Christmas Eve 2011

On Christmas Eve, we had fun playing in the yard and enjoying the warm weather:  

Then Daddy continued the tradition of reading The Night Before Christmas at bedtime.

Merry Christmas from Ethan!

Buzzy Bee

There is a reason some toys are classics:

We caught Ethan having fun with his Buzzy Bee!  

More Birthday Pressies!

Last week, Ethan received a box full of birthday pressies from his New Zealand relatives.  This gift opening experience was good practice for Christmas!  He got a Buzzy Bee, lots of Animalz, a cool balloon ball, an awesome hand-knitted sweater and some other cute things.  He even got to talk with his "Marg" on Skype while opening the gifts.

Talking with Santa

We took Ethan to see Santa Claus today and Ethan LOVED it!  I was nervous he might not like being handed to a stranger (even a very friendly, Santa stranger) but he turned right to Santa and pointed at his beard, smiling and laughing.  He was so mesmerized by Santa that he didn't want to look at the camera for a photo.  When he finally did look at the camera, he seemed annoyed at being distracted so he stopped smiling.    As soon as Santa caught his attention again, he was all smiles.  This is much better than last year when he slept through the whole experience!  I'm sure he told Santa what a good little boy he has been...and how good his mommy and daddy have been too!

Dickens of a Christmas

In front of the Franklin Square

We took Ethan to downtown Franklin for the Dickens of A Christmas street festival today.  It was chilly (46 degrees) but still sunny and nice for strolling through downtown.  We saw a handbell choir, a harpist, clarinet player and other musicians as well as Scrooge (a reformed Scrooge saying "Merry Christmas"), the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, and many other characters in Victorian costume.  The oddest sighting was Cayne's favorite -- it looked like a wedge of cheese in a Santa hat.  We never could figure out why it was there.

Ethan really enjoyed people-watching while we walked around and babbled to anyone who would listen.  He also got to try his first piece of a doughnut -- he loved it and kept trying to get more!

Munching on one of Ellie's Old Fashioned Donuts...YUM!

Watching the horse-drawn carriage go by.

Trains at Cheekwood

We took Ethan to Cheekwood to see the model trains at Trains! Tennessee In G.  The weather was perfect -- sunny and warm for December and we had a lot of fun strolling around the park.  Ethan really enjoyed seeing the moving trains that were decorated for Christmas and the Christmas tree decorations in the Frist Center were neat too.  You can see a You-Tube video describing the train exhibit here.  He even got to hear the Nashville Philharmonic Flute Ensemble...Ethan didn't know what to think of the live music but he was definitely mesmerized by it.

"Mom, I think there's a train coming!"

"I just want to watch the trains...forget about these photos!"

Ethan enjoyed the tall Bamboo

This was one of the best-decorated trees.
They were all neat but a little strange.  

There was a tepee as part of the
American West Exhibition too.  Fun! 

Perpetrating stereotypes with Mommy.