Christmas Highs and Lows

Wow, Christmas with a two (almost 2 1/2) year old is a FAR different experience than Christmas with an infant!

There was lots of good stuff about it. Monkey had so much more of an understanding of Christmas (well, at least the commercial aspects of it). For at least a month beforehand, we've been talking about Santa, elves, snowmen, Christmas trees, presents, and Christmas lights, and he has delighted in seeing all the decorations when we've bee out. We got to do some fun and easy craft projects, like painting some "glass" (i.e. plastic) ornaments to give to our teachers and family members, and making Santa door hangers that Monkey decided really belonged on the tree. We practiced looking at, but trying not to touch all of the pretty ornaments and presents. We had a daily Christmas countdown, complete with a small piece of chocolate each day. And we looked every morning for Sophie, our Elf on the Shelf, who somehow managed to find new places to watch Monkey every day from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve (although I think she MIGHT make her appearance a tad later next year - I'm just sayin'...). We saw Santa at the mall and at a farm, and Monkey worked up increasing amounts of courage to talk to him and ask him for presents, although he never did get comfortable with sitting on the old guy's lap (and really, can you blame him?). And we watched Curious George and Elmo Christmas DVDs more times that I care to remember at the moment...

But, alas, now that it's over, we've got the inevitable letdown. Monkey still asks where Sophie is every morning, and still wants to do his Christmas countdown. When we moved his new kitchen set down to his playroom one night while he was sleeping, he asked Daddy the next day if Santa took it back! (that one still breaks my heart). And when he got to school yesterday, after four days off with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and Auntie, he cried when it was time for me to leave. :-( Poor guy - as fun as it was to ramp up the excitement, I guess I never really considered the after-shock. The good news is that we still have one more family exchange this Friday, after a semi-normal school/work week and no more visitors at the house, so hopefully that will help with the transition somewhat. But next week Daddy is back on the road for work, and we're gonna have to figure out how to entertain ourselves for the rest of what is looking like a long, cold winter! I'm thinking some trips to the Children's Museum need to get planned, pronto!