Catch-up

Bah hum bug!

I'm ashamed to admit I've let the hustle and bustle of the holidays get the best of me this year. I started out with a bang - putting up my decorations and finishing almost all of my shopping for Jack before Thanksgiving. Sometime between then and now though I got the stomach bug twice (luckily, Travis and Jack only got it once and at different times) and got completely overwhelmed by all the tedious details the end of the year and the holiday season in particular bring. Honestly, I shouldn't pretend that this doesn't happen every year because it does. I find myself wishing that it would all just be over and life would go back to normal and then I'm sad when it is over because I have such a wonderful time carrying out all the family traditions I've grown to love. Shopping, for example, is completely exhausting and stressful, but it's a tradition I can remember starting when I was just a little girl going to literally every mall between Nashville and Memphis with my mom, sister, and grandmother. Honestly, I learned my way around Nashville and Memphis not by North, South, East, and West, but by Green Hills, Bellvue, Oak Court, and Mall of Memphis. I hated it with a passion back then because these women are marathon shoppers and a shopping trip with them would take up a whole day if not a whole weekend. This year, however, we didn't get to go on our annual Nashville shopping trip and I'm heartbroken to have missed it. It's just a part of my holiday tradition that's more about spending time with the special women in my life than spending money.

I've felt especially guilty this year for being such a scrooge because Jack is at such a fun age where the smallest of things are so big to him. I teared up one day this week when I realized that I can't remember the last day I've spent just enjoying him and not worrying about housework or Christmas shopping. That's when I made the decision that this was going to be Jack's weekend. Travis and I had already decided that this weekend was going to be our Christmas. We still travel home to Paris and Martin for Christmas Eve and Day, but we've always celebrated it on our own the weekend before. I realize this will pose a problem when Jack is old enough to realize that Santa comes on Christmas Eve and not whenever it is convenient for Jack's parents, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. So we started our day at the Pink Palace Museum for the Enchanted Forest exhibit. The tour starts in a room filled with trees sponsored by different businesses and Jack was delighted yelling "Teee! Teee!" at all of them while pointing. Next came a room full of animated characters and as you can see below, he wasn't too sure about these life-like creatures at first.

Once we got to the end though, he let loose! I wish I knew how long we spent at the end of the exhibit going between the penguins on the bridge (below), the choo choos, the gingerbread houses, and the little drummer boy where Jack completely broke down dancing every time he walked by.

I tried to get a video of Jack's dancing and unfortunately, it hardly captures how hilarious he was, but it was the best I could do.

Santa Clause was at the end of the forest and we were pretty sure Jack wasn't going to make it easy on us, but we both felt like it wouldn't be Christmas if he didn't at least attempt to sit on Santa's lap. It actually took two tries. The first time he talked us out of it by saying "Choo Choo" over and over until we gave in and took him back to the trains. The second time the line was short enough that we stuck it out and as you can see, it went just as we thought it would go.

Later that day, Jack's worst nightmare came knocking on our door. We're close enough to Memphis that when we see someone dressed as Santa at the door, our immediate reaction isn't exactly excitement. My first thought was "Oh s%&*, we're about to be robbed by Santa.", but lucky for us, it was just a sweet neighbor visiting all the boys and girls in the neighborhood handing out candy canes. It still didn't convince Jack and he would barely even look at Santa Mike, but it made us love our neighborhood even more because it gave us the small-town feel we both grew up with.

So tonight we took Jack to a hibachi (spelling?) and taught him how to eat with chopsticks. I want to kick myself for not bringing my camera in because it was truly a precious moment. After dinner, we drove around looking at Christmas lights and found the most amazing display in Bartlett in Daybreak neighborhood. It was all to music and probably lasted a good 20 minutes. Jack loved it and at the end of the day, I can truly say I've once again found the spirit of Christmas.

St. Paul Christmas Program

Jack's school had their Christmas program a couple of weeks ago and while uploading today's pictures, I realized that I never even wrote about it. This is probably because my pictures are awful, so there's not much to show. His class rode in on their buggies and shook their bells to Jingle Bell Rock. Jack always looks so clueless during these programs that we can't help but laugh the entire time. It's pretty pointless for me to even post this picture, but it's the best one I got from the day, so it'll have to do. You can barely see Jack's face on the other side of that kid. Sorry, but the grandparents want pictures!