It's been a busy couple of months, especially December! We hosted Thanksgiving this year, so we officially broke in the new house. Jess and Mark came up with Wyatt, and Mark's parents and his sister and her family joined us as well. Mom drove up from Virginia Beach and Judy came over for dinner. It was a big crowd, and we had a really nice time. The next day, we went to Williamsburg for the weekend. We went to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens, and Hana was mesmerized by all of the lights! I kind of figured this was going to be the first year that she really got into Christmas, and her reaction when we entered the park proved it. Unfortunately, it was ridiculously crowded, so the lines were much longer than her patience. So, we made due with the lights, which was still fun for her. However, I started to feel bad that Hana didn't get to see Santa or the Penguins, so we decided to go back to Christmas Town the following week. We got there when it opened and went directly to see Santa. We only had about a 10 minute wait, so now we know that is the way to do it next year. We also got to see the penguins before the line got too long, which was probably the highlight of her trip since she is a huge fan! Even though we had seen all the lights the week before, it didn't seem to lose the magic for her. I have always loved Christmas, but it is even better through the eyes of your child. Words can't explain how fun it was this year!
As hard as it is to believe, Hana celebrated her 3rd birthday this year. It's hard to believe she is already three... it's gone by so fast! She has been looking forward to her birthday and a party since June. She has been asking me about her birthday and party for months, so as you can imagine, it was a very big deal this year. She's really into trains, so we had a Thomas the Tank Engine themed party for her at Cartwheels and Coffee in Carytown. She had a really good time playing with her friends, and it was very easy on Mommy and Daddy since everything was pretty much done ahead of time. She had such a great day, and it was like a Christmas dress rehearsal from the presents to an exhausting day for her.
Needless to say, Christmas was a huge hit as well! She really got the whole Santa Claus thing this year. She knew who he was last year, but I think she realized that he also brings presents to her house if she is a good girl. She got a letter from Santa, as well as a special video message from him, and he confirmed that she was on the nice list. Santa did mention in his letter that he was checking his list twice a day, so she needed to be good because she could still end up on the naughty list. However, I quickly learned that this could back fire on me. One morning, I told her that she couldn't watch TV, so she called Santa and asked him to put me on the naughty list. I didn't have the heart to break it to her that I was probably already on it! On Christmas Eve, we would check the Norad Santa tracker to see where Santa was last spotted. She told me that she wanted to go to sleep around 5:30, but I told her she had a little longer before she needed to sleep. We went outside and threw out some reindeer food before dinner. She had a quick snack before bed, and we left Santa a snack, Walker style. He got a latte, biscotti, and some cookies. She even left some broccoli and carrots for the reindeer. Then, she almost ran up the steps to bed, making me wish that every night was Christmas Eve! The next morning, she was up at 6:45 and ready to see what Santa left! She was so excited when she found that Santa had left gifts under the tree and she had so much fun ripping into packages. This really was the magic Christmas for her and us!
