Thank you, Santa

After Chris and I got married six years ago, we spent our first Christmas as husband and wife working on melding the Amys and Young holiday traditions to form our own. Luckily for us, our families shared many of the same holiday practices, like eating appetizers on Christmas Eve and then playing games as a family. But then we got to gift-opening – The Amys fam always opened all of their presents on Christmas Eve after church, while my family always waited until Christmas morning. And this is when we had to do something I’m not very good at – COMPROMISE. Because that’s what marriage is all about, right? So now we open presents from friends and family on Christmas Eve, and we save all treasures from Santa and just us until the next morning. And, lucky for us, we NEEDED both days to open all of our presents. I guess we were a VERY GOOD family this year.

And, just going by the number of gifts under the tree, Taylor must have been the nicest little girl on the planet this year. Chris actually tried to teach her how to say, I was a good girl, Santa, but it just came out, Good-girl-Sanna. And while last year she didn’t know what was going on and was way more fascinated by the wrapping paper and bows, THIS year she was all about her presents. ALL ABOUT THEM. And after she would rip open each one, she would take about five seconds to look at her new treasure, love it and them promptly yell out, MY TURN! and go for another bundle of happiness under the tree. It was pretty precious.

Like I said, T was a very fortunate kid this Christmas, and much thanks to all our families and friends who helped contribute to her holiday booty. And for Chris and my own Christmas loot this year too. We love EVERYTHING.

We also had to honor our Christmas tradition of getting Miss Ruby a dozen tennis balls and bouncing them around the house. Yes, we LOVE chaos.

A couple gifts I have to spotlight – One is the glow-worm that Taylor’s Uncle Ryan gave her. She actually hasn’t put it down since she opened it on Thursday. And when we brought her into our bed early Christmas morning, she clutched it so tight to her chest that she turned on the glow-part, and the brightness was so much that we were all temporarily blinded for about five seconds. And now every time she activates the lights, she stops and covers her eyes. Hilarious.

Another gift that I have to mention, mostly because of its size, is the Dora the Explorer pop-up tent and attached tube that my parents gave Taylor. It pretty much takes up the majority of our downstairs, and I don’t know if we’re ever gonna get it upstairs because Taylor LOVES it so much. Thanks, Mom and Dad. Next time you’re in town and you wonder why we don’t have furniture in our living room, NOW YOU KNOW.

And, of course, Taylor’s first real gift from Santa. Santa thought long and hard about what to get such a blessed – read, SPOILED – little girl this year, and he finally decided that she needed an activity table to do all of her coloring and such on. And because he just couldn’t find anything he liked at any of the stores, Santa decided to BUILD Taylor her table. And he did an awesome job, and Taylor just LOVES it. Thank you, Santa. Good job!

As you can see, we were a very blessed family this Christmas. And while I love all my gifts, the most precious thing I got this year was being able to spend time with my husband, daughter and dog, and to watch my little girl’s eyes light up with excitement and pure happiness when she opened all of her presents. THIS is what it’s all about. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Happy feet

Well, day three of snowed-in seclusion officially ended on Sunday morning when I looked at Chris during breakfast and slowly stammered, I. Need. To. Get. OUT OF THIS HOUSE. To which he looked at me, smiled and said, Sure, let’s go to Target. And I tackled him to the ground and covered him in kisses. Ten-million gold stars for my husband this weekend, because nothing is more relaxing to me than strolling the aisles of Target, picking out random stocking stuffers and checking out new cleaning products. Some people like to unwind with yoga or meditation – I prefer taking lengthy trips to stores where you can buy $6 t-shirts and discover a new type of hair-ties.

So. We got out of the house for a few hours, finished up our holiday shopping and stopped at the store to get some treats for the rest of the day. By the time Tayor was up from her nap, Chris had a roaring fire in the fireplace and I was high on sugar-cookie dough. And when T pulled out her one-size too big silver slippers, it was the icing on the cake.

Winter wonderland

If you’ve been following the national news, you’re aware that the East coast is being hit with record amounts of snowfall this weekend. RECORD AMOUNTS. Chris went out and measured this morning and registered 15 inches of powder in our front yard, with some of our neighboring mountain counties reportedly getting close to two feet - Which is the most snow this region has seen since the fabled Blizzard of 93. And this is also the biggest snowfall Chris and I have experienced in the past seven years. Meaning I had to dig out some extremely old boots and gloves in order to get out and enjoy the big, fat flakes that were coming down.

