Yay, Christmas!

Whoa. A whole bin of Foffy Momans.

Ray and I are typically procrastinators. Both having been in the newspaper biz, we joke that we don't accomplish anything without a strict deadline. And that usually means I have to plan some event or party to make things happen around our house.

Since we have the added frenzy of Sawyer's mid-December birthday thrown into our holiday preparations, I told Ray we were going to decorate REALLY early this year so it would be done and not stress me out.


Still holding his choo-choo while checking out the Nutcracker


Sawyer saw the three stockings and said, "Sock. Sock. Sock."


Helping Daddy with the ornaments


Got these ornaments as a wedding gift

Decorations started going up shortly after Thanksgiving and our tree was up by Dec. 2, even though it wasn't decorated in time for our small holiday gathering after Greensboro's Festival of Lights.


On Elm Street, after the tree lighting


Sawyer and his cute date for the evening, Sophie Giddings. He likes older women.

I always love the way our house looks at Christmas, and Sawyer is also loving the added lights, colors and sparkles. He helped (well, mostly watched) as we decorated the tree. And he's enamored with a snowman decoration that has lights and sound-activated Christmas music.

He's quickly learned that clapping makes "Foffy Moman" play a new tune, but he can't clap loud enough to activate it. So I'm constantly hearing: "More clap, Mama. Foffy Moman."

This morning when we came downstairs, he asked me to turn on the Christmas tree lights, which we have plugged into a foot-activated switch (much easier than crawling under the tree to switch them on). I knew when I stepped on the button that it wouldn't take long for him to try it himself.

Twelve hours later, on my dinner break, he wandered into the living room and made a beeline for the switch. He stepped on and off it eight or 10 times. The lights would turn on or off but wouldn't stay on. Finally, he said, "Mama" and pointed to the switch. So I clicked it on.

He threw his hands in the air and proclaimed. "Yay, Mama. Yay, Christmas tree."

Yay, indeed. It's gonna be a fun Christmas.