Month: December 2006

Santa Success

Sarah General

Carrie visited Santa again today, and not only asked for a game pleeeeeease, but also asked Santa to bring the doggies new balls. (All of their tennis balls are pretty ratty at this point.) Santa’s helpers are very pleased with this new request. (I won’t confirm or deny whether there was any coaching on the way there…)

I’ve been wrapping stuff all day today. I forget every year how long it takes to wrap everything. It doesn’t help, of course, that I had to design and print labels for all the handmade things. I did, however, pick up one of these Scotch wrapping paper cutters, and I have to say it really does a nice job. It may not really be quicker than scissors (at least not the way I use scissors) but it’s certainly less likely to cause paper cuts.

OK. Back to wrapping.

Hibachi And Two-Year-Olds Do Not Mix Well

Sarah Carolyn

My poor baby. I tell her all the time, when we see pictures of fire in books, or on the very rare occasion when there is a lit candle, that fire is hot, and dangerous, and we don’t ever touch it. This is a good message to impress upon a very curious toddler, I think.

Except.

When you go to a hibachi restaurant, you know, where they cook on the table right in front of you, they create fire. It’s not as though I’ve never been to this type of restaurant before. In fact, Carrie was there just last January, and it didn’t seem to faze her at all.

Tonight. Oh, I feel so bad. Those first flames shot up and she started sobbing uncontrollably that she needed a napkin (not sure what she thought that would do) and clung to me with all her strength. Sammy (we were out with the Lisa clan) had a similar reaction. (Though I don’t think he was asking for a napkin!)

I think it will be another year or two before we try to bring the kids there again! I feel like such an awful Mommy tonight. At least she enjoyed the food once the cooking was finished.

The Power Of Suggestion

Sarah Carolyn

Yesterday, Carrie and I were at the mall twice – first around lunch, and then for my concert. At lunchtime we walked past Santa, and I asked Carrie if she wanted to go sit on his lap. Since we want to dress her up in her Christmas dress and take a picture of her sitting with Santa I thought it might be a good idea to do a trial run. She thought about it for a minute and agreed. Well, she happily sat on his lap, and actually told him her name when he asked. But when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas she didn’t say anything. So, Santa suggested she might like a dolly, and Carrie just giggled.

After the concert, Carrie asked if she could go sit on Santa’s lap again. I was pretty surprised, but agreed to it. Well, this time, when Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she promptly replied “a dolly!”

The little stinker. She has at least a dozen dolls at this point, between the ones I’ve bought and the ones other people have given her. (That would just be baby dolls. Rag dolls…there’s easily another half dozen of those.) I’m pretty sure Santa’s helpers are not planning to put a doll under the tree. I think I’m going to have to bring her back to Santa and try to coach her into asking for a game or something…

Sleigh Ride Is Stuck In My Head!

Sarah Carolyn, Music

We had the first of two holiday concerts this evening. It went well enough – it’s always hard to play in the mall with all the noise and echoes. We have another concert next week in one of the school auditoriums, so that should be better.

Since Denis brought Carrie to this concert (it’s much easier to deal with an antsy toddler at the mall than in an auditorium), we were quite late putting her to bed, and boy was she milking the delay tactics. I suggested we say good night to the Christmas tree, so she said goodnight to the tree, the lights, the angel on top, the ornaments, the mouse (I was confused about this until I realized there was a mouse on one of the ornaments), and so on… It was so cute, though, that I didn’t have the heart to stop her!

Some Days Are Better Than Others

Sarah Carolyn

Last night I heard from the kitchen, “Mommy, I under the mistletoe! I under the mistletoe Mommy, come kiss me!”

I tried to keep that sweet, funny little girl in my mind while I endured two hours worth of tantrums this morning. It started out like any other morning, but wound up being one mini-tantrum after another – about wanting to keep her pajamas on, which pants she was going to wear (mind you, I was just trying to put on the ones she picked out), which bowl she was going to use for breakfast (again, she picked it out in the first place)… Then she wanted a new box of cereal instead of the one already open, insisted that her cup (which had been in the cupboard just minutes before) was old and dirty and she needed a fresh cup, and ultimately decided she just wasn’t going to eat breakfast.

Don’t even ask about the fact that she was pretending to be a puppy and crawling on the floor in the mall a couple hours after that. I’m trying to block that incident out of my mind.

Yep. Some days are definitely better than others. Today was not one of those days. It’s a good thing she’s so darn cute…

Bad Blogger

Sarah General

You might have noticed that, oh, 8 or so entries over the past couple of weeks just appeared…

I wish I had a good excuse. Really, it’s just that I’ve been too darn lazy to get the pictures off of my camera for a while, and then I was so behind it seemed too big a task. Oh, well. At least you know I’m still here, right?

I promise I’ll try to be better for the rest of the month. After all, unlike last year, I’m so far along in my Christmas preparations you could tell me that Christmas was all of a sudden going to be moved up to tomorrow and I’d be fine with that. (By the way, for those of you not finished yet, there’s only 21 crafting days left until Christmas…just trying to be helpful.)

Christmas Magic

Sarah Carolyn

As a child, I always loved Christmas. I’ve loved it as an adult, too, but I’ll admit it lost a little of the magic and sparkle for a while there. But now, watching Carrie experience it all, it’s just as magical as it was when I was a child. Maybe more.

This afternoon we watched A Muppet Family Christmas and then decorated the tree. Carrie loved the movie. She’s never seen Kermit or Miss Piggy before, but she was thrilled when the Sesame Street characters came caroling, and if you ask her what her favorite part of the movie was she says “Piggy!” She also really loved putting the ornaments on the tree. There’s a clump of several of our most child-friendly ornaments on two bottom branches, because she felt they looked best all hanging on top of each other. She was even excited to put the angel on top.

When you ask her what’s happening, she says “Santa Claus is coming soon!” I don’t know if she really knows what that means, but I’m sure she’ll be thrilled on Christmas morning regardless!

Happy December!

Sarah General

I woke up this morning to “Jingle Bells” being sung over the baby monitor. I think Carrie is really excited about Christmas, even though I seriously doubt she understands it all. We’ve done some decorating already and she keeps asking, “Decorate more, Mommy?”

We went to a tree lighting ceremony that the town put on this evening. It wound up being moved indoors due to weather, and we were very, very late to it, but Carrie still enjoyed it. She had no problem with the big reindeer and polar bear walking around, and happily sat on Santa’s lap for a picture.

I can’t wait to put the tree up tomorrow! And later this weekend maybe we’ll bake some cookies.

I love December!