Saturday, December 3, 2011

christmas with kids

b and i put our christmas tree up this week. we spent monday night decorating it [a beloved fake tree, purchased at target with leftover wedding gift cards three months after we got married & used every year since] and putting out all of our decorations.

the next morning jack woke up and could barely believe his eyes at all the exciting new things in our apartment. he spied the advent calendar first and inspected every number. then he went around the corner and saw the TREE. oh it was hilarious. i wish i had gotten it on tape. he checked out all the ornaments, poked the lights, said "ooooohhhhh" at every new piece. that tree has become his favorite toy and he played with it every day this week.


he especially likes this wooden nativity scene, made of wood blocks & mod-podged stickers. i made it in 2008 at a church activity. i thought it was kinda chintzy but everyone around me kept saying, "oh, but your kids will LOVE it." of course i had no children then, and i was typically pretty bitter toward being surrounded by a zillion babies at all times. and, of course, i had chosen not to have kids for the time being -- b and i wanted a few years to get settled and work and do our own thing before babies came along, a choice that i felt [and still feel!] strongly about. but i knew that i REALLY wanted kids, when the timing was right, and sometimes it just wore me down that i was the only one on the planet without a baby. or at least i felt that way.


fast forward 3 years and here i am, with a little toddler of my own who absolutely adores those silly blocks. especially when he can stack them up. christmas really IS more fun and magical with children in the picture, just like i've always heard, even if that child is only 17 months old and thinks the only purpose of a christmas tree is to provide raggedy andy-shaped teething rings. those few years of waiting for us to be ready for jack were tooootally worth it, because life with him now is awesome.

5 comments:

Sarah said...

Love this post! Glad jack is enjoying the Christmas tree this year. Amen to waiting to have kids... I'm so happy to be a Mom but I think for me I appreciate it more and was a little better prepared (although you are never REALLY prepared ha ha).

Angela and Mike said...

AGREED. I absolutely love the holidays now that I have a kid. Colton too is obsessed with all my decorations. I love that Jack Ooooed at the Christmas tree and poked all the lights. haha. He is too too cute. I can't wait to hear how he likes opening PRESENTS!

and I think the block nativity is cute!

Paige Taylor Evans said...

We've used the same fake Christmas tree that I got for $5 while working at Target at Guest Services (for a short 6 months) for like 6 years now. I love Target :) Those blocks are so cute! And I hear you about waiting to have kids and all that stuff. So glad we were married for 3 years before Fox came along.

Leandra said...

I'm glad you made those blocks you didn't even know how they would make Jack's whole life:)

Alison Rae said...

Thanks for the comments about waiting to have children! I totally agree! We have only been married a year and every time I say "guess what" to anyone they always say "You are pregnant?!" Haha. It is funny, but I really feel that you do need to be prepared on all levels (spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally) so that you are able to be an adequate parent to your children. This is something I definitely don't feel ready for yet but I am sure I will get there some day! Thanks again!