we end up doing all sorts of fun activities and it just adds so much joy to the season!
some people might feel overwhelmed at the prospect of keeping up with all the joy, sparkle, and fun of the season but i find that being busy and on the go such a part of the season. don’t get me wrong…i love having slow days and catch up days and days where you don’t have a million places to be but i also try to be smart, efficient, and effective with my time and learn to say no when it’s too much.
with that said, here are a few snippets of some of the fun we had this past december!
G I N G E R B R E A D H O U S E
every year we create a gingerbread house. olive loves to decorate it and ellie likes to eat all the candies. LOL next year, i am going to try to create my own from scratch. well not from scratch scratch but i saw, this past season, a house made from graham crackers and all the fun trimmings and i think i might try that next year! i’ve gotten the same house for olive a couple years in a row and i am hoping to find a different one for her to make next year!
gingerbread trimmingsthis pretty much sums up all our projects. olive working hard and ellie watching and eating candy. LOLolive very cautiously putting on the candiesmy sweeties
S A N T A
in awe over mr. and mrs. clausI always say 4 is the magic number when it comes to santa! the sweetest letter that olive wrote to santa. i asked her what she wanted from santa and she said this. be still my heart.
D R I V E I N T H E A T R E
Z O O L I G H T S
a fun rainbow globe of lights having fun in the rainbow globe of lights having a blast with val
C O O K I E D E C O R A T I N G
excited to decorate!
R A N D O M S H E N A N I G A N S
painting animlas she cracks me up. showing off to me how focused she is. ellie working hard on her gorillahome baked cookies for the neighborshome from school, ugly sweater day, and ready for winter break!
our seasonal visit with santa was a bit of an obstacle this year. every year, i will get an email stating when santa was coming to town and to make a reservation. every year, i do but not this year. i pushed it off and by the time i checked the site to make a reservation, the entire month was booked!!! whaaaaa?!
yes, and on the random days i checked in to see if they had any openings, they were booked. ughhhhhh. one day, we showed up, the girls all jazzed out for santa, and stopped by the place to see if there were any openings, nope. they were booked. extra yuck.
i was feeling defeated. i mean, there were plenty of options everywhere to visit with santa. it wasn’t like this was the only choice but i was a stickler for wanting to go there because it’s been the only place we’ve ever gone to for a visit with the guy in red.
sooooo, one day, i stopped by and they had open slots for visits {they apparently said the weekend before christmas would be open to walk in’s}, i put in our name and was super excited! olive had written a letter to santa weeks prior and it was urgent to get it in his hands!
the girls got dressed up and we had plans to hit up dinner at roka akor afterwards. we arrived at the santa station and it was a bit crowded. we checked in and there was a lot of commotion going on inside. people were irritated and annoyed with their wait times and reservations. right after i checked in, a girl came up to me and asked, “how did you make a reservation?”, i was like, uhhhhhh…i stopped in earlier in the day. there was a particular women there who was mouthy, rude, and obnoxious. she constantly got into the host’s face and had such attitude and was so angry at her because they had been waiting a bit to see santa. what a prime example of patience and kindness she was showing her kids! LOL there was such a negative vibe going on, it was almost unbearable!
i must admit, the wait time was way too long and i assume they overbooked people, causing all of us to wait longer than expected. our reservation was at 6 and we didn’t see santa until 50 minutes later!!!! there was no turning back…we needed to see the big guy but our restaurant reservations were at 6:45!
well, of course we didn’t rush our visit with santa. we walked inside the airstream and santa was just chilling. ellie freaked out and olive was so excited! immediately olive went over to sit with him. she spent a few minutes with him while ellie hid behind hc. when it was time for some pics, i literally had to peel ellie off of hc like she had the claws of life on him. it was funny. for us, apparently not for her. she resisted but i reassured her he was super nice. santa read to them and was super kind and patient. ellie was doing just fine, although still quite skeptical.
overall, i was so proud of both babes for being so good! i always say 3 is the magic number. olive was open but not keen on santa at that age and then the following year, she was a super fan! i am expecting the same with ellie…next year will be even better!
we literally ran to the restaurant after the santa visit! i had called to let them know we were going to be late and they were so gracious with letting us get there 25 minutes later than expected! the restaurant was so good and we had a wonderful experience.
our visit with santa ended being fantastic despite the horrible wait time and environment and our dinner as a family was just as fun and delicious! i would have to say it was a win win evening!
