Christmas Prep

The countdown is on, one week left until Christmas Eve.  The month of December is flying, like Dasher, Dancer, Prancer style fast and so we've been trying to enjoy every minute so as not to loose one moment of Christmasy goodness.

Last night was Josh's work holiday party and I loved having a reason to dress up and enjoy a much needed night out sans toddler.  Not to mention, the food and sangria were great.  Especially the sangria. :)

Grammy sent Ryan the Little People Nativity set a couple of weeks ago and she just loves playing with it.  It is super cute with lots of animals and a manger that sings "Away In A Manger" which Ryan then lifts over her head and dances with on an almost hourly basis.  I've had a lot of fun telling her the Christmas Story of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and the three Wise Men and Angel.  I know she doesn't really get it at this point, but I like to think I'm planting a seed, even at 17 months old.  I plan to put it away at the end of the holidays and bring it out again next year so that it's exciting and new again.

Ryan has been surprisingly great with the tree so far.  I was a tad nervous about her pulling down ornaments or, God forbid, somehow pulling down the whole tree, but she has been pretty content just looking at the lights and pointing at the ornaments.  I especially love the early mornings, in her pjs, when she seems most in awe of her tree.

She's also loving the advent calendar that my Mom sent us.  We had one very similar in my house growing up (still do) and as children, we used to fight over who got to put the stuffed toy in the pocket every day.  My Mom quickly put us four kids on a rotating schedule.  In fact, once we were all  in college, Mom sent out a list of all the choices via email and we would email in our pick for the day every 4th day.  Talk about not being able to let go of traditions....do they have professional help for that?

For now, Ryan doesn't have to fight with any other siblings.  But, I will say this, she chooses the teddy bear or the snowman (or both) EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  Apparently she doesn't take after me because my favorite was always the candy cane.

My Christmas cards went out in a VERY timely manner by Scurlock standards and I've been receiving some in the mail daily.  It may or may not be the highlight of my day most days.

The snow from Thanksgiving is all but gone and though I'm pretty much 100% okay with that, I might be not so secretly holding out hope for a "White Christmas."  Snow or not, Ryan and I have been watching Christmas movies almost every day.  Her favorite is "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," where as I have a list so long of favorites that it takes the whole month of December to watch them all, but "Home Alone," "Christmas Vacation," and "White Christmas" are at the top.

We're planning to take Ryan to see Santa Claus this weekend since Josh is actually off work all weekend.  We'll see how well that goes, but I am looking forward to the pictures whether she is smiling or screaming. :)