February is only a week away

February is only a week away and I finally feel like I've recovered from the month of December. We had three holiday parties, one ornament exchange, one Christmas-themed bunco, one date night to the Nutcracker and several potlucks. My calendar was packed and when the time came to celebrate on Christmas Eve, I was under the weather and exhausted. I may have overdid it ... just maybe.

December began with Benny's work Christmas party, my 32nd birthday and a hunt for the perfect Christmas tree.

Benny and I

Olivia's first Christmas tree. She "helped" cut it down.

Decorated by Benny while Olivia and I napped.

Olivia using the Christmas countdown that I had as a child.

This was the first Christmas that Olivia was involved and understanding that December is a special time of year. This meant daily discussions about not touching the Christmas tree ornaments or Baby Jesus. Olivia was obsessed with my nativity set from Japan.

One day we were at the store when an employee asked Olivia if she was going to bake cookies for Santa. Olivia looked at me with a panic face. "Cookies for Santa?" she asked. "Yes, we'll bake cookies for Santa," I answered. Then every morning we talked about when we would bake the cookies. I thought we should wait until December 23. Olivia wanted to do it today. Every day.

Benny and Olivia baked the cookies together on December 22. It was quite the stressful adventure. Not nearly as fun as when we were children. I wonder if our mothers were stressed out during this activity with us? Olivia was in full helper mode and wanted to do everything which translates to cookie dough and flour everywhere. She later cleaned up by rolling around in the flour on the floor.

Rolling out the cookie dough

Using the cookie cutters that I used as a child

Oliva is bored with cookies. She creates a mountain with the flour instead.

The end result. Olivia said Santa wanted pink cookies.

Cookies for Santa wasn't Benny's and Olivia's only project this holiday season. They also worked together on our family Christmas letter. Olivia was hands-on by painting her handprints on each and every letter. (Benny's idea, not mine.) I took photos of that project, but can't seem to find. I promise once I locate them, I'll post them.

Finally Christmas morning arrived. We told Olivia that Santa came and she was excited when she saw presents under the tree. Prior to that, we only had brown boxes delivered by "Santa" AKA the UPS guy or mailman.

Olivia immediately dug into her gifts. She went for the presents with ribbons first. Then asked "where are the ribbons and bows, Momma?" Oh, Olivia, Momma doesn't do bows and ribbons.

Eventually she reached for a gift that wasn't for her. It was for Benny. This created our first of five Christmas morning tantrums. Hmmm, we should have explained that Santa brings gifts for everyone in the family, not just Olivia. So every time a gift wasn't for Olivia, she started to cry. Wow. Imagine if she had to watch her seven cousins open gifts. The drama of the two-year-old.

I will not smile for the camera.

The gift she requested ... her own computer.

We must play with each gift after opening it. It was more than 2 hours to open gifts.

Olivia's reaction when I asked to take a photo of her in her coat from Grandma.

Each time, I asked to take a photo of Olivia with her gift, she said "NO!" and made a grumpy face. Nice. Holiday memories to treasure for a lifetime, right?

On December 26, Olivia woke up and asked "Did Santa come?" On December 27, Olivia climbed out of bed and asked "Did Santa come?" She eventually caught on to my answer about Christmas is only once a year and explaining what Santa was doing that particular day (drinking hot chocolate with the elves, napping with Mrs. Claus, feeding the reindeer, etc.) Olivia is lucky her mother has such an active imagination to keep up with her constant questions.

We experienced additional Christmas withdrawal when Benny took down the tree and decorations one night. After searching the house for holiday items during breakfast, Olivia came to this conclusion while looking at her new calendar.

"First we have baby. I become big sister. Grandma comes. I have birthday. We have Halloween. We have Momma's birthday. We have Christmas tree. We have wreath. We have snow. Then Santa comes!!!! Then Olivia opens presents!!!"

Giant grin by Olivia.