Christmas Decor

I don't do a whole lot of decorating for Christmas. I heart Christmas, but I'm also pretty lazy, so I'm just like whatevs. I do love looking at other people's decorations, though. Sometimes, much to the dismay of Hugsy Bear, we'll drive around and look at Christmas lights and I'm like "just one more street...pleaaaaaseee?????" and he's like "you said that twenty-five streets ago! waaaaahhhhhh!!!" And then I sucker punch him into going down one more street. 

We normally just put up some garland and white lights outside on the windows and I'll put random little Christmas knick knacks around the house. (Okay, does "knick knacks" make anybody else think of "knick knack patty whack, give the dog a bone" ? I mean, WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? Knick knack patty whack just sounds wrong.) By knick knacks I mean an assortment of nativity scenes, fuzzy snowmen thingies I hang from doorknobs, tin buckets filled with cinnamon sticks, Christmas bath and kitchen towels, Christmas smelly candles, and the like. The only part of the house I really "transform" is the fireplace. I also dress up Blue and Seumas. I consider them part of the Christmas decorations...they don't...but I keep them alive with dry food, water, and petting, so...they can live with it. 

My mom found this awesome lime green aluminum Christmas tree for me a few years ago. I absolutely adore it. I wish I had one for every room in the house. I love lime green as I'm sure you can tell from the pictures below. We have our childhood ornaments and some of our own we've hoarded throughout the years, but we decorate our tree with travel ornaments we've collected from our trips since we've been married. If we can find a good ornament on vacation, we'll do that. But more often than not, we'll use a keychain. Because sometimes, those dadburn ornaments are expensive. (i.e. $47 for an ornament in the South Pacific vs. $13 for a keychain) And a lot of times, the keychains have a wider variety of styles and whatnot. I'm like...it can hang from a tree and it's prettier (and cheaper) than the dumb ornament, so get the keychain. And if we've visited the same place more than once, I'll get another keychain and date them so we'll remember the years we've visited. We like our travel tree. I found our stockings at a Christmas expo about four years ago. They. Creep. Me. Out. But I love them. They remind me of little munchkin feet and I have this nightmare of the toes curling and uncurling and ringing the bells and oh gosh, please don't let that happen. Blue and Seumas' stockings are in the middle, although they don't seem to care about them. Ungrateful moochers. David sets up his little train around the tree and presents...which Blue is thrilled about. When I come home, at least two, if not all, of the train cars are thrown off the tracks as if mercilessly dealt a fuzzy Soft Paws encapsulated blow by an evil, soulless cat. That poor train. She hates it so much. I think that's one reason I love that David sets it up each year. Sometimes I'll let it run for hours while Blue paces around the living room, devising a plan to overthrow the Kingdom of the Christmas Tree...guarded by the Train of All Things Happy. 

As you can tell, they both love to dress up for Christmas. 

This is Seumas waiting in his elf outfit for David to come home. Santa's little helper.

This is what his ears do when you say "Who's at the door? Who's at the door?"

Cutie patootie star from World Market. I heart that place.
Our extra creepy stockings. Seumas' stocking has tucked itself behind Blue's somehow. 

Blue and the Train of All Things Happy. Do you see that evil in her eyes? She only wishes malice and hurt towards the Train.

Awkward Baby Stares

So...what do you do when you're in church on Sunday morning and the kid in front of you is turned completely around just STARING at you? Most of the time, if it's a toddler or older child, you can make a face and they'll laugh or smile. Sometimes they'll make a face back, which is always fun. Or sometimes...they'll just stare. No expression at all. I mean, I wore my face out yesterday morning and the kid had the best poker face ever. I'm like, tough crowd, huh? He wouldn't crack. I always save my fish face as a last resort, but no can do...he wouldn't budge. And then, it just got awkward. If it's an adult and they're staring, and you catch them staring, you can stare back and they'll usually look away. But not with a kid. I caught myself staring at him and then looking away doing the whistle "ooh, I'm not up to anything...just looking around" bit. I mean, the kid won!! I never lose staring contests...I was really disappointed in myself. But that kid was awkward. His eyes were piercing my soul. Creepy kid. 

So, Ruth-0, Kids-1. 

Then, it happened again last night when we went to see the Nativity Play! I'm like, what is up?? And I can't blame David, because I chose the seats. But this time, it was a baby baby. Not a kid baby. I went through all of my pee in your pants faces, but nothing worked. I was losing my edge. I don't know what happened. And I mean, what do you do with a baby? You can't be like "What do you want?" or "Can I help you with something?" Because it's a little lump of cuteness and drool. They'll just spit up on you. And it was extra creepy because it was a baby. How did he know to stare, you know? He looked right at my eyes. How do babies know where to look? Do they take a manner/etiquette class in the womb? They're in there for nine months, I guess they should earn their keep somehow...cheap little squatters. I mean, how aware are babies at that age? I remember seeing the movie Baby Geniuses and ever since then, I've always thought...what if...just WHAT IF babies really do know the secrets of the universe and at the age of (what was it? 2, 3, 4? I can't remember) they forget all of it and turn into a regular toddler. While I was staring at Awkward Baby #2, I thought of that. And I looked at him dead in the eyes, willing him to read my mind..."hey, punk. What's happenin'? You need something? You...uh...you're missing the Nativity Play. There's lots of animals up there. There's even a lobster and lion. Check it out. Can you read my mind? Do you really know the secrets of the universe? Cuz if you do, I suggest you take a mental picture of this moment, turn around, and stop staring!!" And then he winked at me and blew some bubbles! Babies can be really rude sometimes. Anyways. Ruth-0, Kids-2. 

It was a really good play. I laughed so hard. It's not every day you get to see a 4-year old dressed up like a star, climb to the top of a ladder (with his dad's help, of course), and spread-eagle...shining so brightly to show the shepherds where the baby Jesus lay.