Um, sorry. Not for
accidently referring to Captain Picard as Captain Kirk. Although, it was interesting to hear from
multiple outlets that I needed to expand my Star Trek knowledge. I'm actually more sorry about the minor lie
that I may have told you yesterday. I
said that I was going to try to write about things pertaining to my days alone
with Ellie. However, sometimes there are
just more impressive stories to write about after Bethany gets home or on a
weekend. Thus is the case today. So please settle in, buckle your seatbelts,
and read aloud as Ellie...discovers...Christmas.
 |
| Captain's horse...Star Date...sometime. |
I admit that there may have been a bit of excessive
excitement on my part but I really can't help it. One of my favorite things of late is seeing
how Ellie reacts to new situations. I'm
relatively certain that each day is new and exciting for her in some way. So of course, I'm striving to come up with
ways to continually introduce her to something new each and every day. For example, I actually had Ellie sit and
watch as I cleaned out the refrigerator.
She was plenty fascinated with it between me holding her up and letting
her watch for a bit and also me showing her each thing I pulled out and explaining
what it was as I set it on the counter.
While there's clearly a ton of excitement in me pulling out a carton of
eggs and having the existential question of "What came first? The chicken
or the egg?" with my five month old, luckily there are things in her world
more eventful than that.
Last night as Bethany arrived home from work, we decided
that since it was now December, it was finally fair game to decorate from
Christmas. I say 'finally' because I
view anytime after Halloween as being fair game. I just love the Christmas season so
much. Between the music, the lights, and
the cookies, it really is the most wonderful time of the year (See what I did
there?). As is the case each year, step
one in decorating for Christmas involves setting up the tree. After I retrieved the tree from storage in
our subbasement, Ellie watched on in fascination as we assembled the tree,
piece by piece. Once the tree was
assembled, Bethany removed the lights from the box and plugged them into the
wall to test. Ellie's jaw dropped as she
gazed at the multi-colored strands. Red,
green, blue, yellow, and pink specks reflecting in her eyes. Her hands grasping at the strands and putting
them to her lips, only for them to be removed time and time again by Bethany.
Once the lights were wrapped, it was time to hang
ornaments. Since Bethany and I got
married, one of our traditions each year has been to purchase a Hallmark
Keepsake ornament representing a big event for the year (Before you ask; No,
Bethany did not let me get a Salvador Perez ornament in 2015). As we removed each ornament from its own box
in order of years, we explained to Ellie aloud the significance of each
one. After the last of our ornaments
were added to the tree, I remember that my mother had purchased one for Ellie
in honor of her first Christmas. Picking
Ellie up from her seated position on the floor, I placed the ornament in her
tiny hand and directed it towards an open branch on the tree. Ellie's reaction was to direct the ornament
instead towards her mouth. The third try
would finally be the charm as Ellie was able to help place her first ornament
on the tree.
 |
| "Hey Dad, I was going to eat that!" |
With this, we would turn off all of the lights in our living
room and just gaze at our Christmas tree illuminating the otherwise dark
room. Looking at Ellie, we could see the
excitement and joy on her face as she was mesmerized by the lights. It really made me think a little about the
simple things of the season and how I should strive to see things through
Ellie's eyes more often. #DaddyWrite
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