Don't Open Till Christmas

We've had a lot of Christmas activities for Mekayla lately. Now that she is talking more and more aware of the things around her, she has really had a chance to absorb a lot of the Christmas things going on around her.

For starters, there was the Trader Joe's Christmas Advent calendar that we got her. It counts down the days till Christmas with chocolate. I cannot think of a yummier way to anticipate Christmas than with chocolate. So everyday (except some days where we forget), she gets to countdown the days till Christmas with a little piece of chocolate. Initially, she didn't get it and after the one piece, she would ask for "More chocolate... Need more chocolate." I like how she says she "needs" more chocolate... No, we do not starve her to death. It is a rather small piece of chocolate but no, she does not "need" more chocolate. Now that Christmas is almost here, she's finally getting the hang of it and understands that she only gets one piece of chocolate a day. Just in case though we still store it out of her reach, on top of the china cabinet.

Her 2nd exciting Christmas activity was helping us put up the Christmas tree lights and ornaments. Earlier that day, Daddy went up on the roof to put up the Christmas lights around the house... All I heard for the first five minutes was, " Careful Daddy.... Careful." Very thoughtful of her. It didn't help that earlier, she watched Handy Manny on Playhouse Disney and saw a very bad example of Mr Lophard putting up Christmas lights the wrong way. So, I guess her extreme concern was warranted. Since the tree when up, we've had a good lesson in not touching the ornaments (she got all the low hanging ones and for some reason tossed them into the middle of the tree???) and definitely not giving them to Mei Mei to chew on....

Then the presents appeared. Oh how we loved the presents and how very exciting that was... Ever since her 2nd birthday, she has loved, loved, loved presents... If you give her a present, she will have an adorable, surprised look on her face and say something like, "A present? For me? Wow!" Well, with the presents came another lesson.... And that was "Don't open them till Christmas". Well, that lesson was learned well one day when I came downstairs to hearing Nadia screaming from her activity bouncer and the sound of tissue paper being removed from a paper bag. Mekayla was opening one of Nadia's presents and proceeded to play with the little elephant in it that sings. Nadia was not thrilled that she didn't get to participate, Mekayla was just so fascinated by that singing elephant and Mommy was in shock, running down the stairs before further damage was done to the present. All was saved and the present is now safely back under the tree (the bag is a bit beat up from Nadia kicking on it recently) but Mekayla got a good lesson that day about not opening presents till Christmas. It is the cutest thing now because if you ask her to tell you about the presents, she will say, "Don't open till Christmas! Don't open till Christmas!" She has just been so wonderful about it and so very, very patient too. She keeps saying "Don't open till Christmas" but I don't think she has any idea when Christmas is! She is showing great restraint I think.

Now Nadia on the other hand is different. Mekayla was not this mobile her 1st Christmas so we didn't have the "problems" we have now. Nadia has been rolling towards the tree and the presents almost anytime she is able to. She has tried chewing on the gift tags and has mangled two bows on Daddy's presents. It's a good thing Daddy doesn't mind. We have resorted to bolstering the presents with my very many throw pillows. It is not pretty but functional and I think Carter is glad that those throw pillows are finally getting put to good use. As far as he is concerned, they don't serve any other purpose but to take up valuable seating space on the couches.

Lastly, we've been trying to introduce Mekayla to Santa Claus. We've gone past Santa in the mall but she's been kind of bashful so I've held out taking her to see Santa... I'd like for her 1st experience to be a good one so when she's ready I figure she'd let us know. We also told her that since she's been a good girl this year, Santa will be bringing her a present for Christmas. We've tried asking her what she would like Santa to bring her and this is what we get, "A present. A bigger present (points to a rather large present already under the tree that we've told her is for her)." Hmm...

Next year, I am thinking of getting a little toy Nativity and teaching her about Jesus and Christmas. I've mentioned to her that Christmas is Jesus' birthday but she doesn't quite get it yet. The church nursery has a little toy Nativity that Pat brought out for the children and Mekayla was very fascinated with the little Baby Jesus in the "crib" (aka manger). She even rocked Baby Jesus to sleep and sang Rock-a-bye Baby to him. It was most adorable.

I think she's going to have a blast Christmas Day. She really understands and appreciates presents now and it will be so much fun to see her reaction and experience this through her eyes. I am loving this stage in her growth. She is so interactive and says the darnest and sweetest things. It is truly a wonderful time. Meanwhile, while I still can, I will keep getting a kick out of getting her to say, "Presents.... Don't open till Christmas!"