[ellie not impressed but olive enjoying reading time with santa]
our annual visit with the big guy in red happened the other day! i didn’t tell the girls until we were about a minute away. olive got sheepish and ellie just didn’t care. i usually make reservations every year but this time around, i was like – let’s just wing it. i usually find that they are pretty good at getting non reserved families in and i was right!
we walked in, signed up and we were the second family to see santa! they snapped a family pic first and then the kiddos. it was cute! i wasn’t expecting to be in any pics but it was super nice to have one together {since we can be so bad at taking a family photo together}. the girl’s picture turned out so sweet too!
after those photos, we waited in line to walk into santa’s airstream trailer. when it was our turn, olive excitedly walked towards it. we walked inside and there was santa! olive was so anxious, excited, and nervous. ellie was like – nope. ‘who’s this big guy in red?! make sure i stay far away from him!’ hahaha!
olive gingerly walked towards him and sat next to him while hc held onto ellie. i encouraged olive to tell santa what she wanted for christmas. she had her hands slightly clasped and she looked right at him. as she started to speak, her voice was not quivering but her hands were slightly trembling, she told him she wanted a mermaid barbie, lol dolls, a cinderella doll, and a blue car with a big engine. it was soooo flipping adorable to see. she really wanted to tell santa what she wanted and practiced it with me before she went in. she did so well! i was so proud of her!
then hc set ellie down for a picture and it all went downhill for her! eep! well, as you can see in the pictures below…it was a very successful visit! after that, we walked away feeling so good {ok, minus ellie} and headed to dinner. after eating, we shopped around a bit in the mall and then headed home.
BUT not without losing bunny. that is a loooooong story. we thought we were donzo. that bunny was gone. we called all the places we were at and no one had bunny. we went home without him and we were devastated. especially olive. hc went back the next day to backtrack everywhere we went. he went back into stores and had no luck. then a christmas miracle happened. he searched the grounds and right in front of eddie bauer, there was bunny!!!! someone had found him and placed him up on the store front’s windowsill. bless their hearts for doing that! hc saved the day!
we had such a great evening! it really was! we had so much fun {minus the missing bunny}. santa’s visit was a success, dinner was so fun and yummy {the girls were sooooo stinking cute and well behaved}, and we had a good time shopping the mall and picking up some extra goodies!
[our family photo! i loved that they did that for us]
[they’re so sweet]
[ellie and olive’s looks! priceless!]
[olive is so mesmerized by him! ellie, not so much]
[she was sooooo excited to sit in his lap! what a difference from last year and the years prior!]
every year, since olive had been born, she has despised her visits with santa claus. one picture after another, year after year…she is absolutely frightened and as a parent, i find it disgustingly hilarious!!!!
well this year was absolutely no different. a couple weeks before our visit to the big man, i asked olive is she wanted to visit santa and ask him for presents. she said no. i said, “don’t you want to ask him for gifts?!” and she said, “i don’t want to sit in his lap.” and i said, “you have to if you want to ask him for presents this year” {honestly…doesn’t anyone else find it so odd that you make your kids sit on a strange old man’s lap and ask for gifts?? hahaha!}. she then says to me, “reagan and bennett don’t sit on his lap!” oh yeahhhhh? i grabbed my phone and showed her a picture of her cousins sitting on santa’s lap from the other week. her jaw practically dropped. she stared in silence and disbelief at the picture for a good solid 30 seconds. then says to me, “i don’t want to sit on santa’s lap” and that was it.
so came the night we were going to visit santa. hc came home from work and asked if i told olive what we were doing tonight. i said no. he said, “aren’t you going to tell her?!”, so reluctantly i did. i called her over and said, “olive, we are going to see santa tonight and ask for christmas presents” and surprisingly she said, “ok” and walked to her room to change her clothes. whaaaa? i was dying. she is so funny and cute!
