It's snowing here. Started last night and is supposed to last until Sunday. I believe the last amount I read was something like 22 inches. Although it's changing every few hours so who knows. Just thought I would share some of the Christmas activities we have been up to!
We spent all evening Wednesday decorating for Christmas as a family. I had put the tree up about 3 weeks ago. JUST the tree. It sat around naked for a while until finally schedules, moods, and naps all coordinated together. We realized pretty quickly Elijah would have to assist by dancing in his playpen to Christmas music. He's a good helper, but doesn't exactly follow directions. That was okay with him though, he danced away and watched a giant Care Bear snow globe I had put out. Apparently he likes that better then the tree.
We decorated a bit different then last year. We have the big tree in the front upstairs bay window (our formal living room) instead downstairs in the home office and playroom. And the other 2 trees I didn't even put up yet. If you can't remember what our trees looked like last year here is a few pictures:
That is our formal living room looking from the dining room. The tree straight ahead was done in all gold and antique colored glass ornaments. The tree on the left is all silver, clear glass, and pastel blues, pinks, and purples. It also had Dave's train under it. Obviously not 'baby proof' trees. He loved looking at them last year, but since he can touch this year, I think I will be skipping them.
This was our main family tree I was talking about. The gifts didn't really fit under the tree and ended up taking up that half of the room. That's why I think it's better this tree is upstairs this year with more room around it. All the ornaments that adorn this tree are family ornaments, ones Dave and I have had since we were kids, and ornaments the represent us. It's not really a themed tree, its just our family tree.
I had to include this picture too. This is our family room downstairs. On the right of the mantle is a stocking tree that I designed and started and Dave finished. I know you can't see very well because of all the stuff on it but it is totally made out of wood and painted. The arms to hold the stockings are candy cane's. There is also another on top (under Elijah's Santa hat) We each have an arm and there is one more for at least 1 of Elijah's future siblings. If we need more, Mommy and Daddy will just have to share an arm! The big stocking on the left side of the mantle is our family stocking. I put things for the whole family to share in there like home made goodies, board games, etc. This year our stocking tree is upstairs with the tree and because we have a new huge mirror over the fireplace the mantel decorations are totally different.
I will share pictures of the house for this year as soon as I am completely done.
So back to the story, we spent a few hours decorating the tree, the room, and dancing around to Christmas music. We also put all of Elijah's big presents together. This is the last year we will be able to have his stuff right in front of him and he not know the difference. Besides his presents I had picked out to get him, I got him two of the giant stuffed animals from ToysRus. They were a special, if you spend $50, you could buy one of these for $5 each. I got him both types they had, the puppy and the bear because I couldn't choose. Well that was the only thing I was not able to sneak by with. He saw them and exclaimed "AAAHHHHHHHHHAAAAAWWWW" (his loving 'hug' sound) so I handed them in to him. He grabbed them both so tight and started giving them hugs and kisses. It was so cute! He obviously likes them.
Thursday I was able to finish the decorating upstairs. Now just to do downstairs and finish wrapping a few extra gifts.
Friday morning when Elijah went down for a nap Dave and I had the chance to get a few things done outside to prepare for the snow. We cleaned all our outdoor furniture up and put it in storage under our deck. We had a pretty rough wind storm last week that reminded us we hadn't done that yet. Then later in the evening Dave put up all our outdoor lights. They look beautiful. We waited until there was about 2 inches on the ground and all got bundled up and took Elijah outside to see the snow and the lights. He was hestitant at first. I think he was confused as to what this stuff was falling from the sky. I also think it was partly because he was wearing so much clothing it was hard to move. But as soon as I stood him up in the driveaway he was so exited. He walked through the snow, he stomped, he walked soft, and then he looked behind him to see the prints he left. He crouched down to touch it and realized it was difficult through the mittens. He asked for help to go up the stepped brick walkway to the porch and front door to admire the little wooden lit Christmas tree. He admired the big outdoor lights in the bushes.
We were only out there for about 5 minutes and Elijah decided it was time to come in. He suddenly stopped playing in the snow, turned to me and said 'in' and set off towards the garage. I followed him all the way through the garage and opened the door for him. He went right in and asked for his coat off. ...How old is he again? Apparently he wanted to go eat because he said 'eat' and signed for it as soon as I freed his hands.
I can't believe it is already his second Christmas. I can't believe we just walked through the snow together for the first time. He danced to Christmas music for the first time.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Pyle household, but all I want for Christmas is for time to slow down so I can enjoy my little boy just a few minutes longer each day.
Elijah Christmas 2008 
The snow started Friday night and went strong until about 1am Sunday morning. It was still flurrying around 3:18am, but has been stopped since about 5am. All in all we got about 3 feet at our house. They declared a state of emergency so luckily people have been off the roads. The road our house is on is a snow emergency route and IT is barely passable. We watched a few cars slide off Saturday morning. They have been plowing and salting all day but it's just so much snow and it's so cold that it's not going anywhere.
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