Not Skipping Christmas This Year! No Bah Humbug Either!

Okay, for those who knows us, we are really not into the whole Christmas celebration. Not because we're not religious (well, we're not Christian or Catholic but that's totally for a different blog) nor its because we don't have the Christmas spirit in us. It's because Christmas in the States are highly over-rated and have become way to materialistic and commercialized to our liking. We see mobs of people rushing out the door for early-weekend shopping sprees to only spend money that they may not have and put lots of unnecessary materialistic stuff on their credit cards only to be in debt at the start of the year. Why would anybody in their right minds do that?!

So prior to having Erik, we didn't do the Christmas celebration. We'd usually opt for the whole "skipping" Christmas scene and travel away on our vacation instead since Daddy's family is in Bhutan and Mummy's family doesn't celebrate Christmas either.

However, for some odd reason, this year, with Erik, we are not "skipping" Christmas, maybe its because of "Baby's First Christmas" or its because maybe we can hope for something different and teach our son that Christmas is about getting together with family, loved ones, and friends.

Visiting Santa Claus at the North Pole

Daddy - This was daddy's and Erik's first visit to Santa. Later that night Tabitha asked me if I was scared sitting by Santa. Isn't that the scarriest Snowman you have ever seen - that didn't seem to phase Erik one bit.

On Saturday, we took Erik to see Santa Claus. It was his first time and it was also Daddy's first time "sitting" with Santa too! :o) hahahaha Mummy's work organized a Santa Claus event for all the families and it was great. The babies and kids got cookies and juice and lots of craft ideas. The event was free which is even better :o) hahaha. Way better than visiting the mall santas!

We organized the visit with 4 of Erik's buddies: Austin, Gabriel, Jason, and Jeremy. The babies all go to the same "school", aka day care. Daddy was planning to do the whole studio shot with strobe lights, flash, etc but Mummy's company denied the request due to the overwhelming participation from families. We had to wait for a good 1 - 2 hour because of the crowd! Thank goodness our friends were there and the babies were playing and napping!

Afterwards, we decided to go out for a very late lunch to the local mongolian grill. There, it was a mad dash to the food line and then take turns holding each others' babies while the others finish eating. It justs shows us that raising a child doesn't take only two parents, it takes a village. For Daddy and Mummy, we are lucky enough to know some good friends that all just had babies too so we all get to take care of each others. Even though the parents were tired and babies were cranky, and we basically filled 1/3 of the dining room with our party, we had a great time! We just chatted and caught up with each other's lives.

Daddy Decorated The House!

As if a full-day of babies and kids was not exhuasting enough, Daddy found his Christmas spirit from within and initiated "Project Decorate House". He pulled all the boxes he could find that had our Christmas decorations in it and assembled our fake tree. Yes, we opted for the fake tree because of two reasons. 1. It helps the environment by not taking down a perfectly good healthy tree for the sake of decoration. 2. It was way cheaper! :o) hahahaha

Daddy then hung all the lights and beads on the tree. He also wrapped lit garlands around our staircase and hung our snowman wreath outside the doorway. Daddy also cleaned up all the living room mess with the numerous toys that Erik goes through with his discovery on a daily basis and vacuumed up everything.

As if this was not enough, Daddy had the foresight of not using glass ornaments this year, because ...well, one of them broke and cut Mummy's finger! Yikes! So he made a late night dash to get some safer wooden ornaments instead! So by the time Daddy stepped into bed, it was well into the "am". Sigh!

By the time Sunday morning rolled around, it was a great surprise for Erik and Mummy! The house was filled with Christmas spirit!! Yay!! Erik loved the lights and wanted to touch and feel the Christmas tree. :o) hee hee. Daddy you're the best!!