Monday, December 11, 2006

Oh Christmas Tree


Last Thursday night we attended a holiday party sponsored by our adoption agency. The turn out was great and it was wonderful to see so many families that were created through adoption. It was also nice to see the agency people we worked so closely with during the process. They genuinely enjoy getting a chance to see the children since much of their involvement is on the paperwork end. Bob, Beth and Nicholas (the family we traveled with to Kaz) were also there. Their paperwork to adopt a child from Guatemala is complete. Now they wait for a referral and are hopeful they will travel this summer. We're very excited for them. We discovered that Aidan LOVES cookies and he had a grand feast with those he was served and those to which he helped himself. We were concerned that the agency people would think we never feed the boy. Luckily, he suffered no ill effects from the copious quantites he consumed. Santa stopped in for a visit. He received mixed reviews from the kids as one might expect. Some greeted him with joy while others burst into tears. Molly hopped into the safety of her daddy's arms but did not cry. Aidan sat on Santa's lap again. "School bus please" was his request. No lap for Molly however she did blow Santa a kiss when we were leaving. She's making progress.

On Saturday I attended a bridal shower for Pat's cousin. The shower was in South Jersey and started at 11:00am so I was out the door early. Daddy had Molly and Aidan all to himself. A great day was had by one and all.

We woke the kids up early on Sunday morning and went to the 8:30 Mass. After church and a quick breakfast we headed out to find our Christmas tree. The first place we went to had a lot of atmosphere but the trees were pre-cut. You could cut your own but the selection wasn't great. This place had a nice train display, horse drawn wagon rides and guess who...yes, Santa. There weren't many people there so Santa was trying to talk to Molly and Aidan from where he was seated. Aidan was too mesmerized by the trains to notice and Molly was hiding between my legs. After a few minutes he came over and gave them each a candy cane. Aidan took his and surprisingly so did Molly. Candy is hard to resist. Pat theorized that Molly was too caught off guard by Santa sneaking up on her to react. Both kids scarfed down the candy canes. We didn't even know they liked peppermint. Aidan took another opportunity to sit on the fat man's lap. His Christmas wish list has grown. He now would like a school bus and a choo choo.

The next place we stopped had tons of trees to choose from and we inspected nearly every one. Molly and Aidan were troopers and didn't complain as we climbed up and down the mountain side. After we found the one, Pat broke out the saw and cut it down. The kids were intrigued. The tractor swung by for the tree and we walked to the checkout. Aidan was fascinated by the baler (hard to imagine). While we waited for our tree to be done, Aidan invented a new game called "throw the stump down the hill". Pat had cut a small round piece from the tree stump for each of the kids. Aidan threw his down the hill and didn't it roll about 25 feet. Pat retrieved it and both kids threw theirs again. This time they all chased them down. I wish I had the video camera. It was hysterical. Everyone there was laughing. We paid for the tree, tied it to the roof and headed home. We had a terrific time. Tonight we'll put the tree in the stand and Pat will put on the lights. That will be enough to accomplish with two 2 year old "helpers".

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