It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

This really is the most wonderful time of the year. And yes, I realize I just quoted two separate Christmas songs in a row. I blame the all Christmas all the time radio station that I have been listening to since after Thanksgiving, and my ever increasing pregnancy hormones. We're a flurry of activity and there's plenty of flurries on the ground too, to help us get into the extra holiday spirit.

Marin is loving the Christmas season this year and I am loving watching her discover it. She points out Christmas lights wherever we go, and the trees. She has a small nativity scene in her room that my parents gave her and each night before she goes to bed she says, "Night-night baby Jesus." Marin really likes the snow on the ground although she gets frustrated that she can't grab it too well with her "mitties" (mittens). She loves her (hot pink) snow boots and shows them to everyone. She calls snow "Nos" much like the nose on your face, which she also calls nose, but when she says "nos" for snow there is much more emphasis on the "s" at the end. It's a complicated deciphering game that only Jason and I are able to depict dependent upon the context in which she is using the word.

Marin also loves Rudolph. She also calls him "Nose" after the song, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Although she talks constantly about Santa, (including excitedly shouting his name ("Sahnta!!") whenever anyone tells her Merry Christmas), she wasn't so sure about Santa when she met him last Saturday. Until Santa mentioned that he knew Rudolph, and then she changed her mind about Santa a little bit. Then she asked Santa if he knew Mitch. Cue the blank stare.

We've kicked off the celebrations with a wonderful Christmas concert downtown- a treat for all of us from my parents, as well by gathering with some neighbor gals over a fancy tea complete with a child free afternoon as we ate mini sandwiches from fine china and sipped tea from crystal. We also celebrated my mom's birthday "Martin style" (which means we had two parties together, and she had at least six in total), we have been getting together with friends- including a sixth annual Christmas dinner with Auntie Molly and Uncle Brian, and a fun chicken chili night with Aunt Erica, Uncle Craig and Kai (Marin's boyfriend who she talks about for days on end), and partying with Jason's cousin and fiance who are getting married on New Year's Day. We've been baking Christmas cookies and breads like mad, and dancing to Bing Crosby's White Christmas. Jason would tell you that he's also been shoveling like a mad man, and he hates it with a passion, but we just call him Scrooge and move on. :)

We've also tackled another house project- moving back a wall in our family room and downstairs bathroom to make a large family room space and turn a full bath into a powder room. It is going well, although extremely dusty. I have all of our Christmas presents wrapped and under our trees and I am finding myself blowing drywall dust off of the packages from time to time. So much for planning ahead. When this is all patched up we are adding a gas fireplace and a wall of built in bookshelves surrounding the fireplace in the family room. I can't wait for that phase. And then there's finishing Marin and baby's playroom, and the creme de la creme- moving Marin to her big girl room (and bed). The new year isn't even here yet, and Jason's honey-do list is already bursting. :)

In this wonderful time of year we find ourselves with much to be thankful for. The closeness and plenty of friends and family, the overall health and happiness of our loved ones, and our own growing family. We had our 20 week ultrasound today and as we saw our little baby wave his/her arms for the first time and kick its feet and watch the heart beating away, we were so thankful for the miracle of life. It was the best Christmas gift anyone could possibly give us. My Christmas wish is that you and your family are afforded the same joys and the same love all year round.

Mitch and My Bitch

Marin is talking up a storm these days. Every day she says something new. She loves to sit at the foot of our Christmas tree in the living room and point out the objects she sees. "Oooohh, mommy! Pritty!!" I love the way she pronounces words with her limited audibility of all sounds and letters, but in her punctuated diction. "Sahnta" is santa, "stah" is star and of course, "lini" for illini, her beloved team. We have three "lini" ornaments, and she has found them all. "Oooh, mommy, lini! Oooh! 'nother lini!" She also points out house, shoes, boat and cah, for car.

But my favorite words that Marin has recently said are not found on the tree. One night last week, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas was on tv, so I tivo'd it and showed it to Marin a few days later. At first she wasn't sure about the Grinch, but she grew to love it. Problem is, she can't say the "Gr" sound, so she calls him Mitch. She loves Mitch and Mitch's dog, whom she calls Mitch Dog.

I had a craving for potato chips a weeks ago. Just plain old regular Lays potato chips. Of course I had to get a bag. We never have chips in our house, so it was a total treat for Marin. Problem is, she can't say the "ch" sound either, so she calls those bitch. And when she asks for them and I say no, she cries, "Mommy! My bitch!" A few days ago we were at the grocery and Marin pointed to this little old lady's shopping cart and shouted, "Bitch! Bitch!"

And thus a new kind of Christmas story was born... the story of Mitch and My Bitch.