Date Afternoon

One of the challenges after you have a child is finding time to spend alone with your spouse, It's been extra hard for my husband and I because he's been working 6 days a week, and we are both in school.

But today, a friend of mine came over to watch Emily, and my husband and I got to go out to the movies. We went to see the newest Narnia movie, which was awesome. But it was just awesome to be able to cuddle in the movie theater with my husband.

I love my daughter, but I also love my husband, and it's nice to get some time away from Emily sometimes.

To Santa or not to Santa

I know that a lot of parents struggle with 'The Santa Question'. For my husband and I, we decided very easily to make Santa real for our daughter.

We had both believed in Santa when we were small, and I don't think having lived 'The Lie' damaged us in the slightest. I know that I loved keeping 'The Lie' up after I gave up believing, because my little sister still believed. In fact, my sister asked our mom point blank if Santa was real, and mom said no. Well, she wasn't ready to give up believing so she just ignored that conversation with our mom for another year!

Emily's bedtime story last night was "The Night Before Christmas" and she was excited at all the pictures in the storybook of Santa. Though she wasn't quite sure what to do with the 'real' thing when we took her to see Santa at Walmart over the weekend.

I think Santa adds to the magic of the season, and Christmas is so much more magical with a child to share it with!

Breaking Gender Stereotypes

When I was shopping for Emily's 2nd birthday gifts, I really wanted to get her a baby doll, because she didn't have one.

I saw the tool truck that is pictured, and I thought she would really like that too, because she really likes driving cars on the floor.

So she got a baby doll and the tool truck. She really liked both right out of the wrapping paper, but now, a month and a half after her birthday, she plays with the tool truck most of all.

Now I'm sure there would be people out there that would think this is a 'boy' toy that I shouldn't have gotten for my little girl. Though I do think that number is probably decreasing.

I hate the girl / boy toy thing. This stems back from my college years when I worked at McDonald's. I really disliked that we had two different toys, and that I had to ask which parents would want. When I was a kid, there was just one toy, and we liked it!

Now that I have a little girl, I want to encourage her to be herself. She loves trucks and playing tools, but she also loves to play kitchen and with toy food. I don't think there is a problem with liking either!

Santa

 We took Emily to see Santa today. Last year, she wasn't sure at all what to think (as shown by the picture from last year).

I had hoped that she would be more into meeting Santa this year, but alas, she got really shy once we got there and went to get pictures taken.

Plus she really wanted to get her candy cane open. Which she did end up doing on the way home. She was sticky all over!

I am thankful that she didn't scream - I've seen a lot of screaming child pictures with Santa. Of course, we aren't going to make Emily sit on Santa's lap (or sit next to him) until she feels comfortable with it.

I'm just glad we have these pictures, even if this year's wasn't the best. And I'm super glad that Walmart has Santa so you can get pictures for free! The mall Santas are so expensive and we just wouldn't be able to afford it.

Christmas Time!

I love Christmas! And it's even more awesome now that Emily is a little older.

We got our tree on Sunday (and yes, we did straighten it out after I took this picture). We also decorated it on Sunday as well.

This was the first year that Emily was old enough to help decorate the tree. Though she spent a lot of decorating time finding ornaments and asking her Daddy to put them on the tree for her.

Tomorrow we are taking Emily to see Santa, and I'm pretty excited about that too! Plus we'll be able to do Christmas cookies this year as well!