Look at our depressed, 18-foot tall pines in our back yard – The tops of them are literally touching the ground.

And because T doesn’t have any snowpants or boots, we improvised with multiple layers and hand-me-down dress boots to bring her outside in order for her to experience her first, real snow storm. And while she wasn’t too wild about the snowflakes hitting her face, the cold weather didn’t bother her a bit and we ended putting her under the front overhang while Chris and I had a snowball fight in the front yard.

Our four-legged daughter, however, was THRILLED with the snow, and spent the majority of the weekend running through the blizzard, stopping every other step to dunk her head into the drifts.

And for a city who’s temperature rarely dips below freezing, it’s safe to say that Asheville has completely shut-down for the weekend. Chris’s company Christmas party was cancelled for tonight, the gym is closed until Monday and even the churches have cancelled Sunday services. And because we pride ourselves with being good, Midwestern snow-drivers, Chris chanced the roads this afternoon in order to run a few errands, passing all the abandoned cars on the side of the road and finding the one open grocery store on the East side to bring us home a few essentials: Milk, bread, bacon and beer.

He’s making his list

Me: So, Taylor. Santa only brings presents to good little girls and boys. Do you think you’ve been a good girl this year?

T: Hmmmm. I think so.

Me: What about last week when you threw your body on the ground, flopped around and cried because I wouldn’t let you have cookies for lunch?

T: Um, Mom. I don’t remember it happening exactly like that.

Me: Oh. It happened.

T: Come on, Mom. It was just a cookie. Who would even know? Me and You, that’s who. And of all people, you know how good cookies are. Am I right?

Me: Yeah, you’re right. Cookies are delicious. But not for lunch.

T: But they make me happy. Don’t you want me to be happy, Mom?

Me: Of course I do, honey.

T: Well, then let's have a cookie. No one's looking. We could even have two.

Me: Alright. Let's have a cookie.

T: LOVE YA, MOM!

Grampy & Grammy

With Christmas right around the corner, and the Amys clan staying down South for the holidays, we were happy to have Chris’s parents come visit us over the weekend to celebrate the season a few weeks early. As I have mentioned over and over again, Chris and I LOVE living in Asheville, but the only hang-up is being so far away from our families, so any chance we get to spend time with them is just wonderful. And even though Greg and Sue said they were excited to spend time with all three of us, Chris and I were definitely on the back-burner as T-bird demanded the majority of her grandparents’ attention with all her cuteness.

So not only did Taylor turn-up the charm and perform for our company, but she also renamed her Grandpa and Grandma. They are now Grampy and Grammy. And the first time she looked up at Greg and said, Dank-you, Grampy, after he gave her a treat, I’m pretty sure his heart melted.

And because T won’t be with her Grampy and Grammy on Christmas day, we decided to bend our holiday rules and let her open and play with her big present from them. Which was a mini-kitchen. And, thank goodness, Greg was here to help, because it took he and Chris FIVE STRAIGHT HOURS to put together.

But it was all worth it to see our precious girl’s face when she opened it.

As you can see, she LOVES her kitchen. It’s the only thing she’ll play with. She hasn’t even touched a baby doll since Sunday afternoon. Yep, she loves it THAT much.

She loves it ALMOST as much as her Grampy and Grammy.

20 months old

Today my beautiful baby girl turns 20 months old, and I think we’re gonna celebrate with some ice cream. And not just because it is her month-birthday, but because she has a cold. A horrible, oppressive cold that causes her sweet, button-nose to bubble with snot and has made her develop a wicked, phlegmy cough that makes it sound like we are living with a 85-year old chain-smoker. Oh, my poor little princess! Of course we are having ice cream today. Lots and lots of ice cream.

And other than this current sickness hanging over us, we have had such a good month at the Amys house, and Chris and I have been taking every opportunity possible to soak up all the wonderfulness that is our daughter. She is just growing up so fast. I mean, not too far down the road a day will come when she won’t want to snuggle in bed with me and watch cartoons, or she won’t tolerate me bear-hugging her and smothering her in kisses, or we won’t be able to spend a whole day in our comfies, coloring, dancing and eating cookies. We are literally watching our baby girl grow up before our eyes. And we are constantly reminding ourselves to take a break from our daily chores and distractions to take advantage of these precious, fleeting moments and milestones that are happening every single day.

