A Family on Five Acres: Advent-ures

Everyone should have a three-year-old at Christmas-time! Sarah is definitely into the spirit of the season this year. She's focused on the festive activities, instead of the gifts, which Mom appreciates (and knows won't last forever). When asked what she would like Santa to bring, she consistently replies, "A cow." (Donkeys, goats, and chickens aren't enough for this Midwestern girl.)

She is gradually warming to the idea of Santa. When we passed him at the mall a few weeks ago, she gave him a wide berth and wouldn't even wave to him. I printed a Santa Advent calendar off the Internet, and we've been adding a cotton ball to his beard every day. On the first day, I explained that, when we get to #24, Santa will come that night and leave her presents. "To our HOUSE???" she replied, horror-stricken. I told her he would come downstairs, while she was asleep in her bed upstairs, and she wouldn't see him. She was only slightly reassured. Now, when she hears his name, she brightens and repeats it warmly.

We cut our tree last weekend and put it up Thursday. I decided this was the year to bite the bullet and replace all of our lights with LEDs. Our tree is a bit slimmer than usual, and it's packed with lights -- so pretty! Sarah enjoyed hanging ornaments -- mostly on one branch, of course.

Sarah's favorite carol is Jingle Bells, which we listen to over and over daily. For some reason, she's taken to a small book called Christmas Abundance, which I put out on the coffee table mostly for decoration. It's definitely not a child's book, but she likes to flip through the pages and point to certain words. The other night, she turned to the hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. I sang it, terribly off-key, and she loved it. She now brings me the book, and I sing while she does a funny interpretive dance that looks an awful lot like Tai Chi.

We've been baking Christmas cookies, which she loves (the process and the product). I decided to try P*anut Blossoms (my all-time favorite). Yesterday morning, I set her up at the counter to unwrap the Kisses while I rolled the dough into balls for baking. I told her she could have one Kiss, then naively turned my back. After about the fourth time of her asking, "Can you see me, Mom?" I turned around to check her progress and found she had taken bites from most of the Kisses in the bowl. She's a master of semantics already!

We start celebrating with family this week, when we visit Grandma and Grandpa in the Tw*n Cities for a day and spend the weekend with Omar, Emily, and Sophia near Madison. Next week, Rachel is coming for a couple of days. We're flying to Mass. on Christmas Day for a week with Grammy, aunts (plural, now!), uncles, and cousins. Ho, ho, ho!!!