Eggnog with rum in hand, I finally feel ready for Christmas. I started shopping in October with grandiose ideas of being done by the start of December. But thanks to ordering shit online, that didn't happen; the later in November I ordered, the better chance there was of me getting an e-mail that my item was out of stock. My last batch of presents came 2 weeks after I ordered it, and only contained 2 of the 5 presents I actually ordered. We had to do supplementary shopping but, in the end, I think we did it all relatively fiscally-conscious. It sucks people even have to think about that this time of year, I just want to buy everything I see for someone. But it could be worse, we could be wondering how we'll afford Christmas dinner, so thank God we aren't in that position.
Even with thinking about Christmas 2 months early, it still sort of feels like it snuck up on us. We were too busy and/or lazy to get a Christmas tree until yesterday and it looked as it it was almost going to be a lost cause. But then we found one, and I think it's the best one we've had yet.
Zoey scoping out the tree. She was just a few months old last Christmas so she's really ready to party this year.
About to get started.
(Sidebar: those are ASU socks I'm wearing. :-))
Telling me something truly awesome.
Helping Daddy with the lights.
Helping Daddy with the lights while eating waffle.
Yes, I think I shall hang this one! She found my Spongebob Squarepants ornament and even though she's seen a total 30 seconds of his show, she calls him "Bobba."
Daddy helping her place it where she wants.
She got into it and wanted to help decorate the tree.
She wasn't quite sure how it's done, she just sort of shoved ornaments at the tree in the general vicinity of where she wanted them.
Then she found her Elmo ornament from last year and was absorbed with that.
Our Christmas trees are still "new" in that we have yet to completely decorate them with homemade/sentimental ornaments. But we do have a few that hold special meaning:
My mom sent this to me for Jacob and I's first Christmas in the same state. Jacob had planned to put my ring under the tree and propose on Christmas morning. He managed to wait until December 5th. We woke up to fresh snow and were chatting as we looked out the window. All of a sudden he said, "I don't want to wait," got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes, then made him ask me again so I could remember it. That night turned out to be even more special, we found out a month and a half later it was when Zoey became a glimmer in the Old Man's eye.
Along with Zoey's Elmo ornament, I got her this Cookie Monster ornament. It sounds so silly, I originally bought them because Zoey would give me huge grins when I'd hold up a new diaper, point to Elmo or Cookie and say, "It's Elmo!" And, ok, also because they're my personal faves. Now she loves them because she's a fan of Sesame Street (which, I'm sorry, watching it as much as we do, I wouldn't be heartbroken if Elmo had an unfortunate accident).
Oh, and, Elmo also has a present labeled "Zoey" so that was the clincher.
Jacob and I both have these apples (although I think mine is somewhere with my parents). We made them in our 3rd grade classes.
Long after 3rd grade was ASU. Gotta represent!!
Of course, our tree wouldn't be complete......
Zoey got distracted so Spongebob eventually found a good home.
Even though we don't have ones made with dried pasty and spray-paint (yet!), all of our tree ornaments are special because we went out and bought them specifically for us. We bought the tree, the lights, the ribbon, and ornaments to make it specifically ours so, in that way, our trees are very sentimental.
Our finished product. Jacob's mom gave us the angel on top a few years ago. It's a bit more see-through than our previous trees, but I think it's way better. It was easier for Jacob to put up, he didn't even need me to hold it straight. And with more room, we had more places to put ornaments. In previous years, we've had some left over because you couldn't go any deeper than the surface branches. Maybe Charlie Brown had it right so you can proudly display all of your ornaments.
Zoey and I and our handiwork. Her contribution included dancing around to Christmas music with ornaments in her hands.
We didn't want to, but we had to go shopping yesterday. Shit, I had to even today. Unfortunately, you still need to buy household items during the holiday season, and we needed a few other gifts. It was relatively painless, but still completely ridiculous. We thought it would be no problem to do Christmas shopping with Zoey. We were sort-of wrong, and wound up giving her something we might have otherwise wrapped because she saw it and wanted it and it was too big to cover with something else. And yes, ok, we're complete suckers and she has us wrapped around her little finger:
That's Brobee from
Yo Gabba Gabba (if you haven't seen it on Nick Jr., or the traveling tours they do, you might catch it being made fun of on
The Soup). She spotted him in the store, gave a huge smile, chanted his name and refused to let him go in the cart. Our hands were tied, what could we do? Once home, she showed him all about eating waffles.
Before we got started decorating, we put on our new Christmas pj's and had some waffle, or "fooffle."
I did have to go out shopping today, I ran out of wrapping paper. I also really wanted some egg nog (to go with the rum and Irish Creme Jacob bought me) and it was surprisingly difficult to find. I also needed more baking supplies so I can crank out some more cookie men. Wal-Mart was pretty much what you would expect but thankfully it was the only place I wound up having to go.
Now, the rum is in the nog, the ham in the oven, presents under the tree, and 24-hours of A Christmas Story in the waiting. Merry Christmas eve!!
