Finish the Sentence... Christmas Edition!

Another link-up Christmas style...Enjoy

1. My favorite Christmas was.... this Christmas (2013) seems to be a great Christmas so far.  I love seeing Christmas in Gabe's eyes.

2. The worst Christmas I had... The one when we moved on actual Christmas day (2003), the new neighbors thought we were crazy.  And probably Christmas of 1997, the 4 of us in a 1 bedroom apartment in San Antonio.

3. That one gift that made me scratch my head and say, "Hmmmm" was... I once received an Adam Ant CD - had no clue who he was, it was returned
 

4. One year I.... my brother and I went shopping at Best Buy and just paid for each other's baskets.  We never wrapped the gifts and started using them as soon as we got home.
 

5. I think the worst gift to give is.... subscriptions to "of the month" items
 

6. At Christmastime I typically.... I bake cookies, sugar, no bake, chocolate chip and make fudge - it's just not Christmas without all of this in the house.
 

7. Typically, family Christmas....is spent at the movies after dinner.
 

8. If I could change one thing about the Holiday season.... it would be longer.
 

9. It is so hard to buy for.... Me, I never know what to say I want/need.
 

10. My favorite Christmas tradition is... watching Christmas movies on Christmas Eve
 

11. Santa, baby, bring me a .... a new wardrobe, a painter (to paint the house for free), new iPhone...I'm sure I could go on, however I can't think of anything right now, kinda like when someone asks what I want...

Main Street St. Charles

I've been wanting to check out Main Street St. Charles at Christmas for the last few years.  It seems like something always came up on the weekends before Christmas and we never made it out there.  This year, Scott had to drop off the car for Michelle on Sunday at the restaurant she works at (Bella Vino on Main Street - AMAZING! (shameless plug)). 

So we parked the car and picked up a couple lattes and walked down to the restaurant.  We were greeted by people from all time periods with costumes and accents.  It was very cool to see the street performers up and down the street.  Gabe was complimented by a couple of them for his cuteness (duh) and his amazingly blue eyes (duh). 

We hung out at the restaurant for a while, our second time there in 3 days (it's good!).  We were told a parade was about to start, but we never saw it.   Scott was exhausted from running in the Hot Chocolate 15K (in 20 degree weather) that morning and Gabe was ready for a nap.

We did pass the Christmas tree and took a couple selfie/family pics before making it home.

Gabe photo bombs mom & dad

Gabe is clearly thrilled we stopped

Birthday Party

Gabe has gone to birthday parties, but he finally went to one of his friend's birthday.  We celebrated Ford's first birthday this past weekend.  We ran into some St. Gabriel people at the party, which is fun.  Gabe did really good playing with the other children.  Gabe wasn't too sure about the presents, neither was Ford.  But it was fun to watch the kids help open the gifts and Gabe test out the new toys. 

Gabe did show off some of his new walking skills at the party.  It was a replay of Thanksgiving for Scott and I, walking in circles, up and down the stairs.  But the kid just loved it. 

10 Months!

Guess who is 10 months old?!  How did this happen?  I feel like I was just writing about him being 9 months.  Time is moving very fast!  Gabe went to Miss Jessica's on his 10 month and played with his buddy, Ford.  No doctor's appointments for this month.  I'm guessing he is around 22lbs, since he is mobile now he looks to be thinning out.

Things Gabe is into these days:
- Walking with help
- Taking 2-5 steps on his own
- Tayo the Little Bus
- Playing with his Fire Truck
- Dancing to the refrig magents
- Trying new foods
- Knowing who mama and dada is

He has been very busy lately.  He can climb the stairs by himself and gets mad when we say no.  He is starting to be a little more stubborn when we say no to things, not sure where he gets that from.  But he is a very happy and healthy little boy.

Pre-Christmas Weekends

This holiday season is moving at a records pace.  I have done zero gift shopping.  But we have our house decorated.  Still no trips to see Santa yet, part of me is excited to see what Gabe does, the other part knows he is going to scream like crazy.  We shall see.

Last weekend we spent looking for a new washing machine.  We found one, and got a great deal on it.  Now if the plumbing worked I could use it.  But that's another story.  After the washer was delivered we quickly ran to Lowe's to get our Christmas tree.  Since the weather had been below freezing for a couple days, there was no way I was going to go out in the cold with a baby just to cut down a tree.  If only we went the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

So off to Lowe's to get a tree.  It's much smaller than last year, but with a 10 month old running around, it's just easier on all of us.  Gabe's sitter, Miss Jessica, put her tree up a week before us and said the boys don't even notice it.  And since our tree has been up for 5 days, Gabe hasn't even tried to pull anything off.  Yay!

After we picked the tree we spent the next couple hours baking and getting ready for our friends to come over on Sunday.  Scott's parents were nice enough to come over to watch the Mizzou games (basketball and SEC Championship) and watch Gabe while we ran around like crazy people (mostly me cleaning and cooking).  

 

Our annual Friend Christmas party went off with out a hitch.  Everyone came over to catch up and enjoy some RedZone Football.  This year was much easier since I just made some appitezers and chili.  I think this will be our plan for the next few years, as least until Gabe is old enough to be left alone.   

 

I'm excited to see what all this Christmas Season brings, maybe less snow.

Winter Wonderland Express

Instead of doing Black Friday shopping and dealing with crazy crowds, we decided to take Gabe to see the Winter Wonderland Express at the Botanic Gardens.  Jeni's house is very close to the gardens and this made for a fun family outing after Thanksgiving. 

The exhibit was a mini- Chicago made of candy and gingerbread.  There was a lot of details in the designs and it was very fun to learn about how it was made.  Gabe did great watching the trains move around the towns.  He just starred as the trains went past him.  There was the occasional wave bye-bye to the trains.  We walked through the exhibit twice and thought the inside snow was great. 

I'll let the pictures do the talking:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We went to another Christmas event this past weekend.  The Sunday after Thanksgiving is when the St. Louis Hills Home Owners Association has the tree lighting ceremony in Francis Park.  We've gone the last 4 years to this, and it was almost proposal spot.  This year was extra special because it was Gabe's first big Christmas experience.

Gabe slept the whole way to the Birch's and was very bright eyed once we got to the park.  Thankfully, it was almost 60 earlier in the afternoon and it was still fairly warm while we waited for the lights to come on.  Mathew joined Scott and I as we waited for FredBird, Santa and Mrs. Claus to arrive.  Then there was the big count down by the Mayor and then the tree was lit and the Carols were sung.  Gabe just starred at the bright tree not knowing what to think of it all. 

A couple pictures later we were off to find Ben and head home.  It was a long drive for 45 minutes of hanging out with the Birch's, but it was fun and it is a tradition that we will continue.