The Eve of Tradition

This is the first year where Erik got Christmas and was totally excited by the idea of Santa and getting presents. It is also the first year for us to make up traditions that will stick for a lifetime of memories. One tradition that started last year and I want to keep, is decorating cookies on Christmas Eve for Santa. Since we were spending the evening at Uncle Glenn's and Aunt Annie's house I thought this would be the perfect tradition to start. And maybe if my brother ever has kids of his own, we'll just continue the tradition with his kids. So we brought all the fixing and headed over to his house.

Erik did an ok job of decorating last year, didn't really get it so Elliot who is younger I figured really wouldn't get it, but I would give it my best shot. Erik on the other hand is a little chef and did a great job of not eating the dough and eating just a little bit of candy when decorating the cookies. I have to admit that I was amazed at how little that candy went in his mouth.

We had a bunch of extra cookies so I asked Glenn and Annie to join in the fun. Glenn was too busy cooking dinner, but Annie played along to the spirit of the event!

As all good cookie making goes, you are allowed to have a little nibble to sample the product.

Here are pictures of my little artist. He really has a gift in the kitchen and loves working on all sorts of kitchen project. Art projects not so much, but the gooey kitchen projects draw him in.

 

The final product of all our cookie decorating skills. I need to add that I wasn't going to decorate cookies this year, but Erik sees his baby books and sees the pictures all year long and I think remembered that we decorated cookies last year. So he insisted that we do it this year. I am not one to argue with logic and tradition. Even if I am boycotting sweets this year.

The rest of the evening we talked with our family and watched Christmas movies. We only could stay a few hours because our littlest ones needed to get to bed to get ready for the big man to visit. So we played, decorated, ate and then said our good-byes until tomorrow.

Let'e not forget the most important part, here are the cookies we left for Santa on Christmas Eve.

The Holiday Concert

This year I got to be one of the many parents going to their child's holiday concert. It is an exciting time, as this was our very first one and the thought of watching 3-year-olds try and sing Christmas song while all being all on stage together just sounded irresistible. I expected many escapades and for it to not go smoothly.

The conditions in the hall were very challenging. I got there early to check out the lighting and figure out the best spot to photograph. I tested out my flash by bouncing it off the ceiling, but that presented a few challenges as the ceiling was too high and I knew there would be other parents using their flash at the same time. After metering the scene a few different ways I just decided to bump up my ISO to 1600 and go with the grainy natural light shots. Even then I had to use a really shallow depth of field and shoot in raw so I could compensate for the low light when I went to edit my photos.

The kids entered the hall class by class. Since Erik is in room 2 his was the second class to enter. All the kids were adorable as they milled around the stage a little clueless about where to go and where to sit. Erik definitely needed some extra help.

Erik instantly found daddy in the crowd as he was standing up holding Elliot and daddy isn't hard to find in a crowd since he is so tall. I am not sure if he saw me the entire time I was there.

Each classroom had a special song to sing and all kids sang most of the songs. On the list were "Feliz Navidad" "Ring Bells" "Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Happy Birthday." It all came together to me when I heard the "Ring Bells" song which was Erik's classes song. Erik has been signing this all week, but I had never heard the song before and thought he was making it up. Just goes to show you that even your 3-year-old can teach you something new.

So as a photographer my instinct is to move around and try to capture this moment from different places, but this is challenging. There are parents EVERYWHERE and I don't want my photography to get in the way of them viewing the show. Also there are parents everywhere so they are often getting in my shots. Maybe after a few years when I have a few of these shows under my belt I can adjust my shooting techniques.

This picture was interesting because someone's flash went off while I was taking a picture and the effect I thought was rather different since it was almost acting like an off camera flash.

Here are just a few of my cutie pie when he saw his mommy was close and taking pictures of him. Even though I was there he only had eyes for daddy.

My cutie pie being helped off the stage, he had to be ushered out of the room. Then a picture of his brother dancing on stage because as one brother does, so does another.

Since today was a special day and Erik's very first concert apperence and daddy had a few extra moments, we asked him where he wanted to go to lunch. Without hesitation he said Steve's, so that's where we headed.

