Catching the Spirit

We're working on catching the holiday spirit here in the Norman household. It's a slow process. Dex doesn't give a damn about Christmas, so it's hard to be excited about it for him. John's super busy at work, so it's hard for him to focus on anything else. And he came home from his shopping adventure yesterday all grumpy and bah-humbug-y. All "I hate Christmas shopping, why do I have to do Christmas shopping." Ah, the holiday spirit. We'll find it, eventually.

Here, Daddy. I'll cheer you up. Eat my fingers!

Here's some things that are helping us find the spirit:

1) It SNOWED! Woo-hoo! We had a couple inches on Saturday. The car is now COVERED in salt, because Maryland believes there's never too much of a good thing.

Apparently December 5 is a good day for snow in Maryland, as seen in this article.

Ha-ha, CoCo. You're out in the cold cold snow, and I am in here in the warm kitchen!

Sorry, Gerber Daisies. You probably don't like the snow.

Sorry, Baby Dexter. You probably don't like the snow. (Really? What gives? He cried and cried when I put him on the snow. Of course, he had bare hands. Perhaps the snow was cold? Or something?)

2) It's FREAKING COLD out. I guess that kind of goes along with the snow. But still. BRRR! Nothing like hats and mittens and hot chocolate and Baileys on the rocks to get one in the holiday spirit.

A little cold won't stop us from going for a walk. We just add more layers.

Cold + hat = ridiculous hat hair

3) We're working on decorating the house. That's really the work in progress. How much can you really put out in the baby's play area, if you don't want him to eat it? I have no idea what we're going to do with the gifts. For now they are stashed in the bedroom. All wrapped, by the way. Because I kick ass. I haven't, however, wrapped any of Dexter's gifts. I think I might be too lazy to do so. Besides, how the hell am I supposed to wrap a fire truck? So, sorry, Dex. Santa's not wrapping this year.

Gifts ready for Christmas opening. Or for baby ripping.

Decorations and a tree are not up yet. But we have at least fetched stuff from storage.

4) WE SAW SANTA!!

Obligatory Crying on Santa's Lap Photo. Pretty much par for the course for holiday photos for us this year.

HO-HO-HO!! Santa, by the way, rocked. Not only was he a perfect, natural looking Santa, but he also had an awesome smile and kept right on smiling, through all the baby crying. Thanks, Santa!

Gratuitious cute baby photo that has nothing to do with the holidays, but somehow gets one in the holiday spirit just the same.