Christmas 2012

Silent Night



Get thee ready for an onslaught of pictures. It was too hard to narrow it down, so I am just going to post a ton from our Christmas. Santa dutifully arrived after Sabine was asleep on Christmas Eve, and left one very large present just outside the living room, where the Christmas tree and the rest of the presents were.

 

When Sabine woke up in the morning and wandered out, she wasn't quite sure what to make of it, at first. I think it truly took her a couple of minutes to process what she was looking at. But once she did:

 

OH BOY

 Girlfriend is slightly obsessed with bunk beds, partially because of the Berenstein Bears (who sleep in bunk beds) and because she got to sleep in the kids room, on a bottom bunk, when we spent a weekend with our neighbors at their cabin in the mountains.



This was a great solution, brilliant thinking, Santa. The bed is lofted, but not quite as high as a regular bunk bed, with a play house underneath and a slide to get down. Sabine has started calling herself Sister Bear, and has an imaginary Brother Bear who sleeps below her now. She was also thrilled to see the reappearance of her Rudolph stuffed animal.



We maneuvered the bed into her room, and she spent most of the morning playing on it.

 

Interestingly, all of her other bedmates have been (maybe temporarily?) sent to sleep on the floor. Only Rudolph is allowed on the bed.

 Eventually, she got curious about the rest of the stuff under the tree, and she opened one present before the rest of the family arrived.

 

Santa listened, he brought her doctor gloves, just like she asked for. He also included a doctor mask.

 

Nana, Aunt Dani, and Ethan arrived (Grandmom and Grandpa were already there, having spent Christmas Eve with us) and we got down to business.







 

New Calico Critters stuff is always a hit! Thank you Aunt Dani and Nana!

Ethan seemed to enjoy himself too, and was even practicing walking.





He also spent a lot of time playing with cars and trains. Anything with wheels!

Sabine got lots of great gifts,



and Santa also remembered to bring the requested Doc McStuffins doll. (The title character from Sabine's current favorite TV show.)


We have been giving LOTS of check-ups to all the dolls and stuffed animals in Sabine's room, recently. After a present-filled morning and brunch, we headed up to Aunt Diane and Uncle Nat's house. This year, Sabine got to participate in the gift exchange.



 Many of the gifts are silly, and cousin Jed shared a red nose that he received with Sabine. She was a little unsure of it at first, especially with everyone looking at her, but after Uncle Nat proved it was fun

 
And then daddy


Sabine got into it



And then the nose stayed with us the rest of the night.





 We had a wonderful day, filled with presents, food, and family. It was truly perfect. We hope your holiday was merry and bright as well!

Santa

We went to visit Santa for the first time this year. Sabine has been anticipating this for a while, we talk about Santa a fair amount, but she is also going through a bit of a fearful phase. Our normally independent girl is just a little clingier than usual, so we weren't sure how the actual encounter would play out.

We decided to make a day out of it, and went to see Santa in downtown Denver.

There was a bit of a line, but it actually worked out well because Sabine was able to observe and warm up to the whole process as we watched other kids go before us. (That's her in daddy's arms on the left.)



As we got closer, there was even a large nutcracker, which, as far as Sabine was concerned, was a good omen. She's into nutcrackers this year. (Perhaps we'll try the ballet next year?)



Mrs. Claus came out to see if she was ready, and I thought Mrs. Claus was wonderful, very warm and gentle. She suggested I just go ahead and sit with Sabine when we went to visit Santa, which worked out well. We didn't realize there wasn't a photographer, so the only pictures we got were on my phone, but you can still see pretty well.

Sabine was a little shy at first, but Santa gave her a snowboarding duck, and she warmed up.



To the extent he got a high-five AND a fist-bump. And Sabine also managed to ask for two presents. (A Doc McStuffins doll and doctor gloves, like her friend has. Like, laytex gloves. At least that should be easy enough for Santa to fulfill, odd though it may be?)



We then walked around downtown and admired the lights and ate at a restaurant. All in all, a fun day.

'Tis the Season

We are getting into the holiday spirit around here.



We are well on our way around our gingerbread house advent calendar, and Sabine remembers to ask what day it is about 45 seconds after waking up each morning. Her memory is certainly stronger this year!



She made her first Christmas cookies with Grandmom two weekends ago,

and we went to our local parade of lights with some of our good friends this weekend.



Sabine thought the flash was too bright, so just preemptively screwed her eyes closed as soon as I reached for my camera. sigh. When did she suddenly become such a big kid?



We stayed out waaaay past bedtime, but it was worth it. The girls had a great time.

We also tried ice skating at our local rink for the first time, with our same friends. Sabine did stand on her skates by herself, and even took a few steps on her own, but mostly I held her up, or, when she had it her way, she sat in the sled while I pulled. Thank you, daddy, for risking frostbite on a bitterly cold morning to document the occasion!







 We also got our Christmas tree over the weekend. We continued our tradition of going to a friend's property in Conifer and cutting down our own tree. It was really fun, as usual.

Sabine, I think, was most impressed by the "bear tree," an aspen with visible claw marks going up it.



But we did eventually drag her away from the bear tree and found our own Christmas tree.

At first there was observation.



Then there was direction.



Then there was, "move over, I will do it myself."



And thus we let our three-year-old wield her great-grandfather's saw.



She was reluctant to give it up once she had it in her grips.



Eventually, though, she did trade it in for some well-earned hot chocolate.



It was quite a gathering, and a lot of fun to see several generations come together to enjoy the experience. (And the mulled wine.)



We got our tree home with no trouble, and Sabine got to help decorate it this year.



Sabine's favorite ornament appeared just before bedtime.



Daddy put the angel on the tree as the very last step, and we've been enjoying her ever since. We hope you are having a beautiful and bright December, too!

Thanksgiving, Etc.

We've been staying busy, as always.

Sabine has some budding musical interests these days.



As well as a budding fashion sense. Girl likes her accessories to match.



And she sat still enough for her first quasi-French braid. It lasted about 32 seconds before all the fine strands fell out.



We've been seeing friends and going to birthday parties,



and logging a lot of time at the park. Sabine's had a lot of energy to burn recently, and fortunately the weather has cooperated.



It gets dark really early, but we've seen some beautiful sunsets.



And speaking of burning energy, Sabine can now ride her trike to the park all by herself. It's almost a mile away, so it's some great exercise. (Mediocre view, eh?)



We've also been spending time at the park with friends.



Including one special one who is about to head overseas for several months, we are already excited for you to come home!



Thanksgiving went really well this year! Sabine was more into it, there was a lot more anticipation.



She did a lot of cooking in her own kitchen,



Which was even more fun when her friend S showed up to help cook,



both in in the pretend kitchen, and in the real one!



Dinner finally made it onto the table about two hours after predicted.



And we got to celebrate with the whole family, as well as some close friends.

All four kiddos (friends and cousin) did really well, especially considering all the waiting and general holiday mayhem.



The over the weekend, we went to a model train show with the grandparents.



Sabine and Grandpa did some good train bonding.



Grandpa even got to run some of HIS trains and show them off, and Sabine thought it was pretty neat to go under the yellow line. Pretty special.



Another highlight was a layout with an old witch flying around. We watched that one a long time.



We've been staying busy and having fun, as always. Sabine is growing and talking more and more. She's solidly in 3T clothing now. We did go to both the doctor and the dentist recently. She was in the 40th percentile for weight and 50th for height. She sat in the dentist chair for the first time, and did really well for her cleaning. Maybe not so coincidentally, her favorite games to play now are doctor and dentist.

Hope you are all enjoying this season too!