This Christmas season has been SO much fun! Joseph has really been into it all and his enthusiasm is contagious (although Rich will be the first to tell you how much I love Christmas and all that goes along with it.) One night right after Thanksgiving we were driving home from dinner and Joseph spotted Christmas lights and he yells, "CHRISTMAS!!!" Rich looks at me and says, "He is definitely your son!" Daddy isn't a grinch but doesn't share quite the same enthusiasm as I do but I do think this year watching Joseph and even Ella get so excited his heart grew a few sizes :) Speaking of the heart growing, Joseph watched The Grinch (the television special) and loved it. We weren't so sure if he was going to be into it or if he was going to be a little scared but he was totally hooked and talked about how the Grinch's heart grew three sizes and had lots of questions about why he didn't like Christmas and why he changed his mind. Too sweet.
Once we put up the outside lights and tree, almost every night while putting Joseph to bed he would say to us, "Leave the upstairs gate and downstairs gate open and don't forget to turn off the Christmas lights." He is always so good about reminders :)
This is one of the streets in The Woodlands that goes all out with the lights stringing them from one side of the street to the other. Joseph loved it!
By far my favorite part of the season has been watching Joseph make Jesus' crib comfortable. This is a tradition that came from the delaMontaigne's...while growing up, during Advent, we made a crib for Jesus and then every day at dinner we talked about something that we did during the day that Jesus would be proud of and I have been waiting for the day to begin this in our family. We thought that Joseph would grasp the idea of it this year and it was so neat to watch and listen to him get into it. Every night at dinner we talked about it and he would share something that would make Jesus happy that he did that day and then he got a cotton ball to put in the crib to make it comfortable for Him. His deeds ranged from sharing with Ella, to picking up trash, to playing nicely with friends at school and so on. There were some days that he wasn't into it and a few days that he repeated the same thing that he did before but you could definitely tell that he grasped the idea and was excited about it. On Christmas Day, Santa left him a baby Jesus to put in the crib. It is a great way to really keep Jesus the reason for the season (as my mom's pin used to say :) and I look forward to doing this for many years with our family.
Both kids were really excited about the Advent wreath this year, too. We would light the candles every night instead of just Sundays since Joseph would ask about it and Ella would always try to blow the candles out. Totally cracked us up the first time she did it-it is truly amazing the things they catch on to! Don't mind the messy plates-just wanted to get a picture of the wreath!
On December 13th, baby boot camp had their annual Christmas party. After the workout there was a book exchange, healthy treats and then Santa came. It was a fun morning!
We brought Kason with us so we got a picture with Santa with all of us. Ella was ok as long as I was holding her.
She preferred to watch him from a distance
Ella and Olivia definitely have a special relationship!
My girlfriends and I had our 2nd annual Christmas party which was a blast. Charlotte hosted it this year and we ordered food from Bucas and did our white elephant exchange. It was a fun night!
Joseph had a holiday party one afternoon at his school where Daddy and I got to go. We decorated cookies and had a book exchange.
Joseph and his buddy, Carson
His masterpiece!
Daddy and I had a date night downtown Houston for dinner and to see the Nutcracker. About 5 minutes into the ballet Rich looked over at me and said, "I thought there was going to be much more talking!" He keeps me laughing :) It was a fun night but definitely decided that we don't need to do this every year; although i do look forward to taking Ella in the future.
The day before Christmas Eve we finally got around to seeing Santa-Joseph loved him, Ella not so much! The picture is priceless though!
It has been such a fun Christmas season!
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