To Santa or Not to Santa

I guess I'm a terrible mother. I haven't taken my little one to see Santa yet. I keep meaning to take her to the Atlanta Botanical Garden to see Santa, but we just haven't made it yet. Then I thought about taking her to a mall to see one of those Santas, but I know the lines are usually pretty terrible and I just can't deal with the screaming kids. But in the back of my mind is that little voice saying, "maybe you should just wait until next year..." Is that unspeakably horrible? I probably should just take her. Maybe this is just my psyche kicking in and taking me back to my early childhood when Santa brought me to tears. But I should give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she will better understand and intuit the inherent awesomeness of Santa. And if not, the Santa photos with the crying baby are oddly charming.

Babies first REAL Christmas

Roxanne was born on December 19, 2007, so even though last year was technically her first Christmas, I'm not sure she got a whole lot out of it. Although if she did remember it, she would also remember the Santa outfit we put her in. I could blame that outfit on my sister, since she gave it to us, but that would be unfair. I got a kick out of it, too. But look how cute she was in it! She was such a tiny thing! This year I think we'll be skipping the Santa outfit but there are lots of new and exciting things that will be just as good. Maybe better. I think I'm going to do the whole Santa experience with her. Justin will be dragged along for the ride. But we will be making special cookies and setting them out for Santa. We will wake early to see what's been left under the tree. We will keep opening the days of the Advent Calendar one by one. We will probably only do one or two gifts, and hopefully Roxanne won't be scarred for life.

This year also marks the start of what I hope will be a family tradition. I got the idea from an article in one parent magazine or another. The idea is that instead of doing lots and lots of presents, you take a family trip. That way, you can spend time together. We realize that there will likely be some lean years where we take a family trip to somewhere close and inexpensive, but that's OK. I just think it will be fun. This year we are hoping to go to Asheville, North Carolina for a few days after Christmas with my sister and her family. We're still working out the details, but I'm really excited. I want Roxanne to think of the holidays as a nice family time, and not just a toy bonanza. I have such wonderful memories of being at my Grandparents' house for Christmas and eating huge meals and watching each member of the family open their gifts. I think my favorite part was my stocking. My Grandma knitted it just for me, and my sister had one that was similar, but just different enough that we could tell them apart. The little goodies in that stocking were always the most fun to find.

I hope you all have wonderful holidays! And I apologize for being so sparse in my postings. You know how it goes.