Christmas Parties and Christmas Tree

I must interrupt our Hawaii posts with a little glimpse into our current reality. Of course Hawaii seems a distant memory now that we are back into our routines and crazy busy trying to get ready for Christmas. Friday I watched Gideon during the day. The boys had a great time playing together and for some reason I always get more done when I have them both. Friday evening Elizabeth picked both boys up and Jim and I went to my work party. It is a nice dinner at a hotel with a gift exchange.

Saturday we went to the children's Christmas party that Jim's work puts on. He helped set it up and Emmett and I met him there. There were crafts, games, pizza and cookies. Then there was the dreaded Santa line. We went to the party last year and remembered waiting in line for a very long time. The catch is, you have to wait in line to see Santa to get your gift at the end. Not sure if this is a tradition we will continue. Below, Emmett is waiting ever so patiently in line, kicking lockers.

We waited in line for about 45 minutes. They make you wait until it's just about your turn until you can even see Santa. The look on Emmett's face when he saw Santa was completely priceless and worth it. Wish we had gotten a picture.

As soon as Emmett sat on Santa's lap he told Santa that he would like a train for Christmas. We had been practicing in line (what else do you do??) and he knew just what to do. The gift Emmett picked out was a set of Matchbox Fire/Rescue vehicles. He hasn't stopped playing with them all weekend.

After the party we decided to have Emmett nap in the car and we drove up into the mountains to get our Christmas tree. We strongly considered not getting a tree this year since we wont be here for Christmas, but we thought Emmett would really enjoy it and we would both enjoy it too, so we made it work.

We snowshoed in on the soft snow and found a very good tree. We wanted to be fast and not too picky...it seems like every year we hike around forever and end up coming back to one of the first trees. This year we made a quick decision and the tree is great!

Jim cut it down while Emmett supervised. Emmett had another really good look on his face when we said "timber" and the tree fell down.

On the way out Jim and Emmett did a little sledding, and then it was off to home. We got the tree set up and mostly decorated. It was a very full day but it worked out perfectly.