It's beginning to look a lot...

"Enough with the Christmas posts, Jessi."
"But... but, I can't help it, I'm in the spirit this year!"

Okay folks, I'm sorry. I know it gets repetitive. Perhaps even a touch annoying. So, if you find yourself rolling your eyes already, turn back now! It's another Christmas post. I can't help it. This is really the first year that our little dude gets the concept of Christmas; I'm just so excited. He has completely reinvented the holiday for me and I want to document every single second of it... and share it with my friends and family near and far!

Toby has basked in a couple of fun filled weeks kicking off Christmas. As I mentioned in previous posts, we're pretty much all ready to go; so we are just enjoying everything the season has to offer.

It all began just before Thanksgiving... We made a trip up to the farm and, on the way back to N.H., we stopped in Freeport to hit up L.L. Bean and Johnny Rockets. Have you been to Johnny Rockets? It's a cute old-school diner. The wait staff sing. It's the kind of place you unbutton your pants when you leave, and order a milkshake before your meal. It was awesome.

 

 

We went in the fish bubble at L.L. Bean. He loves it. He kept saying "Fisssssssss"

And L.L. Bean had their giant tree up.

The next weekend (December 1st [the night he got his Christmas box]) We went to story time at Barnes & Noble where they did a Christmas craft, and we heard the story of the Grinch.

 

Disregard the black spot on my cheek. I didn't get a face tattoo. I have something stuck IN the lens of my camera phone.

After story time, we were off to meet Santa!

 

He told Santa he wanted a rocking horse for Christmas. Gee, I sure hope he gets one ;)

The following weekend was the city parade. It was freezing, but we bundled up! Toby loves parades because of the marching bands. 

 

There were some interesting folks "dancing" around the area we were standing... wearing what looked like painted on clothes.

We were pretty chilly but, we warmed up at a local diner... Toby ate an entire basket of chicken fingers, fries, and a milkshake. Crazy.

 

Last Wednesday we brought him to the local school's Christmas concert. He loved it. He was so well behaved and sat mesmerized the entire time. (And we're talking about a busy toddler!)

 

Just this past Friday we decided to let him watch Rudolph (the movie we gave him in his Christmas box.) He wore his new Christmas pajamas/robe/slippers and we made a big batch of popcorn. I was really surprised at how well he sat through the movie. He got antsy a few times but we just let him get up and stretch. He ate more popcorn than I care to admit here... but it was a good night!

 

 

Saturday night we brought him to the "Lighted Wonderland" event at Charmingfare Farm. We went on a 25 minute sleigh ride through the farm and wound up at Santa's house where his reindeer live. Toby was beside himself. While it was really chilly, we ended up sticking it out for about an hour and then went home.

And finally, yesterday... Holy snow! Just the excuse we needed to get Toby's sled out of the cellar.

We promised Toby a snowman. Unfortunately, the snow didn't cooperate; it just wasn't snowman snow. We even (pathetically) took out a water bottle and sprayed down the snow. I was pretty bummed. But, on the bright side, we were able to make a snowman-duck. Totally by accident. We were still aiming for a snowman when it came out looking like a duck. So, I had Aaron make a quick beak out of some wood, and I dug out a seat in the back for Toby. He thought it was awesome.

And after dinner we went back outside, lit a fire, and made some s'mores.

I'm just loving the holiday season this year. While we have a couple more surprises for Toby before Christmas, I have to say I have enjoyed every second of the most wonderful time of the year. We are working really hard to make sure we incorporate a lot of activities into the entire season as I'm not really one to do a ton of gifts; I'm more of an "experience" person... and gifts isn't what Christmas is about. So, we are trying to spread things out over the month to really solidify "Family." Aaron and I are constantly keeping our eyes peeled for activities we can do as a family to make the season all the more meaningful.