I’ve always enjoyed Christmas, but having a 2 1/2 year old has taken it to a whole new level. This is my daughter Lane’s third Christmas, but it’s the first year she’s really aware of the holiday.
I have some awesome pictures from last year of us holding her up around the tree, but she didn’t know what was going on. This year, it’s been amazing to see how she suddenly has taken an interest.
We put up the Christmas tree the Monday after Thanksgiving, and she started singing Christmas songs that we didn’t even know she knew. She was singing “Jingle Bells” and as soon as the whole tree was up, she said, “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!”
The next morning, she put on her school clothes, and she crawled under the Christmas tree when I lit it up and acted like she was a present.
Lane doesn’t have a specific Christmas tree ornament that she likes, but they’ll probably make that stuff soon at school. She definitely loves Christmas lights, and she likes to put the Santa hat with the star and bells on top of the tree.
As far as the other Christmas decorations, right now, she’s into snow globes. We have a couple of glass ones we keep out of reach, but we also have one made of hard plastic that we let her carry around everywhere.
Lane also likes to help decorate the Christmas cookies, and her favorite ones are the reindeer. What’s funny is she made a Thanksgiving turkey in her class, and it turned out looking more like a deer.
She’s always watching me look at trail cameras and talk about deer, so she’s going to be all over it someday. For now, she’s happy making things that look like Santa’s reindeer.
This year, we’re staying local for Christmas. We’ll visit with my wife Tarin’s side of the family on Christmas Eve and then we’ll go to my parents’ house on Christmas Day. Lane has several cousins, but she’s the youngest, so she gets lots of attention.
Something I’m looking forward to — I bought a Santa Suit with a hat, beard and everything. I’m gonna dress up on Christmas Eve, knock on the door and bring in the presents.
This is all part of making those Christmas memories with Lane. She won’t be little forever, so I want to do all I can to make sure she has a wonderful experience.
There’s no question, having Lane in our lives puts an exclamation point on the little stuff you don’t think about growing up. You see how fast kids learn and how excited they are.
I’m still in the state of “How do you know this?” She’s only 2 1/2, but I can see that we’re already underestimating her genius.
It makes you sit back and smile at the innocence in their mind of what holidays are and what they can be when you’re as happy as they are. It definitely brings the family together and makes us all appreciate what we have.
