Holidays Shmolidays

We are getting geared up for Christmas around here. I love Christmas. I love the music, the decor, the tree. I pretty much love it all. That being said, I am getting a little of sick of it already and there is still an entire week until Christmas. I feel like I have been hustling and bustling to get everything done. Thankfully, I am almost done. Phew! Now I just need to enjoy the rest of it. Here is how we have been getting in the Christmas spirit around here:

Santa Train - We took Ollie on his first ride on the Lake Whatcom Railway's Christmas Train ride. The train runs on the old Lake Whatcom railway and has some very old train cars. It is a bit of a moving museum. They do special rides at Christmas, complete with Santa. Ollie loved it.

Family shot with Santa. I like standing next to him - makes me look skinny.

Looking for Santa, who comes and sits with each kid individually during the ride.

While looking out the window, we passed a Church with a big nativity scene out front. Ollie exclaimed, "I see the baby Jesus!" So funny, especially because we are not particularly religious people. Despite that, I always put up a small nativity scene at Christmas, because I grew up with one. Ollie helped me set it up and I explained all the story of the birth of Jesus to him and apparently he listened.

Shortly before Santa arrived at our seats, Ollie exclaimed, "He is FAT. He is really fat." Mylo and I barely kept our laughter at bay and fortunately, I don't think Santa heard him. That kid tells it as it is...

Ollie told Santa that he wanted a T-Rex. We shall see...

Henry was not a big fan of Santa.

Family shot - 3/4 looking at the camera isn't half bad. Plus my hair looks good.

Trimming the Tree - We went to a local tree farm to cut down our own tree this year and it is a beauty. It is a nordsman fir, which appears to be a combo of a douglas fir and noble fir. The only downside was that it wasn't super fragrant.

Putting the lights on.

Commencing decorating. Ollie was super excited to decorate and fortunately, Henry was napping. Ollie clustered all his ornaments in the same 18"x 18" area. Pretty funny.

We went with a silver and green theme this year. I like to mix it up each year. Next year I think we unload all the assorted family ornaments and go with colored lights.

Being very diligent in his decorating.

The finished product.

One of my favorite ornaments - given to me by Mylo's mom, Wendy.

The kitty has stayed away from the ornaments, but she likes to chill under the tree.

Making Goodies - We purchased a ginger bread house kit, thinking Ollie would enjoy doing that, but it turned out to be a total flop. I lasted about 25 whole seconds trying to put the houses together with the frosting before giving up. Mylo tried in earnest for about 10 minutes, but the frosting was not sticky enough, despite following the directions exactly. So we scrapped it and made ginger bread cookies.

Ollie had a great time cutting out the shapes and eating the finished product later.

Real men bake without shirts - didn't you know?

Christmas Lights - There is this mobile home park in Bellingham that goes crazy decking out the whole neighborhood in a frenzy of Christmas lights. Naturally, we had to go check it out again this year. Ollie loved it last year and this year was no different. We loaded up the car with cookies and cocoa in our travel mugs and enjoyed the show. The best part was Ollie excitedly pointing out all the things he saw. It went a little something like this, "Rudolph, Frosty, Frosty the Snowman, Santa..."

Decorating the House - In addition to the tree, we have got the whole house all decked out in Christmas trimmings. We put lights outside, decorated the mantle, and hung our stockings.

It all looks to pretty. I guess I will leave it up until Christmas afternoon, at least!