We have been gifted an amazing computer advent calendar and Anya is bonkers for it. Every morning she wakes up signing she wants to watch her calendar. Everyday we get to open a new animated village scene and it is a Jacquie Lawson creation so it's filled with beautiful music and wonderful dog and teddy bear characters. It is just as fun for us as for her- I highly recommend it to anyone that has children. I plan to buy it for all my friends next year.
Backing up a bit- Thanksgiving. We spent the four day weekend up at Hood Canal cabin with my parents and brother and sister in law. It was a wonderful holiday- very relaxed. Natalie put Anya's hair in pig tails for the first time and she has her hair "put up" everyday now because they are so stinkin' cute on her. She also came away from the weekend saying everyones name- Nana (my mom), Ba ba (my dad), Cott (Scott), and Nat (Natalie)- and her favorite "person" of all T (Tess- my brother's dog that allows Anya to lay on her and bug as much as she wants).
Prior to Thanksgiving we had an unusually early snow storm in the Seattle area. It was snowy for several days and very cold. We were able to get a couple great pictures of Anya in the snow wearing her boots and coat that were a few sizes too big for her.
We visited Santa yesterday and it went incredibly well. I wasn't sure if Anya would be frightened of the big man in the red suit but she was enamored with him. In fact they asked her to sit on his lap for a couple minutes while the line caught up and she was happy as a clam snuggling up to Santa. What a great experience! My dad swears we will have "Beelzebub" the next time we decide to add a family member, but I'm convinced Anya's easy going temperament is all just a reflection on our fantastic parenting (ha ha- who am I kidding!)
We plan to go to the botanical gardens to look at the lights as well as hit snowflake lane and see how she handles the intense music and larger then life dancing soldiers, bears, and princesses. Christmas Eve is going to be quiet and we are having Christmas morning for the first time ever in our house to open gifts.
