Merry Christmas!!!

I feel like I’ve been in a coma for the last week:  no work, no family in town, nothing to do, plenty of egg-nog and 3-year old holiday enthusiasm.  It doesn’t get much better than this.

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!!

Gingerbread House

Elayna and I went to Imagination Avenue this morning to make our first ever Gingerbread House!!  The store is adorable – its set up as a mini-town and Elayna loves to play there.  But I loved the gingerbread house activity – they had everything set up for us and made it very easy.

However, I realized quickly that I am not an architect.  Poor E … all her homes kept falling down!

After a lot of trial and error, we soon got the hang of it and E’s house is very sweet indeed!

Fireworks and Christmas-y Things

There’s a large number of Christmas-y events here in the valley and I like to thing we’ve sampled most of them.  Most consist of a small yard of hard-packed snow, simulated snowflakes made of soap, too many people and not enough bathrooms.  They do almost always put me in the holiday spirit though which is I suppose all that matters.

This year we decided to try a new sampling:  the Care Free Winter Fest.  In addition to the usual winter activities, they also offered a light parade and fireworks.  Absolutely beautiful.  And while there was still a huge crowd and not enough bathrooms, I really enjoyed the small-town feel of Care Free and the general festiveness.

Most of all, I loved how much Elayna loved it.  She loved the snow, the lights, the frybread.  She loved dancing in the square and looking for Santa.  She just loved it – and I suppose that put me in the Christmas spirit more than anything else.

Big girls by E

<while having a picnic in the shower>

E: don't eat that. It's for big girls.
Me: but wait. Mommy IS a big girl.
E: no you're not. You're a mommy.

Yes, yes. Enter the era of mommy un-coolness.