Ahh! The Holidays.

You can take that as either, "Ahhhh! I think I'm going to pull all my hair out and then sit down and cry, The Holidays," or "Ahhh! It's so relaxing to spend time with family and finally be done with Christmas shopping, The Holidays." You pick. :)

It's been a crazy month, and for most of it, I was the first one. I told my mother that I can see why some people hate the holidays. Next year, I vow to not make myself and my family crazy for three weeks before Christmas because I've over-scheduled myself.

My livingroom before Christmas:

My livingroom after Christmas:

I think the 12 Days of Christmas went well. I ended up doing it for 2 ladies, and getting another mom to split the days of dropping things off with me. One of them caught us, I think, because we couldn't call her to let her know her stuff was at her door because she has caller ID and knows both of our numbers. So, in the process of knocking and running away one night, the other mom is pretty sure she was spotted. The second lady we could call, and it worked out really well. We didn't tell her who did it, so I can't tell you if she liked it or not. :)

Emilia has been SO cute all month, and I keep meaning to get on and blog it, but usually by the time I get to my computer at night, I'm so tired, I fall asleep because I'm warm under a blanket and the computer heats up. So here are some pictures and some of the stuff I remember. (This ended up being longer than I thought, but I wanted to have it written down, because I KNOW I won't remember in 20 years, let alone next week. So if you don't want to read ALL of it, I'll forgive you. :))

For Christmas, Emilia got some play food, and stuff to take care of her "baby" and a Fisher Price Animal Sounds farm, among other things. (Thank you everyone! You were very generous!) The other day, I got out the little kitchen I found for her at DI (thrift store), and the play food. She immediately went and got her "guys" (that's what she calls the Little People) and had them hide out in the kitchen. She stuck some in the fridge and some in the microwave and the oven. Then she had a few of them climb it like it was a mountain. When she got bored of that, she got out the cutting board from the food set and set a few of the guys on it, then found a spoon and a cup and began feeding them all. Haha.

Ever since she could crawl around, Emilia has found it fun to sit in boxes full of stuff and move it around. (Don't ask me, I have no idea why this is fun!) She did it in a box of Lego's at Alison's house when she was like a year old, she does it at my mom's house all the time in a box of blocks, and the other day, she decided she needed to get into the tub I keep her toys in. The toys almost buried her, though it's hard to see in this picture.

The first time it really snowed here was one of the first Saturdays in December (December 2 to be exact--it was my birthday). We had to go outside anyway for something, so Steve and I got Emi bundled up and took her out with us. Me and Emi all bundled up:

This is her standing in the snow after she took about three steps. Then she stopped, looked up at me, and said, "Ew, gross!"

She hated it! Still does. Poor child. She hates having her coat on, she hates having socks, and long sleeves, and especially gloves. She just needs us to move to a warmer climate! The one thing she does like is her hat. She is always pleased to be wearing a hat (although around the house, her hat is one of those throw-away tupperware containers--I have to have one dedicated to being her hat, because she wears it every day!).

She also loves playing in water. Since we can't go outside much (it's been really cold this year--negative 5 degrees the other night), she's been asking to take a bath almost every night). Here is a picture of her just playing in the sink. She especially likes the bathroom upstairs because she can make faces at herself in the mirror while she plays.

Also, Emilia loves phones. The thing I find funny is that she thinks it's really fun for other people to talk on the phones. She'll push buttons either on my cell phone or one of the play phones and then hand it to me, or whoever is available, and say, "Hedo!" which means we're supposed to say hello and keep talking. She will do this ten times in a row or more if I let her. Also cute: if I ever hand the phone back to her and say that they want to talk to her, she'll take the phone, hold it up to her ear, and say, "Hedo? Yes." Every time. Hello and then yes. Haha! And it's even cuter when you've heard her say "yes" before. It comes out more like "Szesssss," with a definitive, single nod. She is so funny!

She has also picked up the words, "no," and "wait" from Signing Time. She'll yell "WAIT!" whenever she wants our attention, but has to wait because we're busy, which I think is ironically hilarious, and when she really knows that she doesn't want something, she'll say, very calmly, "No." and do the sign with it. Otherwise, she'll just say, "Uh-uh," and shake her head.