A few thoughts on Christmas

We arrived home from Michigan on Saturday night and Jane was ready to put up the Christmas lights. Bedtimes, unpacking bags and grocery store runs were at the bottom of her to do list. She wanted to set up the lights. After some convincing and promising, we were able to get her to bed and assured her that we would purchase a tree on Tuesday and that we would starting decoration ASAP. There is nothing like a three year old to kick you into gear for the holidays. It's a good thing, she keeps me on my toes and forces me to make things festive, which I like to do anyway.

On Tuesday, Trever came home from work and I told him we were going to get the tree. I think he was hoping we could wait another day or two, after having a busy couple of days at work. I had promised Jane that we would get a tree, so there was no turning back. We packed up the girls and headed to Costco, very practical and not very exciting but Jane felt the excitement. The trees were all wrapped, so we took a gamble and chose one that seemed to be the right height. It has turned out to be a good tree, although it's a little big for my taste, I guess that is what you get from a warehouse. Jane and I decorated the tree on Wednesday and she put the tree topper on with Trever last night. We are now ready for Christmas.

I told Trever that I am going to buy an artificial tree after Christmas to have on hand. I have been hesitant to buy one because it kind of feels like I am throwing in the towel, but lets be honest, picking up a tree from Costco isn't really that exciting. And, if we want to cut down a tree one year, we can leave the fake one in storage. Are you with me?

In other news, I pulled out our Christmas books and am excited to read them to Jane. We found the Elf on the Shelf book and read the story a few nights ago. I purchased this kit a few years ago, thinking it would be so fun for Jane and such a great tradition. I have seen some good ideas for hiding the elf on Pinterest and other mommy blogs and have been excited to try them. Well, the elf came out and Jane had a lot of questions. Are you moving the elf mom? Is it just pretend? Where is the North Pole? Can our elf talk? Why not? Why can't I touch him? I have been trying to stick with the story line but in the end I just feel silly. It feels funny to tell her this big lie about the elf watching her and reporting to Santa each day. Telling her that he leaves each night and goes to the North Pole. I just feel funny about it and it's really no big deal. I am going to have to put on a better game face for the whole Santa story. As for the elf, I have told her that it is just pretend and that we will have a game where I hide it each night and she has to find it. Call me boring, just seems to work for us and she is still excited to hunt for our elf each morning.

We are excited to participate in the Christmas activities in our area. Our top three include riding the Santa train on the El, watching the trains at the Botanic Gardens and visiting the Zoo Lights at Lincoln Park. Let the fun begin!