Christmas Fun

With Clay being a little older this year it was important to me that we do some Christmas festivities so he could see what fun Christmastime is. Our first event was the Holiday at the Hall in Lewisville. Since I forgot my camera, I have no pictures. Boo. We saw some really cool ice sculptures being carved and Clay got to ride in the colored barrel train. It was cute and a good little intro to Christmas activities.

The next weekend Rebecca and I took the children to the Arboretum for pictures with Santa and to see some of their Christmas decor. As we strolled through the Arboretum we came upon Frosty the Snowman. Big mistake. Clay was totally freaked out and tried to crawl inside of himself while screaming. Seriously. Next was Rudolph. I took Clay out of the stroller while he clung to me for dear life. We took a picture but Clay did not enjoy the experience. At all.

Clay trying to stay as far from Rudolph as possible

When we finally made it to Santa, Clay was officially freaked out and wanted nothing to do with him. If his previous behavior hadn't already gotten him off the nice list, kicking Santa and screaming in his face surely did. Oh what fun! The best part is we got it all on video for posterity.

Clay hearts Santa

After Santa we went over to the Gingerbread houses. Carolina took her picture with Mrs. Claus (who was so sweet!) and we tried again to get a picture with the children together. Bad idea.

Little Carolina with Mrs. Claus

Clay trying to make a run for it....


Next, there was a cute little gingerbread house that you could take a picture in front of so we decided to wait in the line for that. Another bad idea. As we stood in line, there were flower beds with pansies on either side. The line was really long so Rebecca and I were standing there talking. All of a sudden Clay is slipping through the front of the stroller and off like a rocket- right through the beautiful flower beds!! I RUN after him (sinking in the mulch of the flower beds as I run). When I finally catch up to him (on the grass past the flower beds), I am mortified! Then I look up to a man saying, "Excuse me ma'am, he only has one shoe on." Wonderful. Guess who got to go back through the dark brown flower beds searching for a black dress shoe while the entire line watched?? Me. I'm the lucky one. So embarrassing...

Clay in front of the flower beds plotting his next escape...

After the Great Escape we were ready to head home. On the way out, I thought it would be a good idea to try and take a picture of me with my two babies and Rebecca was happy to oblige. After a TON of tries, (bless Rebecca's heart!) we gave up. The children were not feeling cooperative that day at all! Here's a good example:

Later that night Mike and I took the children to an event in Richardson called Santa's Village. It was WAY crowded but Clay loved all the fun stuff and the "people watching". It's a bunch of little one-room houses that are kid-sized and you stand in lines and walk through the house. Some of the houses we went into were the hospital and the music house.


Getting a goody bag at the "hospital"



Getting measured at the "hospital"


"Anyone home??"


Playing instruments with the Richardson Symphony girls

Clay had a great time riding in a little sleigh pushed by some "elves" and we also wrote Clay's first letter to Santa.

It was fun to walk around and see all of the festive things going on but at the end of the night Clay was SO tired. We had such a good time doing "Christmasy" things with Clay and Carolina. Hopefully, we've started some traditions we'll enjoy for the years to come!