Christmas Magic

It has been said that "Christmas waves a magic wand over the world and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."  (Norman Vincent Peale)

I found out this afternoon how true that saying was when Laney turned to me while playing with Play-Doh, gave me a hug, and whispered in my ear,


"I love you more than reindeers."

Truly some Christmas magic for me at her play table today.

Mornings

My kids have started playing together.  Not just playing in the same room, but really interactively playing.  Most of this play happens in Liam's room which has more floor space since he is still in a crib and not a big boy bed.  They love to run around his room, play behind the curtains, and to do laps around his mirrored wardrobe doors.  His closet is extra deep, so there is a convenient little running lane on the inside of the closet between the clothes and the backside of the doors.  If I sit in the playroom on our sofa in just the right spot, I can monitor them without them noticing.  Usually they are screaming with laughter, and sometimes they just stand and dance/bounce in front of the mirror.  Priceless!

I left them doing just this the other morning after getting them both dressed.  I headed off to my closet to get dressed for the day and was pulling a shirt over my head when the peals of laughter turned to shrieks of annoyance.  When I walked into Liam's room I found him face-down on the carpet with Laney draped over his back, arms around his neck.  This is her version of hugging him, and it totally pisses him off.  Liam was screaming and struggling to get away, and instead of helping him, I began to laugh hysterically because Laney was yelling as loud as she could:  "You are my friend!  You are my friend!"  Then she stood up and whacked him in the middle of the back and added a final  "you are my friend Liam!" and stomped off.  As soon as she got off him, Liam toddled over to the closet and began happily playing by himself.  Surprisingly there was no fall out over the situation and they just went on playing as usual.  Siblings!  Laney better watch out though.  Soon Liam will learn to fight back, and then these scenarios might not have such a civil ending.

Mr. Heart Happybags 2011

There's a new Christmas tradition in town, and it is called "The Elf on the Shelf."   All of my friends with kids have one, and I have to say, this thing really is magic!    In a nutshell, the elf magically arrives after Thanksgiving from the North Pole, and watches behavior around the house.  He magically flies back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa about your behavior.  Then he comes back, hiding in a different spot each day.  Click here for a full description of the tradition from elfontheshelf.com 

Let me digress for a moment as I take you back in time to Christmas 2010, when our elf arrived at our home.  Laney's cousins all had elves and it was time for her to join in on the fun.  I picked up our elf at Hallmark and we sprung him on her one morning in late November.  As we opened the box, I realized for the first time that elves can come in many different varieties (namely light or dark skinned, blond or brunette, and brown eyed or blue eyed.)  Heart happens to be light skinned, brunette, and blue eyed.  We let Laney hold him as we read her the book, and then got to the page where the family picks a name and records it on the Elf Adoption page.   Most of my friends have elves in their homes with cute Christmas-y names like Jingles, Peppermint, and Snowflake.  Laney decided to name our elf,  Mr. Heart Happybags.  My hand to God, that is exactly what she told us when we asked her what we should name him.  We dutifully recorded it and like all the other oddball animals we have had in our lives, he quickly became a part of the household.

Mr. HHB made his grand reappearance this year in Tahoe.  We traveled there on Friday after Thanksgiving and woke up Saturday morning to find him hanging out on the chandelier over the dinner table.  Laney was REALLY excited to see him (thanks to P and I talking it up for a week beforehand), and a dramatic improvement in her behavior has been noted by Mr. HHB and myself. Below you will find a daily picture of Heart's local hangouts.

Saturday, 11/26  HHB hangs out on the chandelier so he can watch Laney and make sure she eats all her dinner.

Sunday, 11/27 Heart moves to the pendant light over her little table so he can watch her color.

Monday, 11/28  HHB finds a spot on the fireplace to nestle into, making sure to position himself for a great view of Monday Night Football.

Tuesday, 11/29  Heart moves into the kitchen to keep an eye on all the activity from up high.

Wednesday, 11/30  Heart snuggles into the pine boughs of a wreath on the door, just to make sure he doesn't get left behind as we pack up to leave.

Thursday, 12/1  Mr. HHB warms up his tushy in a candle holder in our living room, watching us unpack from our trip. 

Friday, 12/2  Just hanging around, scouting out his next arrival spot.

Saturday 12/3  Heart's appetite got the best of him and we found him covered in crumbs after pigging out in a plate of cookies from a cookie exchange I attended.



Sunday 12/4  We decorated our tree yesterday and found HHB in it this morning, no doubt checking out our tannenbaum splendor.



Monday 12/5  Sinterklaas came to our house last night, and our nosy little elf made his way over to the door to check out the Dutch tradition.

Tuesday, 12/6:  Heart took some liberties with our camera and computer last night.  We woke up this morning to find a printout that had a picture of him with Toby and a note for the kids that read:  

Dear Laney and Liam,

I love hanging out with Toby while you guys sleep.  He has been such a good boy, I am sure that Santa will bring him a big, juicy bone for Christmas!

