The World According to Mellie: The Joy of Christmas with Mellie

Although this is not Mellie's "first" Christmas, in my mind it is, because it's the first Christmas where she is really enjoying the season. She loves to look at Christmas trees, to reach out and grab the ornaments, to reach out and touch the tiny colored lights. Mellie "helped" me put up our own Christmas tree, which involved taking ornaments off the tree as quickly as I could put them up. She has her own little fiber optic tree in her room, covered in homemade foam ornaments. Yesterday, she pointed to the tree and said what we consider to be "what's that?" (I have a hard time believing that she has about six words and she is already stringing words together) and I told her it was her "tree." She has been (trying) to say tree ever since. Last night, she pointed at my zebra print over the fireplace and said "tree!" She has also pointed to the fan and said "tree!" Clearly we have some work to do.

Anyhow, back to the Joy of Christmas with Mellie. Yesterday, I was baking Christmas cookies. I made chocolate chip cookies, gingersnaps, and cut out sugar cookies which I decorated with homemade cream cheese frosting. While doing this, I wistfully dreamed of when Mellie will be big enough to "help" with this. By the time I was done, though, she was terribly upset as I had not paid very much attention to her while I was busy baking and dreaming of her "help." I need to remember to enjoy who she is today instead. She watched as I decorated the last of the cookies. I made a little cookie for her to eat, but she wanted to hold it herself, which absolutely was not going to happen. We finally compromised, I ate the frosting off her cookie and then she got to eat it. A compromise that pleased all parties.

So, what do you get a sixteen month old for Christmas? Honestly, I would bet all she would actually want (if she could express herself) would be more hugs and kisses from mommy and daddy, more time spent patting DeeDee the cat, and more time spent going through our cabinets and gleefully dragging out all of our pots and pans. She seems to enjoy baby dolls, but Ronnie says the three she has are enough. So, I've bought her a box of her own play pots and pans (I'm pretty sure she will prefer the real ones) and a little purple stuffed animal with lavender you can heat in the microwave for her to hug when she doesn't feel well (since the mouse in our house destroyed the other one -- a story for another day, I suppose), and a stocking full of little things for her like a little cap and hair clips. Uncle Jerry has gotten her a leather armchair, which she will love, and Ju Ju and Ju Ma (my brother and his wife) have brought over two outfits (which she drug all over the house and threw a fit when I took them away, even just to wash so she can actually wear them) and a couple of books. Ms. Debbie has gotten her a toy alphabet Caterpillar, and I think that's all I can think of. Last Christmas, she had a meltdown when we tried to get her to rip the wrapping off her presents. What will she think of it this year? At her birthday, she was not a fan of pulling items out of gift bags, will she like it any more four months later? I spend entirely too much time contemplating such things, and what I should do to make it a good Christmas for her.

I have been trying to work on her Christmas stocking, even though I know there is no chance I will finish it before Christmas. I feel bad when I look at me and Ronnie's beautiful cross-stitch stockings, and her manufactured one. Plus, one like mine and Ronnie's will hold more stuff than the one she has now! There just isn't enough time in the day. It's nearly impossible to work on it when she's awake, and once she's in bed, I am ready to follow. I've made some wonderful progress, and it's already a beautiful piece. I need to take a picture and post it here.

We took Christmas pictures right before Thanksgiving. I had the idea of us all wearing hockey jerseys, and the pictures came out really well. Ronnie has already requested that we wear Texans jerseys next year, although I think hockey is slightly more Christmas-y than football. I also found a cute little dress for her at a consignment shop in Bay City. Those pictures turned out wonderful, especially since the photographer figured out Mellie laughs when you say ouch. Here are a couple of my favorites.