octolilly [through the years]

We attended the 24th Annual Holiday Tree Lighting at our local library tonight. Elves passed out brownies and cups of hot apple cider while we sang Christmas carols. It was snowing the entire time as we sang around the steps of the library.

This was Drew’s first experience seeing Santa. In fact, this is the first Christmas where we’ve really even talked about Santa. Drew kept looking up in the sky (I guess he thought Santa was going to fly in on his sleigh) and when Santa rode in on a firetruck I heard a tiny boy squeal.

In the midst of the shivering crowd, Santa turned on the lights and then gave hugs and candy canes. It wasn’t the moment for sitting on his knee – it was the moment for magic. At one point Daniel turned to me and said, “do you want to get on my shoulders or something?” I was squealing just as much as the kids.

I was wearing reindeer antlers and when Santa got to us, he pointed at my antlers and asked Drew, “what does your Mommy have on her head?” Drew had been wide-eyed up until this point and then he just broke into the hugest smile and gave this adorable belly laugh and said “ANTLERS!” Santa chuckled deliciously and said “my reindeer at the North Pole have antlers just like that!”

It was such a wonderful winter evening. And the best part was when we saw a little boy running after Santa. He was shouting “Grandpa, Grandpa!”

In the midst of a day of errand-running and puddle-splashing, Drew found a cozy spot and clung to it.

Drew got these pajamas for LAST Christmas and they are still way too long. He’s been flopping about in them with the grace of a giraffe on skates. Ha! Skates. Perhaps the lack of grace on skates runs in the family.

I’ve rolled the legs up a bit so he can “drive around” without face planting but when I asked him to lay down for a picture he said “watch me pull them up on my tummy and look weird!” And that was helpful because they look normal for once.