Christmas

Christmas is easily my favorite holiday. Dax was into every little part of it this season, too, which just increased the joy and excitement in our household. Take a peek at some of the highlights of our holiday.

Dax loved the music and could be caught daily singing songs. Some of his favorites included Jingle Bells, Away in a Manger, The Little Drummer Boy, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. One day, he started singing Raffi's song Must Be Santa during lunch. It was too cute not to capture:

He was also very interested in our Nativity sets and played with all of the figurines as much as the rest of his toys.

Of course we had lots of family time. We celebrated with the Pyles:

 Schulzes:

And Olsons:

Testing out his new Indoor Snowball Fight with Auntie Shannon

Dax re-learned about the excitement of presents, but was very careful unwrapping them this year. He tore off small pieces at a time, handing each one to someone before tearing off another. He also made sure that ALL of the paper was off the gift before even considering what he had gotten.

Once he had completed the task of unwrapping, though, he was very excited about all of his gifts. We are truly blessed to have so many people that love our little boy and he has enjoyed playing with all of his new toys since Christmas.

As always, though, the best part was having extra time for playing and snuggling together!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Although it has been ridiculously cold, we have found a few times to play outside with Dax and he LOVES it! He has always preferred to be outside rather than in and it is so fun to see his delight in everything snow.

Catching snowflakes

Loving his snow-covered playground

Taking a break from sledding to give his monkey a turn

Cheese!

Frosty and Dax

Superman

Dax's Elf on the Shelf was a hit! He was so excited to find Superman every day and loved reading the "notes". He was even quoting parts of the Christmas story randomly throughout the season - the best was when he was watching Daddy shovel and turned to me to share, "They all went to be taxed." Haha! Now I'm excited to continue the tradition of searching for Superman and learning about Jesus.

On Christmas Eve, it was sweet to see his goodbye as we prepared Dax that Superman would be going back to the North Pole when Santa came that evening.

New career?

During dinner last night:

Dax: Mommy's a boy.
Me: Who's a boy?
Dax: Daxy's a boy. Daddy's a man.
Me: What's Mommy?
Dax: Mommy's a fisherwoman.

I hope this boy never stops making me laugh. :)

Elf on a Shelf

Last year, Dax got an Elf on the Shelf as one of his Christmas presents. The little elf comes with a storybook, which explains that Santa sent him to watch everything and report back to the North Pole every night. It is intended to add some mystery to the season and to help ensure good behavior leading up to Christmas.

I was undecided about this little elf. As a teacher, I am very familiar with the extra wiggles and lack of self-control that can accompany the excitement of the holidays. I am also interested in almost anything that can add to the magic of Christmas. But something didn't feel quite right. I don't want Dax to behave because an elf is watching; he should behave because that is the expectation all the time. And isn't a month's worth of searching for the elf an excessive amount of Santa when we want Dax to learn about Jesus' birth?

In searching, I found that Elf on the Shelf is all over Pinterest. Parents out there have found so many creative (elf flying in a remote-controlled helicopter), hilarious (elf in the "hot tub" with other action figures), and naughty (elf found after having tp'd the Christmas tree) ways to display the elf each morning. Wait, what? Naughty? I was even less enthusiastic about motivating Dax to behave by using a mischievous little elf.

So, what to do? Jake and I decided that we would hide the elf every night for Dax to find each morning, but skip the book. We thought of how excited he was about the joker game this summer and decided I Spy was an appropriate game for Elf on the Shelf without putting too much emphasis on it. Then I read this blog and everything clicked.

Instead of sharing the Elf on the Shelf story, I wrote a letter to Dax from Santa. The letter explained that his elf was visiting our house this Christmas to remind Dax to be kind, help other people, and always remember that God loves him. Denise, Dax's amazing daycare provider, shared a Bible verse for every day that they will be revealing in an Advent calendar at daycare so Dax's elf will also be holding that each day to reinforce what he learns with her. We can not only share the magic of Santa, but also share the real reason for the season in a fun way every single day.

Today, Dax found his Elf on the Shelf. He walked right past it at first and was busy hanging a new ornament on the tree, but once he spotted the little guy, he could not get enough. He decided to name it Superman (after Mommy vetoed both "Daddy" and "Mommy" as names) and played with it all morning. It will be fun to see his reaction to the new hiding place each day. Stay tuned for the cutest elf moments this season.

Oh Christmas Tree...

The Christmas season is upon us! For the first year ever, we put our tree and some decorations up before Thanksgiving. We have not stopped preparing for this most wonderful time of the year since!

Don't get me wrong, we didn't skip Thanksgiving - I continued the tradition (is 2 years a tradition?!) of running the Turkey Day 5K, then we watched some of the parade on TV, and ended with a delicious dinner and great conversation with the Olsons. It is hard not to reflect upon the many many blessings in our lives.

But, as much as I love Thanksgiving, I LOVE Christmas and everything that comes with it - the lights, the music, the decorations. I think Dax is following in my footsteps. He has been so overjoyed with every moment. He asks us to turn on the tree lights, carries around a santa figurine, oohed and aahed over the Santa's workshop display at Macy's downtown, requests Christmas tunes periodically, happily helped decorate cookies, and could hardly contain his excitement when I showed him the box of Christmas books he could choose from for bedtime stories this month. Pure joy. I don't know if it's better to be experiencing this season myself, or to be experiencing it through Dax's eyes.