Christmas time!

When I a was younger, one of my most favorite things about Christmas was "Christmas in the Oaks". Now that I have a child, I was really looking forward to bringing him and experiencing it through his eyes.

We went last Saturday with Aunt Michelle and Uncle Leonard. We got there right as it opened, thank goodness! We headed straight for the rides. Gavin lost his courage about riding the ferris wheel almost immediately! And so did Mommy! I had nightmares about all the things that could go wrong, so we decided not to do it even though he regained his courage. Instead, we went to the Carosel. He was skeptical at first, but seemed to really like it! Mommy, Daddy and Aunt Michelle all got pretty dizzy. Next, we decided to get in line for the train. Gavin was really excited about the ride. What was even better was that the train had a police escort. After the train, Gary and Gavin rode the Carosel again and then we headed off to look at lights. On the way, we stumbled upon some fun kids rides. Gavin loved riding in his blue jeep. He pushed buttons and turned the steering wheel(s) like he was really driving. He rode the jeep twice before we moved on. We then found a dump truck ride. So cool. He loved it! We finally went to see the lights, but my little man had seen enough. He didn't really care about the lights so we headed home. He talked about riding the rides the rest of the night and kept saying, "Momma, I had so much fun tonight!" He talked about the rides in bed and for at least the next two days. He had such a blast!

On Sunday, MaMaw came over and we went to get a Christmas tree. It was different this year because we normally get a tree from Home Depot. It's an adventure...you bring a knife and cut the string off the tree, shake it out and decide if you want to take that tree home. This year we went to a tree place. All the trees were nicely standing and we were in and out in 15 minutes! It's a really cute tree. The next day, GiGi, Alexis, Josh, and MaMaw came over to bake cookies and decorate the tree. It was a lot of fun!

We had a very special visitor show up at the Marchand residence last night. It is our elf on the shelf. The first thing you're supposed to do is name it. Gavin named him elf on the shelf...so creative. We read the book and that night put him in his spot for the next morning. Gavin was so cute when he saw him (in the Christmas tree). He was so shy and kinda hid behind Gary. It wore off as the day went on. Gavin was being a little bad. He hit Dada, but then asked him not to tell the elf.

This Christmas is going to be so much fun. Gavin sure does love having his family around!