St. Nick

We talked Santa up for Jackson for a couple of weeks.  We told him how he would bring him a present, a "choo choo" was his desire.  He had seen him on lots of shows leading up to Christmas.  He knew he said "ho, ho!"  But I still wasn't sure how he'd react to the old man in person.  Well guess wait he walked right up to the old man and perched himself on his lap and was all smiles.  I don't think he got the words out, "choo, choo please!" like we rehearsed, so big brother had to tell Santa for him.  He didn't manage a "uh huh" when Santa confirmed with him if that was what he wanted.  Looks like our crying Santa pic days may be behind us for now.

Oh Christmas Tree!

We picked out our tree the Tuesday following Thanksgiving.  I was all prepped and ready for a magical night picking out our tree followed by dessert at San Francisco Creamery (which is actually in our hometown of Walnut Creek).  Instead we got two over excited little boys.  The littliest of which was running all around the tree lot, trying to make his way either into the adjoining store or the nearby parking lot.  Ben was only adding to the craziness by chasing him.  So our night really ended with a canceled ice cream date and me yelling at the boys in the car parking lot while James paid for the tree.  At least we got the tree right; silver lining.  

You know though, the good thing about parenthood is for as many lows or difficult moments, there are at least an equal amount of magical, good times.  And decorating the tree the next night was definitely one of those moments.  I let the boys do most of the work and didn't stress if it looked perfect.  Kinda a big deal for me.  While we decorated we rocked out to some Christmas jams, which has been blasting in our house since Thanksgiving.  There is nothing I love more about the holidays than the tree and sitting in our living room in the evening with the only light being that of the tiny twinkling lights on its branches.

Thankful

We moved again and once again I've fallen behind on my blogging.  Lots to share about the new homestead and James' new job (we like change over here), but first I'll start with Thanksgiving.  Our morning started off super mellow with no Turkey Bowl this year for James.  Instead we slept in till nearly nine and then I made us a big breakfast.  Jackson was on the couch with James when James told me to come look at him.  I figured he wanted to show me something cute he was doing, instead sadly he wanted to put out how lethargic he looked.  Poor guy was running a 101 degree temp.  He otherwise seemed okay so we decided to carry on with our plans and packed up in the car to head to my parent's house.  Immediately both boys passed out in the car and Jackson pretty much spent Thanksgiving napping on and off all day at both grandparent's house.  He did perk up a bit during dinner but only ate a roll.  Thankfully by the next day he was feeling much much better.  Little sick spells sure do make you count your blessings and good health being a major one of those blessings.  I feel it every time I come out of a migraine.  I'm just so thankful for my little family, for our health, and for the countless blessings we receive.