We also attended our local town's holiday celebration. It is a very tiny town but they open up all the old buildings and serve hot chocolate, cider and cookies. It was a lot warmer than last year! Here are some pix from that:
Last week we were all invited to Jake's preschool holiday party. The kids sat on risers and sang holiday songs, and Jake sat with his mouth closed and calmly watched the audience. He had told us previously that he didn't like to sing at school, just listen. Mike was there to take pictures and every time Jake spied him in the crowd, he beamed at him. I was off to the side on a comfy couch, but unfortunately Jake didn't see me. Afterwards though I went over and gave him a big hug and he seemed very happy. About seeing me or about the fact that he knew what was coming next, I'm not really sure. Because then we all went outside and he sat over the huge plates of cookies, devouring them. He sure was happy!
My best xmas gift came the weekend before xmas. Mike and Jake went out and bought me a piano! It is lovely and sounds lovely and we've all been enjoying it a great deal.
There's nothing like a really pregnant woman making music! I hope the baby likes Christmas carols!
Our xmas morning was very calm. Jake went downstairs to see if Santa had eaten the snack he had left and his first reaction to seeing the crust of the peanut butter sandwich and the butt of the carrot he had left for the reindeer was to want to put the carrot butt in the trash - calling it "yucky." We agreed that it probably had reindeer spit on it and throwing it away was a good idea. He loved his big pile of presents and spent a great deal of time wanting to play with each one after opening it. I remarked that he opened his presents like a Montessori preschool kid. It was a big job, and he did it methodically and well. And he exclaimed with the first few gifts, that were entirely random things he had never seen before " this is JUST what I wanted!"
He really wanted to help Daddy open the largest box under the tree, which was a present from me to Mike. It was mesmerizing, almost a dance really, with the paper coming off and going over his head at some points. Here are some pix from that sequence:
I had warned Mike that the box was way too big for the gift; it was just a new frying pan!
In any case, happy times were had by all, and then we all settled down for a short winter's nap.
