After our whirlwind of traveling in November, we stayed pretty close to home most of the month.
We spent a lot of time in the kitchen, hosted a gingerbread party, took a trip to Dallas then back to Chelsea, looked at extravagant Christmas light displays, and went on lots of walks and bike rides.
Christmas with a 3 year old is the best. Quite possibly the best Christmas in recent memory. He loved EVERYTHING about the holiday – the lights, the presents, the treats, the stories, and the traditions. He had lots of Santa questions and couldn’t quite understand why we needed stockings. He came around to the idea when it was filled with treats Christmas morning.
We spent so much time in the kitchen – making gifts of homemade bolognese sauce, sourdough, and SO MANY cookies.
Chief quit sleeping like a champ. For years Chief has been an incredible sleeper. Even when we transitioned him to his “big boy” bed he stayed in until we would go get him from his room. Well, that’s a thing of the past. He consistently wakes up between 1:00am and 3:00am and comes crawling to our bed. We put him between us because it just feels too difficult to walk him back to his room in the middle of the night. We’ve had some serious talks and after Christmas, after our traveling, we’re going to address it.
When he comes into our room Chase will usually ask “Chief, what are you doing?” He’ll emphatically reply “I had the perfect idea! Come check on you!” We chuckle, roll over, and all go to sleep in a tangled web of arms and legs.
We took a trip to the Gaylord Texan in Dallas. The Gaylord Texan turns their entire resort into a giant Christmas village – huge gingerbread houses, the longest toy trains you can imagine, Christmas trees as tall as skyscrapers, and the best Santa I’ve ever met. Just outside the main hotel, they have ice skating, snow tubing, snowball fights, and an ICE! display that prompted our trip to the resort in the first place. Every year is a different theme, but this year the theme was “A Charlie Brown Christmas” – the most perfect theme for our little man.
ICE! is a larger-than-life ice sculpture display, carved from 2 million pounds of ice. The ice is colored, so it looked and felt like you were walking through a winter wonderland with the Peanuts gang. They had two-story tall ice slides that Chief quickly declared was his favorite! The attraction was kept at 9 degrees, so we bundled up well and draped the parkas they supplied over our other layers.
Chief was mesmerized by the entire experience. It was so much fun watching him take in all the “Christmas hotel” had to offer.
We hosted a gingerbread house party. We invited our good friends, the Jaquas, over for a lasagne dinner and gingerbread building. I think the kids ate more toppings than they put on their houses, grabbing handfuls of sprinkles and shoving as many as they possibly could into their tiny mouths.
We built “gingerbread” houses out of graham crackers and hot glue, so the littles could be as rough with them as they pleased. I felt like I cheated on my gingerbread duties, so we snacked on homemade gingerbread cookies while the kids decorated their graham crackers.
We spent Christmas in Chelsea. It was a quick couple of days, but the sweetest Christmas yet. We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom’s side of the family, eating so many different types of meat I think I still smell like I’m sweating prime rib. Santa paid a visit after dinner and Chief made his final plea for a trash truck.
He went to bed late, eagerly awaiting the next day. When he woke, he was so excited to find a “trash truck with a claw” placed next to his stocking. He really LOVED the trash truck, but he loved every gift he opened that day. After every book, shirt, or other gift I thought he would push to the side he would declare “I’ve been waiting for this!” or “This is just what I wanted!” We all fed off his enthusiasm that morning.
Things Chief said:
- “Turn your face.” When trying to get our attention.
- Chase has grown out a mountain man beard over the last couple of months and Chief has recently decided “I don’t hug people with scratchy faces.”
- We have had talks with him about interrupting when we’re talking to each other, other people, or when we’re on the phone. We told him that when we’re talking, to wait until we finish before he interjects. Well, he listened. Now when we’re talking and he has something he needs to say, he starts the conversation with “Stop talking.”
- He wanted a watch for Christmas. He’s seen the big guys wear one so he decided he needed one too. He opened one Christmas morning and proudly put it on his wrist for everyone to see. He kept looking down at his wrist as if he were trying to keep us on a schedule. Someone asked “What time is it, Chief?” He looked down at his wrist and replied “It’s time…for Chief to open another present!” So witty. We laughed until we cried.
- I mentioned last month the way he describes time/the past. Well now his measurement of time is 20 years. Marnie, our former nanny, came by this month and Chief was coughing. She said “Chief, how long have you had this cough?” He replied “20 years.” Aunt Whitney asked him on Christmas Eve if he had been good this year, or naughty. He looked straight at her “I’ve been naughty for 20 years.” He’s an old soul.
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