My married name may as well be spelled S-H-O-E because that’s how it sounds, but it’s H-S-U. The title should’ve read: Christmas At The Hsu’s, but Christmas Shoes sounds more snazzy. 😉
I really enjoyed Christmas this year. Now that my eldest is 3, she really understands Christmas this year and got into the Christmas spirit. We baked cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. She even left a note to Santa, so “he would know the cookies were for him!” She wrote Santa a letter that she wanted a grey and white cat from Target! (She wanted him to know the store where she saw the cat, so that he would get the right one!) She knew several Christmas carols by heart and sang them gleefully.
The look on her face when she saw that Santa had eaten all of her cookies on Christmas morning was priceless. It made all the stress and hassle of Christmas shopping worth it – tenfold!
Melia putting out her cookies, napkin and note on Christmas Eve. After her bath, she rushed back downstairs in a panic because she realized she had forgotten to leave a glass of milk! “Santa may get thirsty!”
“Cookies For Santa”
Christmas morning — Melia in her “art shirt” and carrying her new grey-and-white cat (from Target) everywhere. Ian in his monkey pajamas. (By the way, Melia named her new cat, “Whiskers”. But ironically, the cat’s whiskers came right out of her face when Melia pulled on them! So Whiskers is more like No-Whiskers! A few days later, we conveniently renamed her, “Kitty”.)
My husband, Lawrence, designs a new star for each year. Each star represents the year that has passed and is usually made of paper — a compilation of photos over the year. One year, he added twisted metal and who-knows-what in attempts to have the star spin on top of the tree when there was a breeze whenever we, uh, leave the windows open on a cold Winter day! Was he watching an old episode of McGyver and felt inspired?!! He got an “A” for effort, but…uh… it didn’t quite work.
For 2008, Melia helped make the star. She is our budding artist. Each point on the star represents one of the members of our family. She drew pictures of us and adhered them to the point. Each person was drawn in their favorite color. Her favorite stuffed cat, Meow, is there too. (This is before the days of Kitty!)
Melia testing out her new art set…
…and then making faces at the camera!
My little man. Ian, who is 16 months old, didn’t care to open gifts. (He is the opposite of his sister, even at the same age.) He didn’t know what all the hoopla was all about, and he didn’t care. He did his own thing all day and was just jolly and sweet as usual. Christmas or no Christmas. Awww, look at my little monkey!
Happy New Year, everyone!