We ended up not being able to go out and cut down a tree as we had originally planned due to the fact that we have a three year old that occasionally has meltdowns... Family tree day was also a meltdown day, so instead Josh drove to the nearest store selling trees and picked out the Brannin family tree of 2012. By the time he got home and we got it set up in the house Lincoln had calmed down and came to his senses. He was very excited and eager to help me decorate the tree. For those that know my, I am pretty anal when it comes to my decor and wanting things to look just so... But for the tree this year I improvised and I am glad that I did. I told Lincoln the story of each of our special ornaments as he helped me pick the right spot to place them on the tree. I made sure all the fragile ones were high and out of both kids' reach and the rest I didn't care about. Lincoln then helped me to put the "decor" onto the tree. It was a lot of fun. The kids had quite a jolly time rearranging the bottom third of the tree and from time to time I would find random things in the tree such as oranges, hair ties, and toys...
Decorating for Christmas was only the beginning, we also sang a lot of Christmas Carols and watched many a Christmas movie. "Jingle Bells" was Lincoln's favorite carol followed by "Deck the Halls" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." As for movies we watched nearly every one you could possibly think of from "The Polar Express" (which mind you we had been watching all year long...) to "Home Alone", to "It's a Wonderful Life." Lincoln also had an advent calendar this year in which he was able to practice his counting as we counted down the days until Christmas.
About a week before Christmas Lincoln was convinced that he was on the "naughty list." For whatever reason he was stuck on that and no matter what we tried to tell him he was not convinced that he would be getting presents from Santa. He was not in any way distraught about being on the "naughty list either which was weird. He finally a few nights before Christmas told us that he was indeed on the "nice list" and would be getting presents from Santa. In fact he was sure he would be receiving a Chick Hicks car to be specific. While he may have for reasons unbeknownst to us have landed on the "nice list" he was now convinced that Daddy was not. Daddy was on the "naughty list" and would be getting cold rocks from Santa!
Christmas Eve we have a tradition of watching "It's a Wonderful Life" with my parents (pretty much only my dad and I enjoy the movie while the rest of the family suffers though the "long, boring" story.) On our drive home Lincoln was telling us all about Santa and how he needed rescuing! He was very animated and adamant that Santa had gotten stuck in the mud. He continued to tell us that we were the "team" that would need to rescue Santa from the mud. Specifically he pointed out that the "team" consisted of Brooklyn the Baby, Daddy Josh, himself, and Mama Victoria Jean (yes that is what he has been calling me?! So weird my child :-) lol). His imagination right now is amazing and I do not want to forget any of his stories! When we got home we put out a cupcake and apple cider with a straw (per Lincoln's specific request) for Santa and some broccoli for his reindeer before forcing the wound up child to head to bed. That left a very tiered Mom and Dad to make sure all the preparations were ready for Christmas morning....
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