Now that's what I call Christmas! We hit all of our Christmas traditions and added a few more for good measure. When you kids are this good all year long, you pull out all the stops. Well, all except for the full production of Nutcracker, the people that went to see that "must have more dollars". Maybe in a few years when their attention spans approaches the running time. Veronica and Mama did attend a holiday panto called "Sleeping Beauty & the Pea". It was much more her speed than some boring Russian ballet.
Veronica met Santa this year. Which sounds exciting, but that guy will let anyone sit on his lap. Simon didn't see what all the fuss was about. One of Santa's elves visited Veronica everyday before Christmas. He would sneak into the house and leave a present in one of the advent buckets. Sometimes a treat, sometimes a toy, but nothing until the house was tidy. I love that elf and miss him dearly. Veronica built her first gingerbread house this year. I would like to thank the person that created gingerbread house kits for saving us hours in the kitchen. It's quite a product, especially given that it was clearly created by somebody without children since the instructions have phrases like "after constructing the house, wait two hours before decorating". The Woodland Park Zoo introduced Zoo Lights this year. You might think that outdoor nighttime events in Seattle in December would be a bad idea and you'd be right and smarter than us. It was cold and rainy, but Veronica introduced Simon to the carousel and they got to see a real reindeer. They are actually a sub species of caribou, the only member of the deer family in which both genders grow horns, and really can fly. Very educational. There was even an indoor snowball fight with white fuzz balls and snowman building with marshmallow shaped pillows. Very Pacific Northwest.
On Christmas itself, we maintained the tradition of attending a non-denominational celebration... well, it wasn't so much non-denominational as not our denomination. But it's a lovely kid's mass at 4 PM on Christmas Eve. There's nothing in the bible against convenience. Auntie Julie joined us on Christmas Eve and continued the cookie decorating tradition. Veronica knows what she likes when it comes to decorating cookies and she knows how to get it. And this year, Mama got to read the The Night Before Christmas.
As for Christmas morning, Veronica needed a few years to get into the spirit, but Simon jumped right in on his first Christmas. It took nearly 3 1/2 hours to get through everything with breaks for fried English muffins and a full breakfast with scrapple. Big gifts this year for Veronica were a pink unicorn, the cast of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and a variety of Brave themed gifts.
The most surprising gift of all? Simon took his first awkward step Christmas night. He's standing up on his own and will be walking soon. Not surprising given his ability to climb.
Christmas is over now. The tree is at the curb, surrounded by several trees worth of cardboard boxes from all the deliveries. Thanks to everyone that sent presents that fueled our celebration. And thanks to Grammy and Grampa for flying out, er up, for it. Just a few more returns to make and we'll wrap this Christmas up.
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