When I bump into people in the halls at work these days, they always ask if Ava is getting excited about Christmas. I reply that she is.
It’s cool that this is really the first year that she’s starting to “get” Christmas. She’s been singing “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” the last couple weeks. In fact, she broke into song this morning in the middle of her oatmeal. Leah and I have been explaining the whole gift giving thing to her, and the other day Ava decided that she wanted to get presents for Rudolph and Santa. When asked what she had in mind, she said we should get a squirrel for Rudolph and a puppy (a Beagle puppy) for Santa.
So, when Ava and I were home sick together earlier this week, I took her to the toy store and the pet store to look at squirrels and puppies. We found a cute little Beanie Baby squirrel at the toy store, but the pet store didn’t have any suitable Beagle pups (side note: what’s a guy have to do anymore to get a Beagle that’s just a Beagle? You got your Pug in my Beagle!).
Last night Ava received her first Christmas gift of 2006 from her friend Nora (actually, I guess it’s her second gift, if you count the apron and baking supplies she got from Leah’s cousin). It’s a big tea set. How do little kids learn to like having tea parties? I have no idea. When I left the house this morning, Ava was sitting on the floor in her room with all of her cups, saucers, and teapots arrayed around her. She asked me to join her, but alas, I had to away.
Tonight my dad and brother will come over to exchange gifts, then the adults will head out to dinner while Gramary puts Ava to bed. Tomorrow we’ll have breakfast with A.J., Amy, Brian, and Grace, and then on Sunday we’ll head off to Decorah for the big show. In addition to it being Christmas, Ava’s Uncle Kevin and Poom Poom have birthdays on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, respectively (I think I got that right). And it looks like Ava is going to be healthy for the holidays, too, which makes everything just that much better.