Erik was very excited and definitely on some high, or maybe he is just wild because he was up late last night and up early this morning. He explained to daddy the rules about picking out his own table, as this has been our routine when we go. Erik picks the table and sits while mommy orders food.

Since it was a special treat to have daddy with us at Steve's, both boys insisted on sitting by him and eating lunch with him. Carl is such a good daddy and it didn't cross his mind to say no.

I figured it out, why Erik LOVES Steve's. I forgot they started giving him gummy hamburgers. He knows he is going to get this 90% of the time, so my guess is that he wants the candy so he chooses this place. Smart kid!

So ends the day of our first concert. The actual concert pictures look terrible because there are very few small windows in the hall where the show was hosted. In comparison, the pictures in Steve's look amazing because it is all windows so beautiful light is bouncing from all different directions. Also the walls are white and tables golden adding to the gorgeous set up.

Two Santas and a Story

Every year Carl and I try to take the kids to see Santa when it isn't busy and when we both can go. This usually means picking daddy up from working during his lunch break, seeing Santa and then having lunch. We have done it this way for the last three years and started going to the Americana because that was the Santa closest to daddy's work. So keeping with tradition, we did exactly that.

Well in addition, my kids LOVE storytime. I have been taking them to storytime for a year and Erik loves sitting and listening and singing the songs and really gets into it. Elliot is starting to participate, but is not nearly as excited about storytime as his brother. Last week we had to miss our usual storytime place since the boys were sick, so this morning was the last day of Christmas storytime and we went. So it was an extra Christmassy morning.

We got to storytime 10 minutes late and Erik was totally confused as to what was going on. Everyone was standing up and jumping around and singing a song he didn't know. He just stood back and watched.

When the actual storytime started and we sat in the usual place to listen, that is when Erik perked up. This was no usual storytime, we had a special guest, Mrs. Claus, and she was telling special stories. All of her stories involved costumes and volunteers. To my shock, Erik enthusiastically volunteered every time and participated every time. His first costume was as a mouse. We all sang "Three Blind Mice."

I really liked Mrs. Claus because she was very tolerant and encouraging about the littlest ones walking around the stage. So Elliot took advantage of it and rummaged through her props and came out with a bell. He was very excited about it.

  

The next volunteer opportunity for Erik was something using their hands. I totally forgot what they were singing to be honest. Erik was happy to stand up front, but didn't really get the hand motions.

Then it was the special moment, where Erik got to be the center of attention he was craving. We were singing "Rudolph" and had a lot of reindeer volunteers. I think because Erik has been enthusiastic all day, or maybe because I had a nice camera out he was chosen to play Rudolph. It was pretty darn adorable and he had no clue he was the center of it all. I love that!

Then the kids got to sing "Jingle Bells" with real bells. Elliot was totally thrilled since he was obsessed with the bells the entire time.

Of course at every storytime there are bubbles and it was a mad rush of kids to catch those bubbles. Elliot stood back and watched, but did gain confidence in the end to join in the herd.

  

 

Then it was time for the magic moment, Mrs. Claus told us the story of Santa and he came out for all the boys and girls. I had no idea that the kids were going to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. For goodness sake we were going to the mall to do that in an hour. So Erik watched and I told him he could do it later, but he insisted on telling Santa what he wanted at that moment. How could I refuse? Oh and I didn't force Elliot on Santa's lap because I knew it wouldn't go well when we did it. One Santa torture a day is more than enough.

After storytime we picked daddy up from his office and headed to the mall. I like the Americana Santa because he is really nice and gets it and doesn't show an annoyed face for the littlest ones. I also was excited because Erik got the concept of Santa this year and told him all about what he wanted for Christmas. "Cars Movie Stuff.." Elliot in true fashion freaked out and cried on Santa's lap. Totally normal for a 20 month old.  Here are the pictures we got.

  

Then in our family tradition, after we saw Santa, we went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. I love it that I can order Elliot a thing of milk at a restaurant and he actually drinks almost the whole thing!

   

Then because my kids didn't get much of an opportunity to burn off energy with all of today's activities we did a lap around the Americana just for fun. 

I keep seeing these pillow pets everywhere, they must be the hot new gift this year. All I know is that my kids aren't getting them.