One, two, tree

My life right now is revolving around Christmas. When Ladybug goes to bed at night, I work on our photo Christmas cards, the Ladybug-themed gift we’re giving the grandparents, the holiday menu, the decorations. Did I mention Christmas is a big deal in our house?

This is the first year that Ladybug is able to appreciate Christmas. Last year at this time, she was just learning to sit up and was barely crawling. This year she’s running all over the house, babbling away as she dashes from room to room to examine the Christmas decorations.

I spread the holiday decorating over several days, giving Ladybug something new to look at daily. The big tree goes up on Thanksgiving Day, the smaller one a day or so later, the chimney wall another day.

Then a few days ago, I decided to surprise Ladybug by decorating a miniature tree and placing it in her room. After she had fallen asleep, I tiptoed into her nursery and swapped out the stuffed animals sitting on her dresser with the tree. I was looking forward to hearing her excitement the next morning when she woke up and spotted it.

As I expected, she loved it. Only problem, it was 2 a.m. when she discovered it. I awoke to Ladybug’s sighs of “petty” – her way of saying “pretty” – punctuated by “ooh”s and “what’s that?” It was 4:30 a.m. before she finally fell back asleep.

If she's that excited now over a tree, I can only imagine what she'll be like when she hears about the stuff Santa leaves under it.