Christmas 2010

Wow. What a whirlwind the last few days have been, but I guess Christmas is always like that. It reminds me of my wedding - all of the planning and preparation and anticipation, and poof... it's over in a heartbeat. But as sad as I am to think that it's over, this was absolutely the best Christmas I've had in... well, maybe forever. Todd and I had such a ball watching Nicholas take it all in this year. He was SO excited about Santa, and he really got into the whole Christmas "thing," even more than I was expecting. He wanted to blast Christmas carols on the iPod and dance around the living room, he searched for Santa in every single thing we watched on TV, and of course, loved the whole receiving of, and yes, eventually the giving of the presents! He was so funny - on Christmas Day he was always making sure that Todd and I had something to open. He would go to the tree and get things for us, hand them to us and say, "Thank you, Mommy," or "Thank you, Daddy." (Even if the presents weren't actually for us.) It was very sweet. The hard part now is making him understand that Christmas only comes once a year. He keeps saying, "Santa comin' Mommy!" It's sort of a tough one to explain to a toddler!

One of the greatest parts of the holiday was Christmas Eve night. He had such a great time, and even got a visit with Santa! Can you beieve Santa found time in his busy Christmas Eve schedule to come to our party??!! We're so lucky. Nicholas was a little awestruck at first, but after a while, got up on his lap, said, "Thank you," for his gift, and even gave Santa a hug and a kiss. It was a Christmas miracle! Of course, you'll have to just take my word for it, because the battery in my camera died just as Santa arrived. It figures. If anyone out there has some good shots of him with Santa - email them to me! I was so bummed.

So... overall I'd say the holiday was a HUGE success, and I couldn't be more proud, or more madly in love with my little monkey than I am today. Funny thing is... I'll love him even more tomorrow. That's the cool thing about being a mom I guess! Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday too. Peace and grins from the Cutlers! :.)

Ho Ho Ho!

As a teacher, I've always known that Christmas is all about little ones, but now that I have my own, I can see that it's true. There is just nothing better that watching Nicholas sit by the Christmas tree in his holiday jammies and point to a book and yell out, "I see Ho Ho Ho!"

Granted, we still have some work to do on the whole "it is better to give than to receive" concept. Every time we talk about giving presents to other people, he responds with, "No. Me presents." He is two, for goodness sake, so we can cut him a little slack, but I must admit, it does make me cringe.

We're also working on getting up the courage to sit on Santa's lap. He's getting warmer, but we're not quite there yet. We're keeping our fingers crossed for Christmas Eve. We had our breakfast with Santa last weekend, and he was most interested in the turkeys! It was at Flamig Farm in Simsbury, and just outside the doors were a bunch of live turkeys wandering around. At the end of breakfast, he belts out, "Turkeys, please!" So funny. My boy is an animal lover. Wonder where he gets that from????

This past week was a tough one. Nicholas had his first battle with the stomach bug, which was totally gross. I swear I have never felt more like a mother than I did when he was sitting there covered in puke, and looking up at me saying in his most pathetic voice, "Mommy..." We all got through it, though. Ten thousand loads of laundy later... we are healthy again! Better last week than this one I guess!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

We have been having such a good time getting ready for the big day! There's so much to do this time of year, and Nicholas has been having a ball experiencing the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. We cut down our Christmas tree a few weeks ago, and he was a big help. He was squatting down next to Todd and yelling at the top of his lungs, "Cut it, Daddy! Cut it!" It was hilarious. I have a great video of it, but I can't seem to figure out how to upload a video onto this blog lately - they must have changed something. Nicholas has been surprisingly indifferent to the Christmas tree, which is good I guess. He helped us decorate it, but hasn't touched an ornament since. Of course, we purposely bought a very sharp blue spruce, which could land you in the emergency room if you grab a branch, so maybe that's why.

Today was the firehouse Christmas party, which was an experience! Nicholas must have walked every inch of that firehouse... ten times over! And between the chocolate donut, ice cream, cupcake, and lollipop he ate... he was in rare two-year-old-form! The magician made him this HUGE red and white balloon hat, which he wore proudly for the rest of the party. He looked like something straight out of a Dr. Seuss book.
We even got to see Santa ride in on the back of a firetruck, which was just about the coolest thing he'd ever seen. He didn't sit on Santa's lap, but he got close enough for a picture, and even said thank you for his gift. As you can see, though, he wasn't about to take his eyes of of him. We're having breakfast with Santa tomorrow morning, so hopefully by Christmas Eve, he'll have warmed up enough to actually sit on his lap. Here's hoping..







.