Waiting for Christmas

In the weeks running up to Christmas, we prayed with our Advent wreath every night, and some of us made snow angels . . . .

Jaybird had been begging and begging to see Santa; she was very concerned to get her list to him. This, in many ways, has been her "first" Christmas, the first time she has approached it with anticipation. Mouse was also interested in seeing Santa -- somewhat surprisingly. We had thought she was beyond that stage; maybe she's somewhere in between, which is fine.

Not sure where to find Santa in town, we traveled to La Crosse last weekend, where the local Rotary puts up two million lights along the riverfront. We got there just as the display opened, but still had to wait about 50 minutes in pretty cold weather to get to see Santa -- who, mercifully, was inside a warm little house.

Unfortunately, Jaybird -- who had been jumping up and down with anticipation mere moments before -- got "cold feet" (ha ha) when her turn came, and she refused to enter Santa's house. Given that she'd been talking about it for weeks, and we'd driven all the way down the river, and stood out in the cold for almost an hour, we were not about to walk away without having her talk to Santa. So we dragged her into the house, where she plastered herself against the wall, arms spread out. Then Starling had to go along with her, pushing her a bit (the photo is blurry because I had to hold Mudpuppy, who was howling by this point). But she finally got up the courage to tell him what she wanted: a baby doll. She was pretty happy afterward. although she did say that she was "too embarassed" to tell him what she wanted to name the doll: Anna Rose, her baby cousin.