It’s hard to believe that the month of December is almost through, Christmas Day has come and gone, and we’ll be ringing in a New Year this Saturday night.
It always seems that after Thanksgiving, the December days seem to fly by even quicker since they are filled with so many activities and the flurry of Holiday preparations and fun.
This year we especially enjoyed talking about the reason for the season with our youngest, Colton.
As we read to him (many times this month) the story book (see below) we have about the birth of our Saviour, it was so cute to watch Colton “perform” as he looked at the pictures on the different pages when we read to him. When he saw the bright star in the sky, he would flick his fingers for twinkle, twinkle, he’d “baa” for the lamb and “hee-haw” for the donkey, he’d wave to the wise men, and put his fingers to his lips and say, “Sshhhh” when he saw the baby Jesus sleeping in the manger.
It was just a joy to watch such precious interpretations from a toddler’s understanding.
The beginning of the month found us taking Colton to get his first haircut.
I must say, the distraction of the dum-dum lollipop worked like a charm and he never even flinched.
That same day we trekked on over to the mall for the official Santa photo.
Mommy had to get in the picture because Colton was having NONE of this Santa guy stuff!
As far as R.J. was concerned, there was nothing to it which is clearly evidenced by his, "After all, I've been doing this for 10 years now!" look on his face.
We then wandered over to the Build-a-Bear workshop, and let Colton use his birthday gift card to pick out a special “friend”.
He chose a cute German shepherd puppy that R.J. helped him name…"CAM" (given that we’re such huge Auburn fans, that name should not surprise any of you!)
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| The finished a.k.a. "love-stuffed" doggie |
R.J’s school days prior to Christmas vacation were filled with some fun activities.
One of the days they got to make their very own gingerbread houses.
His came out amazingly well, dontcha’ think?
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| The proud architect! |
Our house also is visited by an elf every year.
For those of you familiar with the Elf on the Shelf, you already know what I’m talking about.
His name is “Straighty” - - dubbed such by R.J. when he was 4 years old (R.J. that is, not the elf)!
Actually, I spoke about this special friend of R.J.’s in this blog post last year.
Straighty pulled off some very unique things this year.
After all, he’s a very clever elf!
Just take a look…
There was also a DVD that came out this year that really helped to bring the Elf on a Shelf story to life.
It’s only about 24 minutes long and it was just the perfect length for Colton to be able to sit and watch without being distracted and wanting to get up and do something else.
Before we knew it Christmas was here!
R.J. left his letter to Santa along with cookies and milk.
Amazingly, this year Santa’s cookies also happened to be Mommy’s favorite ones.
Imagine that?!!!
Christmas morning arrived…
Santa came, and Santa delivered!!!
R.J. got most everything he asked for and among his favorites were the 2012 Madden NFL game for his Wii, and a miniature Auburn Football helmet.
He also got a remote control airplane complete with a miniature camera attached (Air Hogs Hawkeye Blue Sky) that he had been wanting since the summer…more on this gift in just a bit.
Colton got a miniature arm chair with his name on it that he loves!!!
Combine that with his CD player and mini trampoline and trust me, this kid is one happy little camper!!
Okay, back to the airplane…
R.J. was dying to fly this thing, but on Christmas Day it rained…all day.
So the day after, we charged the airplane, put batteries in the remote control and off he went to take his plane to greater heights all the while videoing what R.J. said would be, “All sorts of neat stuff!”
Not even 5 minutes later, R.J. came back into the house crying hysterically with remote in hand and no plane.
When he calmed down we learned that yes, R.J. had taken his plane where no plane had gone before…and it promptly got stuck smack dab in the tallest (and I mean tall) and most limb ridden tree in our front yard!!!
No ladder, no branch trimmer, no nothing could reach this plane.
Well, maybe if we had a power company bucket truck…but, we didn’t!
I give my husband credit. For several hours he tried (and eventually my neighbor, and my neighbor’s father-in-law also joined in) to get that darn plane out of the tree by throwing baseballs and footballs Hercules style at it and at the limbs it was stuck in…to no avail.
Thus, this is what we have left of the video capturing airplane…
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| Remote control full of brand new batteries and a broken airplane wing! |
The rest, well, it’s still stuck in the tree and I’m sure some species of bird is going to think he/she has found the mate of all mates…LOL!
Okay, remember up above when I said Santa came and Santa delivered?
Well, R.J. reminded me that Santa forgot to leave him a letter this year.
Every other year Santa had left a letter, but not this year.
Hrumpf?!
How do I explain that one???
I calmly and ever-so-motherly explained to him that Santa must have just accidentally forgot or misplaced it.
After all, Santa did have a whole lotta’ children to visit and deliver to on Christmas Eve.
My explanation seemed to suffice, but I couldn’t help but notice a wee bit of disappointment in R.J.’s face.
What to do????
Mommy put her thinking cap on and viola’ one Santa letter/memo to R.J. in an authentic looking envelope coming up!
This is what it says…
North Pole, Alaska
From The Desk of Santa Claus
MEM-HO-HO-HO-RANDUM
December 27th 2011
Subject: Forgotten Letter
Dear R.J.
After I got back to the North Pole, I looked in my mail pouch and realized that I had forgotten to leave you your letter from me. Yes, there it was in the bottom of my bag.
Oh, by the way, I apologize for the "Hot Chocolate" stains you see on this letter. One of the deer bumped my arm while typing this... Hmmm, I bet you know which deer it was too?!?
Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I had been keeping a very close eye on you and of course Straighty was filling me in too.
I must say, you have been a very good boy this year. Oh, yes, there have been times when you have given your parents a hard time about this and that (you know, like brushing your teeth), but I must say, for the most part I have been very proud of you. Although, I do want to remind you to watch your manners about how you talk to Mommy and Daddy (and Mimi and Boppa) every now and then.
I really want to thank you for being such a good big brother to Colton. I know it isn’t easy to be patient with such a little one, but rest assured that your baby brother is learning from you, and the kind and caring way you are with him is the way I wish all girls and boys would be with their siblings.
I also want to let you know that it warms this big guy’s heart to hear the way you say your prayers every night. Never ever forget that the birth of Jesus is what is most important about CHRISTMAS. Oh, yes, presents are wonderful to get, but the most wonderful present to ALL of us is HIM.
In closing, please forgive me for forgetting to leave your letter (with all the houses and all the boys and girls I visit in one night, it was bound to happen).
And don’t forget, just because this Christmas is over you’d still…
Better watch out, You better not cry, Better not pout, I'm telling you why: I'm coming to town…again (in just 364 more days). And don’t you doubt that I’ll be…
Making a list, and checking it twice; Gonna find out who's naughty and nice.
As always,
Santa Claus
R.J. spent the night off with a friend last night which is perfect because I can slip this in the mailbox and when he comes home, I can ask him to check the mail and there the letter will be.
Mommy, er um, I mean…Santa redemption!!!
I hope!
I’ll let you all know how it goes.
In the meantime, please accept my heartfelt wishes to you and yours for a most blessed and Happy New Year!
