Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was full of fun, love, traditions, laughter and joy (basically, we crammed as many Christmassy activities as we could in the twelve or so hours we were awake). There was something for everyone to enjoy. No one’s interests were left out. But I think Elle summed the day up best, when she said: “This was the best day ever!”



We started our day out by checking the mailbox (we were looking for last minute Christmas cards). And good thing we checked, because Santa had mailed Elle a postcard, which told her that she could go to Build-A-Bear and build her Clarice one day early. Elle was thrilled. She could not believe how kind Santa was—he was giving her one of her Christmas wishes a day in advance. So, we headed over to Build-A-Bear, and let Elle create her first Christmas present. She had so much fun stuffing Clarice; giving her a heart; making a wish; cleaning her and hugging her tight. Santa was very wise in deciding to deliver one of Elle’s presents early. She loved it.



Our next stop in our fun-filled day was downstairs. Since Build-A-Bear is located in the upper level of the mall, we took the kids to bottom level to play in the new kid play area. Hudson absolutely loves this place. Everything is just his size, and he does not need help from anyone to play (being independent is very important to him). He went up and down the cute, little tree slide endlessly. He giggled and laughed every time. In fact, he loved it so much, that he did not with to leave. He was not happy at all to be placed back in his stroller, when all he wanted to do was slide. But leave we must, because we had more activities to fit in before Santa came that night.



After the mall, we went and got hot chocolate, and then we went ice skating (this has become one of our family Christmas traditions). Elle, Johnny and Hudson all loved skating (Hudson didn’t actually skate, but he loved how fast his dad went while holding him). It was so much fun, and it really got us into the Christmas spirit. It was cold, there were lights and there was Christmas music playing the entire time. Very festive.



Finally, after our fun outings, we made it home in time to eat dinner, make Santa some cookies, open and dress into our new pajamas and hurry off to bed before Santa came. It truly was a wonderful day; and I am so glad that I was able to spend it with my dear family.



P. S. Elle could not fall asleep tonight. She was so excited for Santa to come. She just sat in her bed beaming with anticipation. Very cute.

Wasteful

After watching the movie, Despicable Me, where there were three orphan sisters, Elle decided she needed to have a talk with me about children. She proceeded to tell me on the car ride home that we—as a family—were not going to have anymore children. She told me, in no uncertain terms, that we were done having children. I told her that we had to at least have one more kid, to which she replied: “Fine, we’ll have three kids—one boy, two girls, a Mom, a Dad and some stuffed animals.”

Later that day, I was explaining Elle’s proposition to Johnny, and Elle again restated her opinion. I asked her if she thought six kids would be a good number, and she was not impressed—she did not enjoy my joke at all. She just looked at me, in all seriousness, and said: “We are having three kids and that is it. Anymore would be wasteful—you’d be wasting babies!”