Christmas Fun

I've never considered myself particularly slow...but it apparently took a while for my expectations for Charlie's Christmas to reach a realistic level.

After the Living Christmas Story debacle, I practically ruined Santa for him...  First, I introduced him to Santa in a yard on the way home from school, and the whole way home he kept repeating, "Hi, Satan!"  Let's just say that my inability to contain my laughter didn't help the situation.

Over the next couple of days Jason and I worked very hardto correct the slight dyslexia, and by Sunday Charlie was hooked on the safer, "Santi" -- good enough for us. 

Well, that afternoon Santa was visiting our neighborhood, so I planned to squeeze in a visit between church, the post-church luncheon, naptime and having the Sereika's over for dinner.  Santa arrived in the neighborhood around 2:15, about 10 minutes after Charlie went down for nap, but since our neighborhood is brimming with kids, I though there was a chance he would still be there when Charlie woke up at 4:00.

After rushing him into a clean diaper and jacket and tossing him in the stroller, we hurried down the street with a very doubtful Daddy in tow, to find the clubhouse completely deserted.  Of course, in order to explain the rush to Charlie, I had promised to take him to see Santa, so the whole way back to the house, he was whining, "Santi, go?"  Way to go, Mom... 

At the last minute we visited a giant blow-up Santa in the front yard of a house on Scrapbook Lane, but it wasn't the same and Charlie knew it.

Being two for two in the Christmas Cheer department, I decided to cut my losses and not plan any other festivities for fear of ruining Christmas for Charlie forever -- possibly the best decision I had made yet.

We have spent the past week saying "Hi" to the Christmas tree twenty or thirty times a day, opening our Advent calendars every two to three days and thoroughly enjoyed the Advent chocolate (tastes the same as it did 30 years ago!), practicing "Ho-ho" (still working on that last "ho"), baking for Christmas parties, pulling the bows off presents, hunting for Santas "hiding" in the Christmas Tree, shouting "brrrr" while playing in real-life winter weather, learning to the true story of Christmas with our other Advent Calendar and nativity clings for the back window and loving our little family and all of the amazing friends in our life.

In other words, I finally got it -- we've spent the past week being a one year old learning about Christmas and enjoying the little things -- lesson learned.