Love,

Heart Happybags

Wednesday, 12/7:  We caught HHB hanging out with our Nutcrackers.  Took us awhile to find him, as he blends pretty well!

Thursday, 12/8:  Heart has a girlfriend!  

Friday, 12/9  We found Heart nestled into a wreath above our pantry door, snuggling with a candy cane.  As soon as Laney saw him, she started yelling "Naughty elf!  Naughty Elf!  Don't eat my candy cane!"  She was really upset that he had one up there, and we had to remind her that if he ate the candy cane we could always buy more.

Saturday 12/10:  Watching "Wipeout" with the family

Sunday 12/11:  Elf camouflage

Monday 12/12:  HHB eats his way through my decorative gingerbread house.  Not so decorative anymore!

Tuesday 12/13:  Heart was singing in the rain after some winter showers

Wednesday 12/14:  Heart was eating our treats and cookies during the night.  Someone (Laney) got very upset with him again after spying another candy cane in his grip

Thursday 12/15:  Late night book club, elf style

Friday 12/16:  Snow angels, So Cal style

Saturday 12/17:  Just hanging around

Sunday 12/18:  HHB sleeps like a bat

Monday 12/19:  HHB goes nuts with all the necklaces upstairs.  A little early for Fat Tuesday...

Tuesday 12/20:  Everyone knows that elves LOVE pancake syrup

Wednesday, 12/21:  Feeling a little sticky after his affair with Aunt Jemima, HHB takes a shower

Thursday, 12/22:  Found HHB in Laney's dollhouse, clearly chatting up the ladies.  Perhaps he dumped the nativity angel.  She probably wasn't his type.

Friday 12/23:  Heart appeared on our newly installed metal gates on the wall over the fireplace.  He had a letter from Santa and 2 candy canes in the "letters for Santa" ornament for our Christmas tree.  Santa encouraged the kids to be nicer to each other, urging Laney to share with her brother and Liam to stop pulling Laney's hair.

Saturday, Christmas Eve:  Heart appears for the final time in the pasta jar that holds L and L's favorite food:  mini wheel pasta!

We let Laney fall asleep with HHB on Christmas Eve, since Santa was collecting him after he stuffed our stockings.  Laney was very worried that he would lose his magic, but we assured her that he wouldn't need it that night because he was catching a ride to the North Pole in a sleigh.

Farewell HHB!  We will see you again next Thanksgiving (or any time I am looking for something near the back of the top shelf in our pantry)

I baked something...

...and it is actually edible.  Delectable even!  Here is the recipe, thanks to Hershey's Kisses and their handy bag of Candy Cane Kisses.

INGREDIENTS:

48 Hershey's Kisses brand Candy Cane Mint Candies

1 stick butter softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp. milk

Red or green sugar crystals (I used the large ones)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350F.  Cream butter, sugar, egg, aned vanilla until well blended.  Mix dryu ingreients together and then add alternating with milk to butter mix until well blended.  Shape dough into 1 inch balls.  Roll in sugar and then place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are brown and cookie is set.  Unwrap the kisses while the cookies are baking.  Remove cookies from oven and let cool on the sheet for 3 minutes.  Then press a kiss into the center of each cookies.  Place cookies on a wire rack to completely cool.  

ENJOY THIS FESTIVE TREAT! (And make everyone think you can actually bake)

Seriously

Could I have a day where I don't have to wash pee off something?  Please!?!

Liam's sensitive side

We discovered this weekend that if you tell Liam no, or especially "no-no-no" when he is doing something naughty (i.e. pulling cords out of walls, throwing food off his tray to the dog, playing with the dog food bowl, hitting his sister), he will get really offended.  He will, as Laney says, "have wobbling lips" and then he screams and cries at the top of his lungs.  Liam also has started biting things, not people, but things like tables, high chairs, and slides at the park when he is frustrated.  He will bang his teeth against the intended victim and scream loudly.  Poor little guy, if only he could talk!  He also screams and gesticulates wildly at mealtimes if he sees something he thinks he needs (like our sodas, beers, or a cup of juice).  We have to get him his own cup and put tiny amounts of juice in it so he can gulp it down one swig at a time.  He is very sensitive right now to anything and everything we say, but has been a little nicer to live with the past week as he really is walking so well.  He LOVES playing upstairs because he can walk around all the bedrooms and the playrooms, and frequently does laps.  His laps include a once-around the mirrored wardrobe doors in his room and all the way into my bathroom and back.  He doesn't really even walk like Frankenstein anymore, but does do an odd little wrist roll as he walks and tries not to fall.  He is definitely getting fast and I even caught him trying to do a little waddling run tonight.  Lord help me, that kid is going to be running by next week!

Snuggle time fail

I woke up one morning recently to find myself and Laney cuddled together in bed.  Patrick (God bless him) had already gotten up with Liam, and I was delighted to feel Laney snuggle in closer to me as she began stirring.  She opened her eyes and looked up at my face and said in the sweetest voice she could manage:

"Mommy, your breath smells like diarrhea."


It's a good thing she's cute....