It's coming! It's
coming! It's almost here! Ellie, do you know what I'm talking
about? Well, yes, I guess you're
right. Given the context, I could very
well be talking about your next bowel movement; massive in quantity and odorous
in smell. Instead, I'm talking about
Christmas. Your first Christmas, I might
add. While I'm always a huge fan of the
Christmas season, this one in particular has been a little harder to get in the
spirit. Something, something, newborn,
something. In all reality, we still
found ourselves decorating for the holidays as recently as Tuesday night of
this week. At that point though, the
decor isn't for show. It's more for our
own enjoyment as we strive to get in the Christmas spirit. The highlight of those decorations has been
watching Ellie take note of each of them and interact with them accordingly.
First thing today that Ellie chose to cultivate a
relationship with was our Christmas tree.
I already detailed in great, well, great detail her initial reactions to
it. It has become one of her favorite
places in our house to be though. She
absolutely adores looking up at the lights twinkling on it, especially if our
overhead lights are turned off and the room is otherwise dark. This morning, as we were playing on the floor
with her standing and jumping on my copious Christmas belly, she began to reach
towards the tree. Quickly taking note
that there were no ornaments near, I went ahead and let her do so. Imagine my surprise when she immediately
pulled a hook out of seemingly nowhere.
Obviously I had to act quickly lest my sweet baby end up looking like a
freshly-caught Christmas catfish (Family tradition, don't ask). Once the hook was out of the way, I let her
go back to feeling her branch of choice until she lost interest as an infant is
wont to do.
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| The culprit... |
Second thing that Ellie chose to take note of today was a
small pair of empty juice bottles. Ellie
has reached the age where even though she has a multitude of toys at her
disposal, our trash is much more interesting.
I think the reasons are two-fold.
Number one simply being, "This feels kind of cool and I want to
play with it." Number two being,
"I don't know if I'm supposed to have this. Now I want it even more." Obviously I saw no issue with her playing
with these so I took great enjoyment in setting them up in different fashions
so that she could practice her mad kung-fu skills.
The final thing that Ellie discovered today requires a bit
more explanation. Since I was about 12,
one Christmas decoration has become a staple wherever I lived; an animatronic
Mickey Mouse in a Santa suit. Watching
him slowly twirl his arms and twist his head whilst waving his giant candy cane
(no innuendo meant) around has become one of my favorite parts of the season. As I stood my daughter in front of
Mickey/Santa, she was immediately captivated by his big smile, equally big
ears, but mostly by his big candy cane.
She continually attempted to grab it but I held her to a look but don't
touch policy.
So, I may have lied slightly. I said that Santa Mickey was the final thing
but that's not entirely true. The last
thing that Ellie discovered really didn't maintain her interest but I still
found importance in the introduction of it.
That being a nativity scene taking up residence on our coffee table. I sat down cross-legged in front of it with Ellie
on my lap and proceeded to explain the significance of what she was
seeing. Now obviously she didn't
understand what I was saying, but I want to get in the habit of making this a
part of the Christmas season for her.
She needs to know that it's not about the tree. Not about the presents. Not even about Santa Mickey (tear). It's all about the birth of Jesus which is
important considering what comes later; the death of Jesus on a cross where He
sacrificed himself for our sins. I believe that's
the ultimate reason for the season and I want her to come to know that more than
anything as the Christmas seasons go by.
If I don't get a chance to blog tomorrow, to all of the
people who have supported me over the past half year, thank you to each of you
and have a Merry Christmas! And well, if
you didn't support me, then uh, I guess have a Merry Christmas too. #DaddyWrite
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| Merry Christmas from the Holts! - Photos taken by Callie Higgins Photography |
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