Callen and Crew

Tis the Season

As I mentioned in the last post, we have been busy getting ready for Christmas. It is amazing what an extra week between Thanksgiving and Christmas can do for you. I felt like we were so rushed to get the tree up, bake, and do all the other little stuff to make Christmas the most wonderful time of the year.

Growing up, each of our families had traditions that we cherish. My mom made a great Advent calendar that she used to attach presents to every day. She did this as long as I can remember...even when I was in college she kept that tradition going. Every day, we would run to the calendar and beg to open the present. We had to take turns each day since she put 3 gifts into one present. Often times we would get candy...that she stole from our Halloween buckets...and that wasn't too exciting. But there were times when we would get some great gifts. One year my dad gave us increasing amounts of money throughout the calendar until on the 24th he gave us a giant Hershey bar. Tucked between the outer wrapper and silver foil was a $50 bill. I felt like I had found the Golden Ticket on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!! After she passed away, I took the Advent calendar because I knew that was one thing I wanted to do with my family. I started giving gifts to Doug our 2nd Christmas, and have continued since. My mom also bought us a special themed ornament every year. On the 24th, I give Doug his themed ornament that has some relevance from the past year. Callen did receive his own ornament this year, but was not included on the Advent calendar. I figured Doug deserved one more year of fun (plus, Callen had no clue what was going on and needs nothing!) Next year will be different though. I can't wait to see Cal's excitement every day to open a gift and play with what is inside.
My mom also used to bake 7-8 kinds of cookies each year. We spent a full weekend just baking. I loved this time in the kitchen with her. Icing sugar cookies, dunking chocolate balls into the chocolate, rolling the butter balls into powdered sugar...at the time I loved doing about 5 cookies before wanting to move onto making the next kind. But as I make my own Christmas cookies, I think back to those times and am so happy I was able to be in the kitchen learning and helping her. There are certain cookies that Doug really enjoys and I make those each year. I then try a few other kinds that only I will eat (more for me!). I spend a good weekend in the kitchen baking and decorating; but I love it. I love the memories it brings and helps me to keep her memory alive. These are two traditions that always stick out to me when talking about Christmas. I hope that I am able to carry on these traditions with our own kids, and let them know about their Grand Momma Lou and how wonderful she was. and what she did to make everything so special.

This year I tried to get as much baking done while Cal was napping. I just knew that as soon as I had my hands covered in cookie dough, powdered sugar, or something sticky, Cal would get fussy and need attention. So, I figured it best that he be in his crib sleeping during the baking!! He was a great helper by napping for 1.5+ hours each day!!! That is a rarity these days, so I was one happy momma.
Decorating the tree was fun. I know the next few years will be a blast with Cal as he is able and wants to do more ~~decorating~~ destruction of what we just put up! However, little man did help to put the first ornament on the tree. He also helped while we decorated the front porch. He made sure all the bows and ribbons were just right for hanging.

We took Callen to see Santa. The Santa we saw was AWESOME. He was the best Santa helper I have ever seen. And he was sooooo good to Callen. He pulled Cal onto his lap and started talking to him like they were buddies. He wanted Cal to know what Christmas was all about, and how it worked with him and presents. Callen smiled some and finally looked at Santa and started yawning. One lady yelled out that Santa was boring him!! We also took Callen to see Christmas lights about 10 minutes from our house. We wanted to go to this one house because there are TONS of lights, and you can walk around. Cal was in awe! He just stared at everything. So cute!!!