Happy Ho-Ho-Holidays!

So here it is Christmas (almost) and Max is really excited about it for the first time. It's the first year that he really (kindof) gets what's going on...he knows who "HoHo" is (although he prefers him more in theory than in actual existence), he loves reindeer/Christmas trees/Christmas lights, and he's obsessed with "The Polar Express". It's unfortunate that at 9 months pregnant I have the energy of a dying sloth; but I don't want that to ruin his holiday. So, I've been making a concerted effort to expose him to as much Christmas as possible and so far I think he's really enjoying the holidays and learning about our American AND German holiday traditions.

Our holiday fun-so-far:

November 30th: Picked out a tree.

We went to the same tree-lot-in-a-parking-lot that we always go to: Grandaddy's Trees. We've gotten some beautiful trees there each year. This year we decided to go a little smaller, since I anticipate that by the time it needs to come down, Chris is going to have to do most (or at least a lot) of the work himself. (Nice timing on my part I believe). Max was pretty excited about helping pick out the perfect tree.

Chris explaining the finer points of tree-selection to Max.

Max explaining to Chris that there were many more trees in the tent.

Turns out, Max was right; there were many more, freshly cut and still wrapped trees in the tent. We selected one that looked promising, made the friendly elf running the joint haul it out to a post, looked at it for a while, and it finally passed muster. We loaded it up on the trusty Kia, and celebrated our find with burgers (well, Max ate mostly pickles) at Five Guys, right across the parking lot. How convenient!

December 1 - Set up the tree. Built airplane at Lowe's. Watched the Greenville Poinsettia Christmas parade from the comfort of Rick Erwin's.

Turns out, you can really spread out the enjoyment of the whole Christmas tree experience by taking a full day for each step of the process. On Saturday, Chris and Max spent the morning at Lowe's, building an airplane (and running various errands for me including picking up a gift at Walmart and going by the post office - which was closed - but let's just not mention that stuff because Chris is a little bitter about it). Max had a blast building his airplane.

At some point after they returned, we (mostly Chris) managed to get the tree set up inside in the stand. Max was so excited about the day and Christmas and whatnot, that he refused to take a nap...until right when we were about to take him to Mimi and PopPop's.

After dropping him off there, Chris and I went to Rick Erwin's for what has become our Christmas tradition of watching the Greenville parade while enjoying some delicious food. We sat next to another couple who has also made it their tradition to eat there during the parade, but it was only their second year; rookies.

December 2 - Introduced Max to his Advent Calendar. Lit the 1st Advent Candle at church as a family. Went to the Simpsonville Christmas parade.

Chris is so great that since we've been married, he has put together his childhood advent calendar with candy and goodies for me! But Max is finally old enough to (maybe) understand the concept of the Advent Calendar and so this year we stocked it full of candy, Christmas arts/crafts projects, and Hot Wheels for him. Chris explained the concept to him when he got up Sunday morning and he got to select his first treat - I was shocked that he picked candy over a Hot Wheels car.

Pondering his choices.

About to enjoy his first selection; a Lindt chocolate teddy bear.

I'm not going to lie; some days it has been a challenge convincing him that he only gets ONE treat per day, but for the most part he's done pretty well. And yes, he usually chooses chocolate. 

A little later in the morning, we headed to church where it was the day for "The Hanging of the Greens", which is when the church gets decorated for Christmas. For some reason (Chris thinks it's because I'm pregnant), we were chosen to light the first Advent Candle as a family. We got to go up in front of the church and I did a reading and Chris and Max lit the candle. Max had been really rowdy in church up until that point, so I was tad concerned that he might do something crazy while we were in front of the congregation, but once Chris had lit the acolyte candle to bring the flame to the Advent candle, Max was enthralled. He wouldn't hold onto the candle, but he was definitely fascinated with the flame. We managed to get the candle lit without Max making any crazy pronouncements to the congregation and without burning the church down, so I'll proclaim it a success. We even got several compliments on what a great job we did after the service. (These folks are evidently easy to impress). Every family in the congregation also got to hang an ornament on the Chrismon tree, so Max got to do that too; interactive services are great for Mr. Interactive himself. And I have to say, he looked darn snazzy.

When we got home, Chris and Max made some adjustments to the tree and added some water. Baby steps people.

Look at that beauty.

While Max napped, Chris treated me to an early Christmas present - he cleaned the interior of my car. Combined with the new tires he had put on it last week, it's seriously like I'm driving a new car. Thanks Chris!!

Shortly before 3:00, I woke Max from his nap (never a really good plan) and we headed to Main Street for the Simpsonville Christmas Parade. Sam, Nathanael, and Julie met us there. Something seems weird about watching a Christmas parade in weather warm enough for short sleeves, but it was still rather festive. Last year, the highlight was when a Grinch float ran into a tree, sending ornaments flying and resulting in screams from the folks on the float. Remember? This year, I would have to say the highlight was when a little dog in Santa costume got loose from its owner (who was walking it in the parade) and ran around and around chasing some remote controlled cars that were also in the parade. I wish I had that on tape but sadly, I do not. I think the boys had a good time and got a nice little collection of candy.