we arrived and olive was soooo somber. she whimpered a bit and mumbled something about not wanting to see santa but i could tell that she knew she was going to see santa whether she liked it or not. especially with her steadfast, crazy mama standing in front of her {obviously this whole thing is more for me than her! eep!}. olive knew there was no saying no.
first, the kids sit down and take pics of just them in front of a sleigh. olive spied santa around the corner and she couldn’t stop staring at him!!! i am so amused that the photographer caught her nervous glance on camera! olive and ellie did so well with their sit down pictures together in front of the sleigh. then came the santa pics…olive nervously sat on the edge of the chair. santa was super sweet with her…he asked her what she wanted and they exchanged words back and forth about dolls, fairies, unicorns, horses, teddy bears, etc. i was soooo proud of her! she actually did a great job talking to santa. she was very quiet and reserved but totally didn’t have a meltdown!
then came the moment we were going to place ellie in his arms. watch out!! hc placed her down in his arms and she flipped out. FLIPPED out! her boots flung off her feet faster than a tesla roadster. ohmergawd. it was hilarious. olive actually smiled but she was totally fake smiling and her hands were clasped so tight out of nervousness! oh my poor girls!!! they were so scared!!! but gosh…it makes for the funniest pics!! so sadistic of me, non??
anyhoo, and that was that. i must say it was a pretty successful visit! the pics turned out great, i absolutely love the one of just olive and ellie in front of the sleigh…my favorite! well, ’tis the season to make your kids do crazy things! ha! happy holidays y’all!
[very unsure of what is about to happen…]
[so is hc…haha!]
[could this be any more perfect? olive spied santa from a distance and was soooooo nervous!]
[she’s like ‘ohmergawd…santa!’]
[check out that fake smile olive has and ellie…well that speaks for itself!]
i was hoping this year’s visit with santa would be different than the years prior. hahaha! nope. olive was not buying it. the moment we arrived and she saw the big panda bear by the entrance, she started to whimper. gah! this babe is so afraid sometimes!
while we were waiting inside the room to enter into the adventure of santa, olive didn’t have a meltdown like she did last year…thank goodness! she still wasn’t comfortable but she was being cooperative and patient. another family finally joined us and we were on our way to see santa!
we first met up with panda and he told us we were going to go to the north pole to see santa! we then went to a game room and played a few rounds of a snowy, panda sledding adventures on an iPad. olive absolutely loved this part! after a few gaming sessions, we were ready to get on the sleigh and take a journey to the north pole! olive was sooooooo freaking scared! i had to hold her so she wouldn’t freak out. she whimpered through most of the show and cried a bit when it became too loud. oh girl. she cracks me up!
we were finally to the north pole and waiting inside a room before we saw santa. they had more interactive iPads where you dressed the panda in festive clothes and of course, olive was having a blast doing so. they then called our name and said it was time to see santa! oh boy…i was not sure how olive was going to react, but i was so ready to do this!
we walked into the room and olive started screaming! hahaha! they shut the door behind us and that really freaked her out. she felt trapped. she ran in circles screaming, trying to get away from santa. oh my goodness. well santa decided to stand behind the chair and let us sit down to snap a few photos. olive’s glum face is priceless. she kept cranking her head behind us to see if santa was still standing there. um, yes, he’s still there baby girl.
i am so shocked she was so against santa! i prepped her all day. we watched santa movies throughout the morning and i kept asking if she wanted to see santa to let him know what presents she wanted for christmas and she flat out told me no. ha! oh girl.
well, ellie did very well! we wanted photos with santa for her first christmas and they turned out so cute. no crying, no meltdown, but more so a blank stare. she’s so good with that though! she’s infamous for that blank stare…it’s very daddy like {she does look a lot like her dad!}. i love her little face and surprised expressions all the time!
that was it, our successful(?) santa trip this year! it’s always worth it and honestly, so much fun despite olive’s meltdowns. hey, tis the season to get cray cray! i can’t wait until next year and see how olive reacts!
