24 Days of Christmas

Goodbye, November. Hello, December! To just say that we're excited you're here seems like such an understatement. I write this post to the melody of Jack's music box playing We Wish You a Merry Christmas, quickly rewound each time it stops. And, we're on a break from Jack pretending he is Santa Claus, bringing me wonderful gifts like pretend cups of coffee and the previously mentioned music box. 

The beginning of December is the beginning of some Christmas traditions at our house. This is our second year we have enjoyed a Playmobil Advent calendar. We opened the first present this morning. It contained the mailbox in which Santa receives all the Christmas letters that boys and girls write to him. This lead to a discussion about Jack writing a letter to Santa. I asked him what he thought he was going to ask Santa to bring him. His answer? Fireworks. What???? The only time he's ever even seen fireworks was when John took him to a Sounds game last summer. Fireworks. Does pyromania run in Thorn blood or something? I flashed back to Charlie, 2, starting the bathroom on fire and all of my nephews thinking it might be a good idea to put fireworks inside a fish up at the cabin. Geez, I had to head this off right away. My response was that Santa and his elves only make toys, and fireworks are not toys, so he would have to choose something else. He informed me that he would have to think about it. 

Christmas books have long been a some of my favorites, dating back to my teaching years. I've always bought the kids at least one Christmas book every year. In years past, I have just set a box of Christmas books out and we've read them at will. This year, I wrapped each book individually, and we're going to unwrap one every evening leading up to Christmas. I think this will be a lot of fun for the boys. 

Now, I'm off to play more Santa games with Jack and hide all of the lighters before we're homeless. Happy December, everyone!

Trolley to The Factory

Today we caught a ride on the trolley from the hospital to the farmer's market at The Factory. We'd been trying to make this little day trip happen for a couple of weeks, but something always came up. I'm glad we made it a priority today. Both boys enjoyed the trolley ride, and walking through The Factory and the farmer's market is always fun. John had to run to an ATM to get money for our ride back to the hospital, so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of the boys at The Factory. We could have spent all day there taking pictures. There are so many beautiful backgrounds. I was so mad at myself when I downloaded these pictures. They should have been so good, but I forgot that the last pictures I took were of the Christmas tree and I had turned the ISO way up to the point where I have a lot of noise in these photos. I tried to smooth them out with my editing software, but what could have been really great pictures are now just ok. Darn! So now, John is going to have to take us back to The Factory, so I can do this all over again. :-)

Putting Up the Tree

Jack helped me decorate the Christmas tree today while John took Luke to the grocery store. Giddy is the best word I can use to describe Jack the majority of the afternoon. His newest word that he used to describe 30 different ornaments today is cool. Once again I am reminded how much fun Christmas is when you get to watch it through the eyes of children. 

Each year I buy a Christmas ornament that somehow reminds me of the kids as they are now. I had a really hard time this year with Luke's ornament. Nothing seemed perfect. Then I decided to make a toy like the ones they love into their ornaments this year. Jack's is a Bob the Builder Duplo figure. Nothing could describe his loves better than this one guy. Duplos- check. Bob the Builder- check. Perfect. 

Luke's is a Little People Wheelies elf. He loves his Wheelie cars, making car noises and carrying them around the house and leaving them for people to step on in random places like the bathroom. Perfect.

As we passed the Christmas tree on the way to bed tonight, Jack stopped to tell all of his favorite ornaments good night. "Good night, bus. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Charlie Brown." So, Christmas is underway at the Seaton house. I've been waiting all year for this. 

Gooey Goodness

Luke won't touch a vegetable with even one finger. He spits meat out. He tolerates some fruits. He either loves or hates the dinners I make for the rest of the family. 

But, he really loves Grandma's rice crispie treats.

Happy Thanksgiving

The thought of writing a post about the blessings in my life is overwhelming. That's how blessed I am. I have a loving husband, two sweet boys, a family who support us, friends I count on, a home I'm comfortable in, and a job I love. Above all else this year, I am thankful that both Aunt Kathy and Grandma Jane have their health back. Happy Thanksgiving to each of you, the people who make our lives even richer.