December 28, 2009

Trimming the Tree

Our first Christmas in the new house! Wow, it's hard to believe. We weren't quite prepared to decorate a whole house this year, so our Christmas trimmings were a bit on the light side. (Thanks to the Volkerts for loaning us their regal Nativity set!) Hopefully our Christmas spirit made up for our lack of Christmas decorations.
We used our small artificial tree this year. Neither Josh nor I was willing to brave the Christmas tree hunt out in the wild this December. Hopefully by next December that will change, because I sure did miss the smell of a real tree in the house. Although I think our artificial one was much sturdier than we thought, considering Lennon was all a flutter when she saw it and couldn't keep her hands off of it. Thankfully there were no Christmas tree casualties.
This was Lennon's first year participating in decorating the Christmas tree. As you can see she was very meticulous in where she chose to hang her ornaments. Thank goodness I am no Martha Stewart, expecting absolute perfection and symmetry. Lennon took a quick liking to the
Christmas balls that we had bought at Target. I suppose they were the exact size for her petite hands, which couldn't resist them. Lennon's clustering technique was a bit unconventional, but I think it could catch on. Her Christmas Cluster is rather cute.
With Lennon growing like a weed no ornament within her reach was safe. Thank goodness I learned right away Mommy Christmas Tip #1: All cherished ornaments need to be exempt from the tree or else placed high, towards the top. Her little mittens loved touching and exploring each ornament. Many of them were shuffled and found in new places. A little surprise for Mommy every day.
Lennon is much like a squirrel, she loves to hoard, pile and hide objects. Many a hook, ribbon and string were lost this year, making many of the ornaments unusable. Towards the end of the month the tree became very top heavy and bare bottomed.
Kudos to Josh for using three strands of lights on our tree. Don't worry Mom--he strings the lights just like you do! We are carrying on that Christmas tradition. We also used Grandma Sweet's (Barb) homemade tree skirt, which is beautiful and fit perfectly, aside from Lennon slipping and sliding on it as she tried to fit herself under the tree. Next year we may have to put some sort of gripping underneath the skirt so our little miss doesn't "schwip fawl".
Josh and I can hardly wait until next Christmas! We hope to rival the Griswold's in spectacular light displays and I will attempt some Martha Stewart like touches inside the house. Most of all, we can't wait to see how Lennon's face lights up with excitement as the decorations come out and how she beams with pride as she helps carry-out new family traditions.
Posted by Picasa

Merry Tismas!

As Lennon would say: "Merry Tismas!" So these next few posts are from the whole of December and Christmas...so far. Better late than never, eh? Hopefully after our 2nd Christmas in Bend I will be able to post more frequently and on time! My sincere apologies for those of you who have had to wait for your current Lennon fix.
If you are looking for pictures of Lennon's first visit to see Santa, you'll be waiting a very long time. I didn't listen to Josh's warnings and I took Lennon to see Santa at the Salem Center. There is evidence of her having met him, however she was using her Vulcan-like death grip around my neck so I was unable to take any photos, but I believe Auntie Michelle or Grandma Sweet may have one. You'd think a gal of her bravado would not object to meeting the big man in red. Oh how wrong to assume...
All day leading up to the big meeting she was very excited, shrieking "Ho, Ho" and "Happy Nu-Nu!" When we met up with Grandma Sweet, Auntie Renee, Uncle Cody, Auntie Michelle and Addy she was still all excitement and energy. As we neared "Santa's Village" still wiggles and giggles. Finally, it was our turn to greet the magic man. What does Lennon do? Climb my body like a spider monkey and Kung-fu grip my neck, refusing to let go or go near him.
I tried not to let my impulse to make a memory and take a properly posed Santa picture cloud my motherly judgement, where I force my child to sit on a strange man's lap while she screams bloody murder. My better instincts prevailed and I followed Lennon's lead. While she clung to my body we approached Santa, waved hello, gave him a suspicious once over and left. Better luck next year.