We’ve been pretty busy around here, getting ready for Christmas. Jonah is super excited about all the preparations and decorating. As soon as the box of lights came out, his excitement level went waaaay up. Two weekends ago, we took our walk to the grocery store parking lot nearby to choose a tree to haul home on the red wagon. It was really cold, but at least it didn’t rain on us this year. Nora was very happy to ride in the wagon on the way there.

Jonah checked out a few trees.

And then Nora realized that getting a tree meant she didn’t get to ride in the wagon on the way home. Oh no!

But she did get to help Dad pull it on the final block, and that seemed to help make up for things a bit.

Sean put the lights on during naptime and Jonah was just about beside himself waiting for Nora to wake up so they could decorate.

One day when neither kid decided to nap, we used a big cardboard box to cut out a mini Christmas tree. They had a fun time mixing the paint and covering the tree with green.

And it turns out Nora has a little Jackson Pollock in her…  flinging paint…

When it was done, I pushed brads through the back and the kids colored different ornaments that they can hang and move around to their heart’s content.

Jonah has also been full of ideas for drawings and decorations. He’s been making lots of Santas lately. Here’s one where he’s getting ready to come down a chimney and Mrs. Claus is holding a plate of cookies for him.

He’s even made a few ballfields with Christmas trees and red and green lights decorating the foul lines.

Here’s another Santa picture. He told me that you can tell that Santa and Mrs. Claus are the same age because they’re just as tall as each other. :)

He’s also made a little gingerbread house, and they both loved driving around in their pajamas one night to look at the huge houses with tons of lights.

Then last night we went to see Santa himself.  Jonah and Nora were super excited.

We tried to corral Nora’s excitement by putting her on Sean’s shoulders, but even that didn’t last long.

Santa was very sweet talking to the kids, and Jonah thought it was just the most amazing thing that Santa even knew about Thomas(!) when he heard that Jonah liked trains. Imagine that!

And then we came home and had some hot chocolate.  Yum.

Nora is pretty happy with her souvenir elf hat.