[sweet little ellie and dada]
[olive was soooooooo scared of the panda, she was a bit upset with me that i made her ‘stand’ next to him. hahaha!]
[panda letting us know we were going to the north pole to see santa!]
[her face doesn’t really show it but she was sooooooo upset]
hc’s friend’s dave’s mom {got that?! ha!} and dad host a christmas party every year called wee christmas. they have been doing this for decades. ever since i have been dating hc, we’ve attended every party. i love going to this. pat and pete are such warm, welcoming people and i love all of their friends, children, and grandchildren.
their house is always so festive and fun. they literally decorate every room in the house. christmas trees, santa’s, something festive and fun everywhere. it’s like santa’s house inside. there are always lots spirits to go around and tasty apps. i love visiting with everyone and every year, there are always the same faces with some new ones stopping by once in awhile.
olive was not comfortable, as always. she clung to me for dear life, although she did lighten up a lot faster than usual. she was intrigued by all the decorations and kept wanting to point out every santa figurine she saw. so, since she couldn’t point out all the santa’s in my arms, she actually wanted to get down so she get could get a better look at all the fun decor. totally fine by me! although she stayed super close, at least i didn’t have to carry her for a long period of time! phew!
soon, food was served and we ate and mingled some more. i had a great time getting to know a few new faces at the party and catching up with some old acquaintances. right after dinner is served, santa makes his appearance! santa visits every year at the party, reads a story, and hands out fun gifts to the little ones.
it was quite adorable when maggie called for olive to sit in her lap and olive obliged. i tried to snap a good photo but with so many crazy kids, it was hard to get a pic without someone’s arm or face right.in.front.of.my.camera. hahaha! olive was quite content until santa showed up! ohmygawd. total freak out! she immediately burst into tears! she was soooooo scared! even in my arms, she kept crying. she wouldn’t look at him and wasn’t happy until we left the room and she was far, far away from him! ha! no presents for her!
after santa, desserts were served and olive was a happy camper again. she stuffed her face and became a cute sweet babe again. hc and i were having a great time but alas, we had to go because we needed to pick up grace and didn’t want to get out there too late and get home even later.
as usual, we had a fabulous time at wee christmas. we enjoy going every year and look forward to it always. merry merry indeed!
[my love]
[olive loving the ‘munny’]
[she loved the little wooden horse and all the wonderful vintage toys in the basement]
[it was so sweet, maggie called for olive and she came over to sit in her lap. how sweet!]
last year’s visit with santa was successful yet unsuccessful. it was fun and interactive but olive’s time with santa was terrifying for her. alas, this year was no different! eep!
we arrived a few minutes late to our scheduled appointment time but santa’s house was running behind anyways. it was quite chilly out, so it was nice that we could wait inside until it was our turn to go on our adventure to visit santa.
olive was not having it. since she’s turned two, she has been so anti-crowds, anti-strangers. there were two other families waiting inside with us and olive did not want to be in there with them. she screamed, she shrieked, she wanted to go outside and be away from everyone. she kept saying, “outside! outside!” and pointed at the door. hc insisted that we stay put. i was upset because olive was upset and we couldn’t console her. she was screaming at the top of her lungs and these poor strangers had to listen to it!
within a minute or so, it was our turn to go on the adventure with santa. well, olive’s mood inside the waiting room set the tone for the rest of the event. ugh. she was so frustrated and upset throughout most of the tour. it was stressful and i all i wanted was for olive to enjoy the fun trip to the north pole! she did enjoy the interactive screens and part of the sleigh ride to the north pole {although there were some parts with the dragon that scared her!}. when she saw the dragon on the screen, she started crying and buried her face in my side. awww, poor thing!
we finally arrived at the north pole and we were waiting our turn to see santa! the whole week and time leading up to her visit, i tried my best to prep olive on the idea of santa claus. she recognized him and would point him out, so i was hoping that when she saw him in person, it would be a familiar face that she would be looking at!
