Christmas Preparations

"Christmas preparations, you can see them all around. People getting ready, almost everywhere in town. Are you ready, for Christmas Day to come? Sing it with me or if you're a monkey hum." - A Very Monkey Christmas, Curious George (watched WAY too many times and not just at Christmas). 

This was our first Christmas with two kids in our new home and we wanted to do it up right. We started with some lights for the house. We went for cheery and want to head toward border-line annoying in the future. Bob was a little annoying, not making a plan, just hanging some and placing the rest on the rocks out front. 

We also send out a Christmas/Birth Announcement/We Moved card. I had them all ready to go the week of Thanksgiving so people could have out new address. I was pretty proud that I killed three birds with one stone!

We went to the Lawrence Old-fashioned Christmas parade. It is all horse drawn carriages and carts, which was fun to watch. EVERY single person who lives in Lawrence must have been there as there was ZERO parking and just tons of people. We ended up taking shifts watching the parade and walking to/from the car which was 45 min away. Cedric saw horses and got a free hot chocolate, so he was happy.

I bought Cedric a gingerbread house after his preschool class spent a week learning about the gingerbread man story and baking. 

It was basically an excuse to eat candy all afternoon. I didn't realize how hard it would be to limit the candy intake. 

I built the house in the morning so we could decorate after nap. Cedric was concerned with making the house look exactly like the one on the box. Sometimes he is a chip off the old block!

We ate some of the house over the week then had to toss it as it was getting too hard. 

With no mall in town we were thinking outside the box a bit on meeting with Santa. Cedric had never met Santa before, mostly because I thought he'd be too scared. We saw on the kids calendar that there is a local railroad called the Midland Railway that does a ride with Santa in December. Santa plus an antique train with cookies and hot chocolate? Yes please!

We bought the VIP tickets to sit in one of the dining cars and have unlimited drinks and cookies. It was okay, probably better than coach which was more like a bus. The train ride was almost 2.5 hours (which we didn't know) and near lunch time so Cedric was antsy, hungry and tired by the end. Clara was a trouper and slept in my arms for a bit. 

Cedric was too nervous to sit on Santa's lap but he did tell him what he wanted (a kitchen) and smiled for the camera, so I call it a win. (Side note: When we got dressed in the morning I told Cedric he had to wear a nice shirt for photos with Santa and he chose the Royals jersey saying it was his "best shirt"). 

Cedric had a school concert a week before Christmas and it was super cute. He sang the songs, did the actions and watched the piano. We sat in the wrong seats and ended up wondering around the balcony but we got to see him sing. He said he saw us waving, so that was nice. The concert was followed by a cookie reception. 

 The week of Christmas we made sugar cookies for Santa. I made a special frosting with the remainder of my homemade brandy butter. Cedric had fun rolling the dough, cutting out the shapes, and adding sprinkles.

 And on Christmas Eve eve we set out cookies for Santa. We didn't enforce Santa that much, which I don't mind. We decided that Santa was going to knock on the door at night and Daddy would let him in to have his cookies and leave presents. Cedric is a bit of a worrier, so anything to keep him calm :). Oh and Clara was along for the ride, either in the bjorn or watching from my lap. Next year I'm sure she will be much more involved in our preparations!