Jackson and Emily's Journey Through Life: Tis the Season...

Christmas time is so much fun, especially with little ones. I tried to soak it all in and partake in as many festive activities as possible. Some of the yearly traditions include a trip to the mall to visit Santa and baking Christmas cookies. As well thought out as going to see Santa was, it certainly did not go as planned. We timed it right after Emily's long morning nap, got the kids dressed up, and headed to the mall. Jackson and I had been talking about going to see Santa for several days beforehand. On the way to the mall, he talked about it excitedly with Bobby and Pa. We arrived and were surprised to find that the line was very short. It was finally our turn. Toby was carrying Emily towards Santa while I was getting the camera cued up. I thought Jackson was right behind me. I turned around to find him standing stubbornly, holding on to the railing at the front of the line. He refused to come see Santa. We finally got him to come sit with us when Santa hid behind the chair. We then decided to tell Santa to come out thinking Jackson would be over whatever was bothering him. We were certainly wrong. He refused to talk to him and as we were walking away he threw a huge tantrum. As a side note, Emily was pretty much crying the whole time too. It was all a huge disaster! Needless to say, I did not get my Santa picture this year. Oh well! That was the only low point we experienced. One extremely high point was watching Jackson in his Christmas program at his preschool. Jackson and his classmates sang several songs. He did such an excellent job. We had been practicing and singing them around the house for weeks before. They also spent a lot of time rehearsing at school. We were oh so proud of him and his performance. Another fun memory was going with Jackson and some of his preschool buddies (from his class last year) and their moms to buy gifts for a few children off the angel tree. It is nice to be able to start teaching Jackson the real meaning of Christmas! I'm not sure if he really understood what we were doing but it doesn't hurt to start teaching him anyway. Here are a few of the highlights...