The Visit With Santa Claus

Every year, my mom's old school has a pancake breakfast with Santa the first weekend of December. It is the easiest and fastest way for us to see Santa, so we always look forward to it. Well, this year, Icemageddon had other plans, and no one went anywhere the first weekend of December (well, except us, we were bold and daring and dropped Dresden off for a sleepover with Grammy and Papa!) Needless to say, it was rescheduled, and became a breakfast-for-dinner event this past Monday. Like I mentioned in a previous blog, I was pretty sure Auden would cry, but I was curious to see to what extent. First, I give you the seasoned Santa veteran pictures...

He is pretty much the cutest, jolliest Santa I have ever seen. 

He reminds me of those Santa figurines in stores. Dresden asked again for his remote-control alien (still panicking! A week before Christmas! GAH!)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Dresden EVER. He looks so grown up and handsome!

I think Santa had some modeling experience or some theatrical training, because he was pulling the best facial expressions purely for the sake of my mom's pictures. Love it!

Annnnd....without further ado! The screaming baby pictures. She is looking at her brother like, 

"How could you betray me like this?!?!"

The candy cane appeased her just slightly...

"WHO ARE YOU!?!?!"

Santa was very concerned we were traumatizing her and made me hurry to get her off of Mrs. Claus's lap. I think she'll be okay, other than a strong fear of bearded men well into her tween years! I got over it eventually; she will too, I think ;-)

Here she is, good as new, post-Santa experience.

Loving my Christmas-laden kiddos!

Dresden was making her laugh, as always!

Merry Christmas!!!

Can't wait to see her reaction next year!

Love,

Cassie

The Twelve Days of Christmas Pajamas - Day 5

On the 5th day of Christmas, my mama put on me...

...candy canes all stripy, super-cozy snowflakes, fuzzy candy canes, sweet little Santas, and tiny boughs of holly.

She found her brother's parachute, and she felt quite proud of herself. Hehe.

It has hit home that Christmas is one week from tomorrow! If I can get my act together, our cards should be mailed today or tomorrow. It is partially not my fault, there have been so many fiascos with getting the pictures printed, which has delayed things a lot. I just keep telling myself that next year I will be more prepared! 

I am excited about this weekend because we are going to go to the Christkindl market in Arlington with some friends! I love Christkindl markets! It is my goal to go to as many different ones as possible, and someday, to hopefully go to one in Germany. I can't think of anything more amazing than Germany at Christmastime; it is definitely on our European tour list. 

Although it has seemed to go by at lightning speed, I feel like we have gotten to really enjoy several sights and sounds of the season this year, which makes my heart very happy.

Love,

Cassie

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas my mama put on me...

Super-cozy snowflakes, fuzzy candy canes, sweet little Santas, and tiny boughs of holly.

I love the pictures of them together so much. They have that decided "Olan Mills" quality bc no one can focus enough to look at the camera when they are in each other's presence, so some sort of interesting decoy has to come from the side to catch their attention, hehe. I wouldn't trade it! They love each other so much, and love being around each other, which I would choose over the perfect shot any day! (Which is why our Christmas card took some finagling!)

I'm pretty excited about our first Christmas as a family of four! 

Today at school, Dresden and his classmates "rode" the Polar Express (i.e. watched the movie in their pajamas) and got their picture taken with Santa. It cracked me up when Dresden said he saw Santa driving away at recess "wearing sunglasses in his red car." It didn't seem to faze his general opinion of the guy, so I guess we're ok! I'm still trying to figure out how best to dole out the magic of Santa to explain and enhance the experience. How do you make Santa real for your kids?

Dresden also gets to play the part of Joseph in their Nativity play. Oddly, he says only the innkeeper has lines, but I'm sure he will be just as remarkable as Silent Joseph. I'm excited!

Love,

Cassie

The 12 Days of Christmas Pajamas - Day 3

On the 3rd day of Christmas my mama put on me...

Fuzzy candy canes, sweet little Santas, and tiny boughs of holly.

Auden is the official Christmas taster. She tastes the bows, the boxes, the wrapping paper...and takes her job very seriously!

On Monday, we are going to see Santa for Auden's first time. I have a feeling she will definitely cry. I cried (and hated Santa til I was like 7), Dresden cried, so I think she will likely carry on our grand tradition. Add to that the fact that she cries for pretty much anyone who are not family or  friends that she sees often. So, sorry Santa...it's not personal! 

Dresden has asked Santa for one thing:

(A remote control alien)

 And Santa is hard at work trying to figure out how to accommodate this request!!! (So far, he's still scratching his head...yikes!) I'm sure he will pull through with something!

What's on your list to Santa this year?!

Love,

Cassie

The 12 Days of Christmas Pajamas - Day 2

On the second day of Christmas, my mama put on me...

Cute little Santas, and sweet boughs of holly.

             "SANTA! I KNOW HIM!!!"

Big brother was at a sleepover at Grammy and Papa's house, so he didn't get his picture taken for this night. We spent time shopping for gifts for our celebration of the actual Twelve Days of Christmas, something we are actually trying this year. I'm very excited. I'm really hopeful that, year after year, after trying different things each time and finding what works for our family and what doesn't, that we will have a nice bundle of traditions we can keep and carry through the years. We will see if the celebration of Twelfth Night is one that will stick; I think it will be a success. Next year, I also would really like to observe St.  Nicholas' feast day on December 6th, as well as getting our own Advent wreath and lighting those candles every week. 

