
Christmas at Nana and Grandpa’s
We celebrated Christmas at Nana and Grandpa’s this year, enjoying another quiet and relaxing week in Greenville. We purposefully kept Christmas small this year since he just had his birthday and will likely need some “bigger kid” toys in a few months. His big gift was a Pottery Barn chair from my parents that he absolutely loves!
I made him a fleece blanket to go with his chair, and we also gave him a car garage to grow into and a couple of small toys and books. He also got a new play outfit for school.
Unfortunately, L.J. came down with a cold on Christmas Eve, so magical does not describe how he was feeling on Christmas. Poor little guy! But we had fun all the same, playing with presents, visiting with Uncle J.T. and Aunt Becky, and enjoying a festive Christmas dinner in the dining room.
Hollywild Nights of Lights
The highlight of our Christmas week was a trip to Hollywild Nights of Lights. It will definitely become an annual tradition! Hollywild is an animal park near my parents. You drive through (off-road) various light displays before ending up in a giant open field filled with various animals. Then, you roll down your windows and feed the animals. They come right up to the car!
We thought L.J. would love it given his love of animals, but unfortunately little man was quite under the weather and mostly content to sit in the back on Nana’s lap. My dad and I, however, had an absolute blast! We fed quite a few animals, including a zebra and the biggest Chick-fil-A cow I’ve ever seen. There was a fair amount of animal drool down the inside of the car doors by the time we were done.
This photo is a strong contender for Picture of the Year:
But lest you think L.J. was totally traumatized, he quickly recovered and enjoyed petting a more docile (and less mouthy) pony.
Afterwards, we drove through more light displays before ending up at Santa’s Workshop, which was basically a giant petting zoo. L.J. normally would have been all over it, but he was feeling pretty miserable. As a result, we kept our visit short, but not before my dad fed a buffalo (and jumped six feet in the air when it licked him…) and my mom and I fed the baby goats from a bottle.
Coolest place ever!
Christmas at Grandmas
We concluded our Christmas celebrations by celebrating Christmas with Mike’s mom and sister. L.J. was so spoiled! His favorite gifts were a pack of Super Friends Little People and a Fisher Price talking puppy from Mike’s aunt. He also received the most adorable red ride-on fire engine that I foresee getting lots of playtime this spring and summer!
Unfortunately, by Friday L.J. was sick as a dog and spent most of Christmas at Grandma’s in tears. So unlike our happy-go-lucky little guy! He did manage to get in a decent nap curled up in Aunt Ashley’s arms. Our dinner plans didn’t materialize as a result, but we still enjoyed a delicious take-out dinner from Ippolitos.
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