I can’t believe Christmas is only 13 days away! I am so excited and I love that the weather has been cold. It makes it feel more like Christmas. My parents made Christmas such a special time for my sister and I. I am so excited to start doing the same thing for Braxton!
This past weekend, we got to start our new family Christmas traditions! On Saturday we took Braxton to see Santa Clause! It was so surreal to be “on the other side” of things. I remember my parents taking my sister and I. It was always so magical. Being on the parent side though, while it’s still magical, there are logistics that I never thought of as a child. Like what time to go so that your not standing in line for hours, and which Santa has the best beard. Luckily we have some friends who have a baby older then Braxton and have gone through this before so they invited us to go when they went. The mall Santa opened at 10:00 am, but they suggested we go closer to 9:00 am in order to avoid a long time. Which was a great idea. We were one of the first 10 people in line. Braxton was a little sleepy, but luckily he did great with Santa. He didn’t seem to want to smile, but he also didn’t cry so I’ll take that as a win! We bought a small package of photos to give to family. (We found out later that Cabelas and Bass Pro Shop have really great “outdoor” backdrops and give one photo and a photo frame for free, so we might go to one of those as well to see which we like better for next year. Luckily Brax is too little to be confused about seeing different Santa’s.)
(Us waiting in line with our friend’s, The Ingram family.)
(Braxton was sleepy, and I’m sure being in warm clothes didn’t help!)
(Braxton meets Santa Clause. He seemed more confused then upset or happy.)
My friend Deenie told us about a free light show so Saturday night we decided to go check it out. It’s a 12 minute free light show at Mozart’s Coffee Shop. It starts at 6:00pm and goes on ever hour, on the hour until 9:00pm I believe. Our plan was to go to Abel’s on the Lake at 5:00 for an early dinner. (It’s right next to Mozart’s.) And then see the 6:00 light show after our dinner. Unfortunately, Abel’s was closed for a private event, so we tried to go to Hula Hut. That ended up being a bust as well because everyone else had that same plan and the wait was ridiculous. So we decided to go to Mozart’s early and wait for the show and then have dinner afterwards. This ended up being for the best because Mozart’s got so crowded and luckily since we got there early we still got seats. I had made sure to bring blankets to bundle Braxton up in since it was outdoors and freezing cold. Braxton loved the show and actually watched the lights! Definitely worth the wait. Then afterwards we went to a favorite local spot, Kirby Lane. Braxton is getting to be such a good baby at restaurants. It helps a ton that he can sit in a high chair, and that he loves to eat his baby food while we eat. He’s growing up so fast!
(Our little family waiting for the light show to begin.)
(Wonderful light show! Loved the “Frozen” part, but didn’t love the end so much. Any Longhorn fan would love it though…)
(Braxton all bundled up and loving the show!)
While I will miss waking up at my parents home Christmas morning and running into the living room to open my stocking while impatiently waiting for everyone else to wake up so we can open presents…I am looking forward to starting that tradition with my husband and baby at our own home. I also know it will be equally hard on mine and my husband’s family not having us home for Christmas, but I read a great article called “The Just Us Christmas” and it really hit home for me. It talked about the guilt associated with breaking tradition of “going home” for the Holiday’s but about how it is so much better for your children. I want Braxton to have that same joy, excitement and comfort of waking up in your own home on Christmas morning and spending all day in your pj’s while opening presents and playing with your new toys. Luckily for us, my parents and Blair’s mom both live in town so we will see them later on Christmas day after we have done our own Christmas morning. But I know if we, or they, end up moving out of town that will change and we won’t always get to see them on Christmas. And then we’ll have to make arrangements to see them the week before or the week after in order to have the “Just us” Christmas. But I’m not going to worry about that right now. Right now I’m just going to make sure Braxton has the best 1st Christmas ever! Including planning more Christmas light fun in the next few weeks! Stay tuned!
(We can’t wait to wake up on Christmas morning with our little man! Photo by Thomas Chen Photography.)