Last year, Jim & I took Addison and Ada to cut the "family tree" for Christmas and had a great time. So we thought we should make it an annual event and arranged to have both kids this afternoon. Since both toddlers are now in preschool, and both Jim & Addison are moderately ill (I'm just barely recovered), and with the cold weather and the early onset of dark... well, let's just say a trip to the tree farm wasn't in the picture for us. So we went to a local stand where organic produces is sold year 'round and where the trees come direct from the farm and made our purchase.
The kids didn't give a hoot that it wasn't a "real" tree farm - they explored and played and just generally had fun. After we took the tree home to put in water until Sunday's tree-trimming event, we went out to dinner - but not before Ada and Addison played "Tackle Grandpa" for about ten minutes and spent some time on their rocking moose and rocking horse.
(Prior to getting the tree, we kept them occupied with "Little Bear" on t.v. If you have a toddler and don't know about "Little Bear," you're missing a good chance to garner a little free time for yourself! There are some episodes on YouTube and it also runs on a cable channel called "Noggin." Just be careful with YouTube - there are idiots out there who will sexualize anything they can!)
We then went out for dinner - when we have Ada, dinner is always Mac & cheese. The girl really loves it! Afterwards, we looked at the lights, then I brought Addison home to bed and Ada stayed with Grandpa. She'll be with us overnight tonight and we'll see the local family on Sunday for tree decorating.
I love the memories we create with these two - memories for us and for them.
What a wonderful grandparent/grandchild tradition! These are the things that make Christmas magical. (The Santa hats are adorable on them)
ReplyDeleteAnd imagine my surprise at finding out there are rocking mooses! Is that an Oregon specialty? In Wisconsin we would probably have to have rocking cows.....
The rocking moose is an Ikea specialty! They must have them in Scandinavia, too, huh?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40085455
Ooooohh! I love Ikea. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure this warrants dis-owning, but I'm strongly considering going acrylic (tree, not moose). No pine needle mess, less likely to catch fire, no drilling a hole in the bottom to impale it on the spike in the stand...
ReplyDeleteI used to love Noggin. I miss the days before the kids were playing Hi-Ya in the living room and killing eachother in effigy with action figures.