The Christmas Season

I was really excited for Mariah to get to experience the Christmas season this year. I figured if she could say "Jesus" then she was going to be able to absorb the true meaning of Christmas. When I unpacked our Christmas box I remembered the little magnetic nativity set that my mom had sent us the year before. Mariah loved it. She was constantly taking the pieces off the fridge and then putting them back up. She always wanted me to sing the different parts of "Picture a Christmas", "We Three Kings", and "Angels We Have Heard on High" for each character. She also loved watching the Nativity video from lds.org.

At the beginning of the season we took Mariah to meet Santa. When we got to the front of the line, Santa held his arms out to Mariah and she made a beeline for him. We were totally shocked, until at the last second she made a slight course correction and headed right for the candy canes at his feet. That made more sense. She wouldn't stand by Santa without me being there. But then gutsy Santa just reached down and picked her up. I was expecting serious tears but luckily some of our friends were there and they started to clap and cheer for Mariah. Mariah is a born performer so the applause took away any thought of crying.

I'm pretty sure this was the real Santa, he was awesome!

The first morning we woke up to snow I was so excited. I bundled Mariah all up and kept telling her all about the snow and how fun it would be. When I opened up the door she immediately began sobbing. She wouldn't step in the snow, she wouldn't touch the snow, she was even nervous to be carried in the snow. Not exactly the reaction I was expecting. But later in the day she decided it wasn't that bad.

She is obsessed with her gloves now. Anytime her coat is put on she asks for her gloves.

My mom sent us some presents for Mariah and Chet and because she is such a wonderful grandma she wrapped them all separately. I put them under the tree but after three of the presents were opened in a matter of 10 minutes I decided we better hide them in our closet. I ended up rationing them out to Mariah each day kind of like a countdown before we left for Pittsburgh. She didn't care whether they were presents for her or Chet. Chet got some outfits and Mariah would drape them over her shoulders and prance around the house. Her favorite present from Grandma and Grandpa Young was a beautiful dress. Right after she opened the present she asked her daddy to put it on her. She twirled all around and it took a lot of persuading to get her to take it off. Sadly every time we try to take a picture of her in it she has a major meltdown. We'll work on it. But here's a pic of my handsome boy in one of his new outfits...

That is one hunk of love right there. Surprisingly, the outfit's a little big on him.

The night before we left for Pittsburgh our good friends the Hills stopped by to visit. Mariah was in the bath and her best friend Max was splashing from the outside. All of a sudden we heard a big splash...

Mariah was delighted to have a bath partner. And just fyi, Max's battle wounds aren't from the slip in the tub. Mariah and Max have to get married now, because won't this picture be so perfect for their wedding video?