Merry Christmas!!

"Merry Christmas to all ... and to all a goodnight" (it has become one of Nathan's favorite lines). We hope everyone has a very merry Christmas season. We are really excited about Christmas this year and seeing Nathan's excitement and anticipation in the weeks and now days leading up to Christmas.

On Friday we took Nathan to the mall to visit Santa Claus. He was excited and was very patient while we waited for a few minutes and then went right up to Santa and had the chance to site down on his lap and talk with the big man himself! We asked what he wanted, he said, "toys." ... it's like come on Santa don't you know, I want toys, what else would a kid want. When we ask him what kind of toys, he usually responds, "Christmas toys." Again, kind of like, come on mom and dad, what other kind of toys are there at this time of year.

During this same visit to the mall we took Nathan to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. He made it through and enjoyed watching the chipmunks and dancing to the music and laughing at their silliness. It was a drastic improvement from the last movie we tried to take him to ... last Christmas season we went to see The Santa Claus 3 and he just wanted to run around the theater and be chased by either his mom or his dad or both!

When putting Nathan to bed tonight I was telling him the story of Jesus' birth (which we have done before so I was asking him to help me tell the story), and the first two times Mary and Joseph knocked on the door Nathan said, "There's no room." However, the third time they knocked Nathan said, "There's room." How fitting I thought!

Nathan has really enjoyed singing Christmas songs, mainly "Rudolph" and "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." Below is his rendition of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." It is not his best rendition, but it is pretty fun to watch him bounce on the couch and sing the words. Enjoy!

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

We are especially excited about the holiday season this year. Nathan knows well who Santa is and the fact that he is coming to town on Christmas. He has enjoys singing Christmas songs and can even sing most of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by himself and he knows parts of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. He has also learned that is it Jesus' birthday on Christmas. We had a family night lesson about the symbolism of the candy cane and he now calls the nativity shepards' staffs candy canes.


A week ago we went and bought a fresh Christmas tree. We lucked out and got a terrific tree that had a great shape and even had some little pine cones on it. We had a great time putting our ornaments on the tree and remembering the fun places we've been and things we've done. Nathan has fun looking at the different ornaments and commenting on his favorites.


We have also had a good amount of snow so far this year and Nathan has really enjoyed walking in the snow, sledding, and making a "Frosty" snowman. He loves to wear his boots and his snow pants. Nathan has also discovered he likes the taste of snow!

Below are pictures of Nathan outside in the snow, helping make a jello salad, and making a silly face with chocolate around his mouth.