Christmas Time is Coming!!

   This has been such a FUN holiday season so far! I love having a creative, active, excitable toddler to share these fun times! This year I didn't do a beautiful/creative advent calendar or plan a special holiday activity for each day in December, but I am trying to make this season a little different and special for Pj. I have tried to do a couple of different activities each week. The first week of December we started with decorating Christmas cookies with her cousins at her Aunt Danielle's. Pj loved this activity - mostly for the the spoonfuls of icing and the cookies that 
she got to eat!
  Another fun holiday activity that we enjoyed was that Santa Claus Parade in Fergus. This was both, Pj and Mark's, first Santa Claus Parade! She (ad Mark) had a lot of fun! Pj got to enjoy her first cup of hot chocolate (it was from the health food store, so no judging!), eat a candy cane, and watch all kinds of different floats and people walk passed. She was a little wary of some of the people in their costumes but all in all, she loved it. We, as parents, also learned that it pays to go to the parade with an adorable kiddo - we she received so many candy canes! We have not really introduced the idea of Santa Claus or talked about him a whole lot with Pj so I think she was a little confused about all the hype when he finally went passed. She did feed off of our excitement and squealed and waved at Santa with the best of them though! Mark and I have decided to not do the whole "santa claus" thing with our kids - perhaps a topic for another post! We do still enjoy the "tradition" of seeing Santa in a parade and getting pictures on his lap so it was fun to wave and cheer when he passed us at the parade. 
   After the parade we went home, ate supper, and then decorated our Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music, drinking eggnog and eating candycane icecream. Mark and I have done this every year since we have gotten married, but this is the first time that Pj really got excited and joined in the fun. She LOVED decorating the tree! At the end our tree was definitely bottom heavy, with all of the ornaments at Pj height or below. The OCD in me has had me slowly evening the tree out each day since we put it up - Pj doesn't seem to notice or mind (does this make me horrible?!). When people come over Pj quickly brings them to see our tree and tells them all about how she "made" it. She thinks that the tree is so beautiful! She loves the lights and turning the tree lights on is the first thing we do every morning (even before her bottle, which is HUGE). 

Pj showing Mark the ornament she chose at the store.

Learning how to hang an ornament. She was shown once and then she was good to do it on her own!

My little girlie - its a struggle to get her to smile at the camera sometimes! She's posing with her ornament :).

She decided the tree needed more garland. Don't ask about her outfit. She lately has been walking around pantless and with Big C's socks. I don't question anymore...

Our "bottom-heavy" tree. So cute watching her hang all the ornaments and exclaim "pretty!" each time!

   This week we baked a whole bunch of cookies and squares which we are bringing to our neighbours tomorrow. Pj helped with the baking and with picking out the containers to put the treats in. My hope is that she will actually talk to our neighbours (at the very least say a cheerful "Merry Christmas") when we go to their doors. I really want to stress to Pj the importance of giving and showing love to those in all areas of our lives!

Eating the icing. No worries, we aren't giving away the cookies she decorated :). 

A future baker in the making perhaps?! :D

   We have also done a DIY for Daddy's stocking (which didn't turn out quite the way I hoped so we'll be fixing it up next week). I'll do a post on this after Daddy sees his gift! It was so cute watching Pj make something for her Daddy! She took pride in her work and was quite focused on make it "just so". So excited for Mark to see what his little princess made for him!
   I have a couple of more ideas for the coming weeks, including: making snowflakes, having Pj pick out a stocking present for Big C (its never too early to teach her to give, right?), making a wreath for our front door (not sure if she'll help with this one or just wander off with her cousins), check out the lights display at Riverside Park, and a couple of other things! I try to discuss the importance of this season: Christ. She's still young, and a lot of the story goes over her head...but she ends most stories of Him with an "I love you Jesus" which just breaks my heart. I hope that she will still be saying that in years to come. I also wish (a little bit) that I could just as easily accept and exclaim "I love you Jesus!". Slowly Pj's budding faith is teaching me! 
   This holiday season has been the best that I can remember! I love sharing all these special memories with the three most important people in my life. If you're reading this, I hope you have a wonderful couple of weeks leading up to the celebration of Christ's arrival. Merry Christmas! 

Our finished tree :)!