Getting ready

I am a little behind these days. We don't have an Advent wreath, and at this point there is really no point in getting one. I haven't bought a single Christmas present (although I don't really have many to buy) and we only just started discussing that we really should have something under the tree for the kids (but they already have so many things in our very tiny house!). 

I love Christmas, of course, but I just don't go crazy with decorating and shopping and all of that. And for many years, that was at least partly because of infertility. There was even one year (perhaps the Christmas right before we met Clara) when I even refused to get a tree. And then last year - our first post-infertility - Ryan brought a tree home for us one day, but we were pretty busy with a newborn and a one-year old to do much else.

So this year we find ourselves with two babies who love Christmas carols and one who is very much into Santa Claus (seriously, what is it with that old man? We don't push him on them by any means, but all it took was her seeing him for the first time in a video last week to fall in love. Everything from there on out was, "Santa! Santa! Saaaaaaantaaaaaa!"). So there is a lot more Christmas spirit in our home these days.

We baked some Christmas cookies, at Ryan's request. I don't normally even let Clara into the kitchen (other than to eat, I'm not that bad!), but I let her bake some cut-outs with me the other day...

Her concentration was adorable.

If you look closely at her right hand, that's her private stash of dough she'd been eating/playing with/putting on the cookie sheet. Good thing I didn't give any cookies away.

And this year, because she is now apparently old enough to know and love him, we took her and Luke to see Santa for the first time...

The only sign she was nervous - her motherly rubbing of Luke's arm.. because, she must have thought, if I'm nervous, then baby must be too :)

And, despite my annual hesitation, we got a tree. Really.. am I the only one who is pained by how much they cost? Ours was $44. Almost $50 for something we'll have for less than a month. Ugh. I know, that probably makes me a Grinch.

Despite the price, the tree is actually one of my favorite parts of the holiday. And the kids love it, so it's worth it. Here is Clara hugging an ornament...

They were very into decorating it. And, the next day, they were even more into un-decorating it. So we were forced to spoil the ambience by putting our baby-wall (or whatever you want to call it) in front of it. Maybe that makes me a lazy parent, but when they don't respond to ten-thousand No! Don't touch the tree!'s, I would rather avoid the issue altogether.  

I saw an idea online for a felt tree that they can decorate themselves, so I made them one, hoping it would satisfy their need to play with ornaments...

Yes, Elmo is higher than Our Lady in this photo. I had hoped to take a picture with all the secular icons located near the bottom so you all wouldn't think I was a heathen.

To ensure you I'm not, here's a picture of baby Jesus...

And it's no surprise that they immediately had their favorite, and unfortunately it wasn't baby Jesus...

Do you see what Clara did the very first time she played with it? That's a cross ON Elmo. Or Bishop Elmo, as Ryan calls him. I obviously have a lot of catechizing still to do. 

And because I have discovered that craft projects help rid me of anxiety (and, conveniently, cleaning does not), I made a Christmas wreath today with the leftover felt...

Thanks to my sister-in-laws for showing me how to make the felt roses. And thanks to Clara and Luke for napping at the same time.

So we're finally mostly caught up, but even if we weren't, the babies sure don't mind. And hopefully they won't mind when I wrap their birthday presents for them to re-open on Christmas morning. Just kidding!