Chestnuts roasting

We wrote letters to Santa, made sugar cookies and put up our Christmas tree today.
I'm not sure if it was JM's only nap in 5 days (grr, but hurray!), cabin fever (it's been rainy and cold since Friday), a sugar buzz or the spirit of the season, but he was SO excited tonight. He did spins to the Christmas music playing on Slacker Radio Classic Holiday (which rules). He helped us put ornaments on the tree. He pretended to be a cat and clawed at us (hilarious!). I said "no" when he first asked if he could bring down this yellow chair from his room. When he said that the reason he wanted it was to sit and watch the tree, my heart melted.

One of my favorite memories from childhood is laying underneath our Christmas tree with all the old school big colored bulbs aglow. When I hear Nat King Cole's "Christmas Song" I think about this. That song was on our family Christmas record and it simply is Christmas to me. It is trite, but there is something magical in being a child at Christmas. I miss my dad so much this time of year. I can't believe it's been 10 years since he's been gone. I can't hear "Holly Jolly Christmas" or any Nat King Cole without getting sad about my dad. Being pregnant, I am especially emotional this year, read: blubbering mess when I heard Nat King Cole this afternoon.

Anyway, watching JM get so into Christmas tonight totally rocked. This is the good stuff. Noah is excited, too. We'll see what happens tomorrow when he awakens to see the tree with all those sparkly decorations. Eeek!