What are your family's favorite Christmas traditions?

Love,

Cassie

The 12 Days of Christmas Pajamas!!!

Onnnnn the first day of Christmas pajamas...we didn't get very many pictures!

...Dinos and holly! (Sorry you can't really see the holly well. I have a feeling there will en lots of pictures like this one in the future of this series, because little miss is just OVER holding still for any reason!)

We kicked off the Christmas pajama day with some awesome Christmas happenings. The first one, which I mentioned on Facebook, was my being gifted a Starbucks card in the Target parking lot. It was sitting on my driver's side window, just wedged in there in the little paper folder.

I was completely shocked, and of course it made me well up over the goodness that humanity can seem to possess every now and again. I fully intend to pay it forward myself; how could I not? It was the smallest, simplest gesture, yet it restored my faith and completely made my day!

Our second Christmas event was driving around to look at Christmas lights as a family. There were some beautiful displays this year, and Dresden loved them. He fell asleep last year in the car before he could even see any, so this year was kind of a first for him. We drank cocoa, (using my gifted card; I swear that was the best peppermint hot cocoa I've ever had. Kindness is delicious! Hehe) and listened to Christmas songs. It was really nice to be doing that as a family of four. I just can't wait until Auden is older and can see and experience them, too!

Well, this was the first of at least 12 Christmas posts, so stay-tuned! (Also, I feel I must clarify again this year that I realize the real 12 Days don't begin until Christmas Day. The pajamas are just a cute little countdown til Christmas, I suppose!)

Take care! 

Love, 

Cassie

Disney World - Part Three

In the morning, we headed over as a group to Hollywood Studios. It was a lot less crowded than Magic Kingdom, which was one of the nice things about it. We started our day with the 3D Muppet Show, and then went to Star Tours, where Dresden caught a glimpse of the REAL LIFE Darth Vader and Darth Maul up on stage (he was in heaven!) and then went on the ride. The ride was SO cool. It was my first experience with the combination of 3D, simulator AND virtual reality and lots of parts were pretty intense (or as I would find out by comparison after Universal Studios in a few days, not that intense compared to Harry Potter, ha!) Dresden was TERRIFIED, but he was a trooper and kept the screaming to a minimum. LOL.

Auden wore her Jedi shirt (thanks, Auntie Nina!) in expectation of seeing Darth Vader...

Dresden and Daddy's dream-come-true!

After that, we went and watched Barbara (in the red poncho below) kill it as an angry villager in the marketplace in the Indiana Jones stunt show! It was pretty funny!

After this, we branched off so the childless of the group could do the "grown up" stuff, and we went in search of the beloved Disney Junior characters. On the way, we passed this awesome sign:

 We stopped to watch a fun Disney Junior puppet show extravaganza with Jake, Doc McStuffins, Mickey and the Clubhouse gang and Sofia, The First. I was a bit disappointed because I thought it was going to be live characters, but I know Dresden enjoyed it.

And then, we met Jake himself!

After we met Jake, we had some time to kill before meeting up with the others again, and I had my hopes and dreams squashed to pieces when Alex made me persuaded me to audition for the American Idol Experience. I had no idea they took it so seriously! I sang "Sweet Dreams are Made of These" in front of a real-live stranger, which was the craziest most awkward thing I've ever done, and she wanted to hear a song with more range so she ASSIGNED me Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway", which I have NO clue how to sing. Which is why I had my shoulders up and tensed, and my hand in my pocket, just trying to get through the song and it's crazy notes (thanks a lot Kelly!). And then she let me have it! She said I had the "chops" but she felt like I wanted to be anywhere but there, and just wasn't "feeling the song". Well DUH! You sprung it on me and I was completely unprepared. I may still be a little bitter and shaken up by the whole thing. This is why we watch The Voice instead. If her chair had been turned I would have nailed it. Totally. Oh well, chalk it up to experience, right?!

After that debacle, we went and stood in line so Dresden could meet Mr. Incredible. Little did we know it would be Miss Auden with whom they were totally smitten, and likewise as well! I thought she'd be terrified, but she was flirting up a storm!

Mr. D with Mr. Incredible and Frozone!

That expression is priceless!

After Hollywood Studios, our little family headed back to Magic Kingdom (can you tell which of the parks was our favorite?) so that we could fulfill my dream of meeting Auden's dream of meeting the princesses!

Before we headed to their castle, Dresden and I rode the teacups which was very special for me, because they were my favorite when I was little. Dresden was NOT a fan, and yelled "I'M GETTING TEACUP SICK!!!" at the top of his lungs. We'll try again in a few more years! Ha!

The piece de resistance! My favorite (and Auden's, too), Cinderella!

As you can see, Auden was not in a smiley mood, which surprised me. She would prove to be saving those crazy smiles for Tinkerbell and Perinwinkle, whom she met a couple of days later! Dresden was a bit taken aback and speechless around the pretty princesses. It was rather adorable!

Aurora/Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty (she explained to Dresden that she had three names, when he introduced himself as Dresden Grey LaFasto, hehe)

We were tuckered out after this full day, and headed back to the resort! The next day was a much-needed rest day around the hotel, to let our feet recuperate before we embarked upon Day 4! So, so much fun!

Love,

Cassie