So. Lots of changes during month 19, including a few shake-ups to our entertainment routine. Taylor became absolutely OBESSESSED with coloring this past month. In fact, if you come over to our house at any point during the day, you will find our giant coffee table covered in coloring paper and most of our crayons scattered between the table, the toy box and her purse. She puts all her goodies in her purse, and some of mine as well. Over the past few weeks, I’ve randomly found my IPod, keys and a few hair ties in her purse. And, as of this past weekend, I usually find at least three-to-four of our Christmas ornaments in her purse when cleaning up her toys every night. So I guess we got a klepto on our hands.

We have also taken a break from Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street to watch her new, favorite cartoon: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She LOVES it, and as soon as she sees Mickey in the intro, her little body starts to move and groove as she does her version of the Hot Dog dance. All while shouting Hotgah! Hotgah! while she’s boogying. And then she barks at Pluto, which always gets Ruby all riled up and, next thing you know, we’ve got ourselves a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse throw down. Hey, it’s always entertaining.

Taylor has also become particularly attached to her blankie this month. Over the last few weeks it has progressed from just being in her crib, to just staying in the upstairs, to, as of late, being in T’s possession at all times. And it’s not called her blankie anymore, it’s now her KiKi. And she L-O-V-E-S her KiKi, and will wear her little hands out, just sitting down and rub-rub-rubbing her fingers along the satin edging.

And the other day, because she had snot all over her face and was battling the sickness, I gave in and let her bring KiKi with us when we were running our weekly errands. I even let her carry it in the cart at WalMart – GROSS! GERMS! But she was sick already, and it was the only way for me to get anything accomplished in the store. And then after her nap, when I pulled a dirty, snot-covered KiKi out of her crib, I had to pry it away from her to wash it. And, OH, the crying. KIKI! KIKI! KIKI! And for a split second, I almost grabbed the scissors and just cut the blanket in half, so at least I could wash one half at a time. But then I remembered that we had some leftover ice cream sandwiches in the freezer, and was able to distract her with a sweet treat. Which just goes to prove my point that successful Mothering is 97-percent Love, Patience and Understanding, and three-percent is making sure you always have ice cream in the freezer. ALWAYS.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

So, yes, we did get some snow in Asheville on Saturday. We woke up to some big, fat snowflakes circulating around our house and got super excited. And then it stopped after three hours, it all melted and everything was green again. Green and COLD. Brutally cold for the South. I’m talking 35-degrees cold. Not-able-to-wear-your-flip-flops-outside cold. And here is where I’ll pause for all my non-Southern friends and family to roll their eyes and groan. PAUSE.

So while we didn’t have the winter wonderland of a landscape that I had hoped, we still had a fire in the fireplace and proceeded to decorate one of the prettiest Frasier Firs I’ve ever seen. Much thanks to our good friends, the Sparks family, that grew this gorgeous tree and then so kindly delivered it to us. THANK YOU! BEST TREE EVER!

And leading into decorating the tree, I had a mini panic-attack trying to predict how Toddler-T would handle everything. I already knew that my days of having a perfectly trimmed and decorated tree were long gone, but I was seriously wondering if she would even allow this new, shiny, blinking embellishment in our living room. Just the other day I overheard a mother at the YMCA talking about how her two-year old knocked down their tree, shattered all the ornaments and then hid under their table for two hours. And then she said they just decided to scratch the whole tree and threw it out on the curb. And the other mother she was talking to was all horrified, disgusted and disappointed. And I was all, OH MY GOD. Don’t let that be Taylor and our tree.

But my daughter surprised me. I mean, Chris and I were definitely still the only ones hanging up the super-breakable, valuable ornaments, but she was totally in charge of the sturdy decorations. And she acted like a pro, spacing them out around the bottom of the tree. Taking a few moments each ornament to find the perfect spot.

Needless to say, I was a very proud Momma. Even this afternoon, a full 24-hours after putting it up, the tree is still standing and fully decorated. I mean, she may rearrange an ornament or two, but I’ll definitely take an unevenly decorated tree over one that’s been smashed and is laying by the curb.