Kicking Off

So far, December hasn't really felt very Christmas-y to me despite all the Christmas related crafting I've been doing. I think that it's due, in large part, to me not being able to decorate for at least another week. I'm really bummed about this, but I want new carpet more than I want a Christmas tree in my living room, so I must wait until it's been installed. I'm also not excited about having to move all of my books off the shelves and unbolting everything from the walls so it can be temporarily housed in another room. You just gotta do what you gotta do sometimes!

And oh... nice new CLEAN carpet that's not frayed at the edges and has no carpet tack strips exposed? Yes please!

Back to my original topic, as referenced in the title, today was all about kicking off our December. What better way to say "Hey y'all, Christmas is coming!" than to go take photos with the jolly old elf himself? I was up late making cake balls with a friend (and I forgot to take photos because late = 2 am) when I finally decided what little man should wear:

I know, I know. This outfit doesn't scream Christmas at all. While I like the idea of buying cute outfits especially for the holiday, in all practicality I can't make myself do it. What a waste! An outfit that you wear just ONCE? It's not like I can put it away for next year either. So, no special red and green clothing was purchased, despite those items receiving much admiration whenever I saw them around while I was out.

We actually bought this sweater vest while I was pregnant. It's from Pumpkin Patch and the tag reads 3-6 months. My husband and I both just loved the little criss crossed guitars that were embroidered on the breast! Our thought was that our October baby would be able to fit into it in January - you know, when he was three months old. Well, it was too big, so I kept it stashed with all the other winter stuff he never grew into so that I could sell it on eBay when it got cold again.

This fall, when I went through all that stuff, I checked to be sure that everything was too small still, which most of it was. But this - this FIT! My 13 1/2 month old is wearing this sweater vest that was supposed to fit him last winter! Crazy, huh? I added a plain, white tee shirt (size 6-9 months, haha) that I snagged from another outfit (also a sweater vest, ha ha), the dark denim jeans that his godparents bought him for his birthday, and my favorites, the Teeny Tiny Chucks.

His father topped it off with the cool baby shades.

I think it says, yeah, I'm cute, but I'm kind of a badass too.

We headed over to a small event the city was having for Santa photos this year instead of going to the mall. I'm really glad we did. There was almost no wait and they had free cookies and hot cocoa, as well as crafts for the bigger kids. Since Bubba was too small for all that (fine - he may have gotten to sample some of my cookie) he practiced walking around with his dad for a bit instead.

The refreshments were set up outside, so you could partake while waiting for your photos. You could buy prints there, or just pay $15 to get the three poses on a cd, complete with a photo release form from the photographer. That's WAY cheaper than the mall!

I was so proud of the boy - he didn't fuss or cry or act scared of Santa at all. Santa got the same treatment as anyone else: Bubba's trademark stoic stare! He kept poking Santa's beard, but fortunately, didn't pull on it. It was hard to break his fixation with it, and as a result, none of the three photos have him looking at the camera. I tried standing behind the photographer but every time I moved behind her, she moved away from me. The result was photos where the baby (and in one, Santa too) were looking at me and not the camera. Also, because she was moving, the photos weren't exactly composed in the best way.

Luckily, photos on cd are easy to crop and rotate slightly, tee hee!

After we left there, we headed out to get the Bubs some walking shoes. While I love love love the Teeny Tiny Chucks, I know that they're not good shoes for a new walker. They were okay when he was just crawling and being carried everywhere, but the time has come to suck it up and head over to Stride Rite.

Luckily, during a conversation about my child's huge feet with another mom, it was mentioned that there was a Stride Rite outlet around here. A quick Google search confirmed it, so that's where we went today. We ended up getting these:

I think they'll go with most of his clothes. They didn't really have any black shoes that I liked, and I'm not into navy or white. My husband and I are both in agreement that shoes with laces are cuter than shoes with velcro closures. There was a pair of DARLING Ralph Lauren boat shoes, but again, not good shoes for new walkers. BLAH. So these brown ones it was. Best part - only $19.99. Considering that Stride Rites usually retail for around $40, that is not bad at all!

The girl measured his feet and it turns out he is now between a size 5 1/2 and a size 6. This is my skinny 8th percentile in weight baby! He's not even 20 lbs yet; he has huge hands and feet! Even when he was really little and spent a lot of time in footie pajamas, his feet would always outgrow them first. His poor little toes would be all curled up inside the feet while the rest fit too big. He's just going to be skinny I guess.

He didn't get THAT from me, that's for certain!

We had a couple of hours to kill after that adventure, so instead of aimlessly wandering the ghetto mall, we hit a couple thrift shops that I had never visited before in search of wool sweaters for another project and milk glass. I had no luck on the sweater front, but I did find a small serving dish and a small tumbler to add to my tiny milk glass collection. I really really really would love to find a footed bowl or a cake stand though. That would be nice!

I also saw some FLDS women at one of the thrift stores. I've lived in this city almost all my life and have never seen them before, except on TV of course. I just sort of assumed they all lived out in the boonies of northern Arizona and never ventured down here. My husband, who apparently watches even less tv than I do, was all like, "But how can you TELL???" LOL!

After that, we came home and got ready to go to dinner with my husband's team from work. His boss takes them and their spouses out for dinner every December as kind of a thank you for a year well done. This year there were a few more people added to her team, so we were a bigger group. It was fun and I even decided to go a little crazy and order a steak. I can't even tell you the last time I ate steak! Bubba, however was not a fan of my dinner and ate from his dad's shrimp scampi pasta instead. After dinner, we gave each of the members of his team a box of the cake balls I made the night before as a small holiday gift from us.

All in all, not a bad day to start off our holiday season!