 

The highlight for Max, though, might have been walking on the railroad tracks, which he would have followed to the end of the line if allowed.

That evening, after a dinner of nuggets and suckers (yes, really), we watched Elf and put the lights on the tree. Ok, Max and I watched Elf and Chris put the lights on the tree with some assistance from Max.

December 3 - Went to a drive-in movie.

December 4 - Spent the day farming. Decorated the tree!

Go figure; December 4th, and it was warm enough for shorts. Max and Nathanael spent the morning riding bikes, watching ZaZas, and collecting and distributing "weebs" (Max-speak for leaves) on the tractor with PopPop.

I'm not sure that Nathanael with a shovel of that size is a really good idea!

Nathanael: "I'll protect you Max"

That evening, we finally managed to decorate the tree!! Max got to hang up both of his "Where the Wild Things Are" ornaments.

After that, he had the taste for tree-decorating, and went to town hanging up about 15 ornaments...all on the same branch. But he had fun.

When all was said and done (ie, after Chris and I finished decorating the tree once Max was in bed), the tree looked great. And for all our talk about getting a smaller tree this year, we both agreed that it is pretty much the same size as the ones we've had in the past...but even better shaped. Maybe our best one yet. (Photo credit Christopher Ludwig, Facebook post).

 



Max loves to go around the tree and give a running commentary on all the ornaments. Yes, sometimes he gets a little too excited.


December 5th - Took Max Christmas shopping and to my OB appointment. (That's some holiday fun for sure!) Read Max the St. Niklaus history before bed.

Dr. Keith, who delivered Max, got to see him "all grown up". I think they hit it off. I also found out there's no progress so far towards my having this baby. Oh well.

Before Max went to sleep, Chris read him the story of St. Niklaus, who in German tradition brings good little boys and girls special treats on the night of the 5th and places them in their shoes, which are left outside the door.

December 6th - Max discovered his St. Niklaus treats!

(Luckily for Max, St. Niklaus must have not been paying attention to his behavior immediately before bed the night before!)

But wait! There's more! We found more treats downstairs - and I must have been a good girl too!

Max and I MAY have enjoyed an excessive amount of gingerbread and cookies that day.

December 8 - Breakfast with Santa!!!

So for the past two years we have gone to our neighborhood "Breakfast with Santa", which Max has enjoyed marginally, but mostly I have enjoyed the Chick-fil-A little chicken biscuits and hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts. So we had been talking up this event for a few days, figuring that Max, with his new-found appreciation of "HoHo" would really love to sit on Santa's lap.

This morning, I guess in his excitement about seeing Santa - haha - Max was up bright and early at shortly after 6 AM, even though he didn't go to sleep last night until well after TEN PM. We watched Polar Express, which has become Max's favorite movie-of-the-moment. (Hey, it's a movie where a train is the main character - how could it not be his favorite?) After our early-morning movie session we told Max he could ride his bike up to the clubhouse to see HoHo and he was definitely game for that.

I was super-excited when I saw this year's Santa. The previous Santa had a fake beard and cheap suit, but this year, I'm pretty sure it was really Santa. Real beard, real belly, jolly laugh, rosy cheeks...the whole bit. Sadly, Max wasn't having it. He made Chris walk up with him, and was none-too-thrilled with the idea of sitting in Santa's lap. (Maybe it had something to do with the rip in Santa's crotch? Mrs. Claus needs to get busy making some repairs to Santa's suit).

Ok, I'll give you a high-five.

Well, I probably wouldn't want to sit in an old man's lap if he was tickling my neck with his beard either.

He did accept a candy cane from Mr. Claus, though. After collecting himself, he even decided to go back for a second try with Santa. It didn't go much better, though. I don't know why Santa constantly wanted to hold out his arms and yell "Bonzai", but Max wasn't really a fan.

If I close my eyes, he's not really there.

I can't say that I blame him...I was terrified of Santa when I was little. Mom and Dad love to tell me how, if we were at the mall at Christmastime, they would have to make sure I never caught sight of Santa because I would freak out. I still remember being scared to go to sleep on Christmas Eve, in fact, because "Santa" would come into our rooms once we were asleep and leave our filled stockings at the foot of our beds and the thought of Santa prowling around me in my sleep totally creeped me out. So, it's ok Max. (And you really shouldn't take candy from strangers anyway).

Once he was back in the saddle again all was well though - and by the way, where was the Chick-Fil-A?? Only donut holes this year...I guess you can't have it all.

Max rounded out the afternoon with a 3 hour nap, which allowed me to write this blog. He just woke up, in fact...stay tuned for more of our holiday adventures.