hahaha. nope. what was i thinking?! that was a far fetched hope of mine! we walked into the room and immediately, she freaked out. she started whimpering and frantically clung onto me. santa stood up and said we could sit in the chair to take a family photo together. oh em gee. the look on olive’s face is hilarious. she was like, “i still know there’s a strange man behind me in a red suit.”
santa was a trooper. after a few family pics together, he was ready to take on olive. the photos captured are hilarious. i didn’t post them all but these are the best ones! there were a few more screaming poses, where olive looks like she’s fighting for her life but i felt like the two down below were the most descriptive of her visit with santa!
after our visit to the north pole to see santa, we were magically transported back to oakbrook center! haha! after our adventure, we decided to check out the christkindl mart to see what it’s all about. we perused the cute little shops and purchased some potato pancakes to munch on. they were deeeeeelish! yum! olive was most piggish over them, she became upset when hc or i tried taking a bite. what a little piggy! she insisted on having the last bite and after she did, she said, “all done!”. yeah, no kidding olive, all done alright miss piggy! ha!
[she was very unsure of what was going on and shrek scared her!]
[ready for a sleigh ride to the north pole!]
[we loved all the interactive screens for the kiddos]
[immediately, she was like, “who is this man in the red suit?! i don’t like.”]
[classic]
[santa was sooo good with her! actually, he was quite funny.]
[christkindlmarket at oakbrook]
[sooooooo yummy!]
after we walked around the christkindl mart for a bit, we decided to head home and get cozy for the rest of the evening! it was fun {well, maybe olive didn’t think it was as fun} and we really enjoyed our little festive evening together visiting santa. ho ho ho!
we were so excited to have scheduled a visit with santa claus! so, dream works has created and built ten {i think it’s ten, or is it seven? anyhoo} led lighted santa clause houses throughout the u.s. and oakbrook center has one! it’s a good thing we made our appointment early because it is now booked throughout the season! we were so excited to have experienced this journey to see santa claus, what a unique idea it is!
we packed ourselves up and headed out to oakbrook. we were running a bit behind but that was no matter because, unfortunately, santa was also running sooo behind! we waited in line for quite some time {that sucked…especially since we made an appointment!} and it was so cold out…boo! the guest service folks were kind enough to let us step away and warm up inside a store and not lose our spot in line. we needed to because it was way too cold outside for miss olive! after a very, very long wait, we were finally up next! woo hoo!
[pretty cool, huh? the images actually change]
[waiting out in the cold for santa // coat by zara]
[red nosed reindeer]
[auntie kim making a pit stop by]
[fiona, donkey, and shrek]
[my little baby warming up]
they gathered us inside the ‘foyer’ of the house and we were welcomed in by a few elves. we waited there, another ten minutes or so, before we were finally greeted by another elf! she brought us into another room and talked about how we were going to meet santa! buttttt, santa had snuck away! shrek and donkey appeared and said we needed to go to the north pole to see santa, he had gone back and we needed to find a way to meet up with him!
[we are finally inside! waiting to see if santa is behind the curtain]
[nope, santa isn’t here!]
[shrek and donkey telling us that we need to build a sleigh to get to the north pole!]
our little elf then led us into another room, a top secret room where we could build a sleigh ride to fly to the north pole. we spent some time in there building our cool sleigh! it was so interactive and fun!
[building our sleigh on the computer!]
after we built our sleigh, we were then led into another room where our computerized sleigh came to life! we all jumped onto the sleigh and held on tight for our trip to the north pole. it was soooooo cool. we loved it! it was so realistic and fun. we flew through the sky with shrek, fiona, donkey, and other friends, they led us to the north pole.
[we were flying to the north pole! it was so awesome!]
after our sleigh ride, we finally landed in the north pole! we were almost there, santa was within reach! we waited in another room and waited our turn to see him! as you can see…olive was loving it {not}! i knew she would completely freak out once i handed her over. oh em gee. i could not stop laughing. my poor baby girl was having a freak out. and that santa…he was so stinkin’ cool. he didn’t break a sweat and handled her like a pro! the pics down below are too presh.
[this one is our favorite…ha!}
yay! olive’s first visit with santa was a success{?}. well, it was for us, although i think olive might argue that. hehe.
