'Tis the Season!

As I write, Katie is napping downstairs as her daddy watches a football game and the rain patters the windowpanes. Several of our smaller Christmas trees twinkle with light, and the familiar decorations of my childhood and adult life bring gladness to my heart. The house is clean, the piles straightened. We've even been out for a walk during a break in the rain. Tonight we have Thanksgiving Part II at my mom and dad's house. After I blog, I will get dressed and lay out Katie's clothes.

We have our McGaugh Christmas Party coming up, and so Katie and I started decorating yesterday. We still have one more dedicated solely to the outside lights, and a third day has been marked for picking out our live tree and trimming it. We love how our familiar decorations look in our new home. Our new home has necessitated changing the location of some of our Christmas things, but the changes are largely for the better. I know it sounds almost a little nuts, but when I chose the color palette for the house, part of my consideration was how it would look at Christmastime---my favorite time of year. Everything just feels so cozy...

Katie seemed to enjoy helping with the decorating this year, especially the part where she got to pull things out of boxes. And she really loved decorating her pink tree this year! It is beautiful to watch her delight in everything, from the lighted snowman on the mantle, to the tree in our kitchen, to the garland on the staircase, to her snowflakes. It will be so much fun to pick out our live tree with her this year!

Here are some pictures of our decorating fest yesterday:

Katie helps with the ribbon for the staircase garland.

We put on Christmas music and she dances! She loves to sing, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."

Katie prepares to hang an ornament on her pink tree.

Trimming the tree. We put the tree in the playroom (instead of her room) this year. We spend so much more time in the playroom and the outlet was more accessible. We can enjoy it more during bathtime, and it is cozy to have on when we come upstairs and see it first thing.

We also put her snowflakes above her table instead of her bed. Again, we like to be at the table and it seemed cozy with the tree right there. She calls this area her "snowflake palace."

In her pink candy cane pajamas after bath last night, Katie smiles at her tree.

Today we wrote our letter to Santa Claus. Katie drew him a picture while we conversed about her wishlist.

Drawing a picture.

We put the picture and the letter into an envelope, addressed it, and stamped it.

Katie mailed her letter in our mailbox. When she wasn't looking, I took it back out and am going to save it for her until she is much older.

Katie and her letter.

To write the letter, I had a conversation with her and wrote down what she said in quotes. We wrote an introduction together, and then made the list. Here are the things Katie hopes for this year, in her own words:

- "a train set"

- "more Peters" (as in Peter Rabbits)

- "I hate the Barbie"

- "a kitty purse I saw with a happy mouth"

- "a mermaid"

- "colored pencils"

- "some more blocks"

- "lipstick and chapstick"

- "more hot dogs"

- "more Legos"

- "a couple books"

- "alligators"

- "I want Santa's mommy to come over"

- "more dolphins"

- "a bouncy swing like the baby does" (I think she was referring to a story we read)

- "I want some more candles"


She is so sweet! I am not sure about having alligators at the house, though. That might get a little awkward when they get hungry. ;-)