2nd Annual Children's Holiday Party

2nd Annual Children's Christmas Party - 2008

What a fabulous time we had Sunday afternoon! Here is a shot of all the children - minus our two babies who had reached their personal limits on the amount of flash they can tolerate in two hours. Santa sure did notice all that "extra weight" this year - everyone has been busy being good and GROWING...

1st Annual Children's Holiday Party - 2007

And I just can't resist posting these two shots of my "second set" - Girl3 & Girl4. On the left is last year, this year on the right. I especially wanted to post the shot on the right since I don't think I will be able to figure out how the heck to purchase prints off Flickr and create Christmas cards this year....

This is such a season for traditions. Ornament making, cookie baking, the giving of PJs (Girl2 absolutely HATES this tradition - Christmas presents should not be practical), just to name a few. One tradition I think especially sweet is the tradition of Little's Family - Santa bringing a special book - now this will make some PRECIOUS MEMORIES.

We will be so busy this week and next following a crazy blend of my own childhood/family traditions with some of my "daycare" traditions. As each year passes, the lines between these blur more and more and there seems to be no real line between the two - my family and my daycare family. Maybe I'm just an old softie, maybe it is the Christmas Spirit, but the blurring of this line feels good to me.

And I just can't help but post about this year's Christmas Party Miracle. Last year, too young and niave to know better, The Prince posed fearlessly with Santa. You see, The Prince suffers from a unexplainable ailment known by those who witness it as Man Fear. Nobody knows where it came from, what started it, but it is definitely a "pure baby fear".

Even with ongoing exposure to many BABY MAGNET MEN, such as my husband and other daycare daddies, The Prince becomes quite nervous when one of them enters to close to (or into) our primary daycare space. The Prince has just recently begun to accept "treats" from my husband. However, as soon as The Big Guy offers to pick him up (usually with the promise of a better treat, or maybe airplane races on TV) he runs for cover behind my legs. Secretly, I kind of like this reaction - the running to me part - not the baby feeling fear part.

So the miracle part? This year, when Santa arrived and was swarmed with greetings from a dozen little children - The Prince was right in midst of it all. He went right up and checked Santa out! As I like to say, "He knows who butters his bread."

Something about a BIG RED FUZZY BEARDED ELF with a bag big-enough-to-stuff-you-in doesn't freak him out? Go figure, chalk this up to a Christmas Party Miracle (my husband was noticeably upset).

Next post? One of my favorite traditions of this season is my annual Snow Globe Shoot to mark the growth of my kids each year so stay tuned and MERRY CHRISTMAS...

P.S.

Thank You to The Queen (The Prince's Mommy) for updating your blog and linking to mine. That was what it took to take this post out of "drafts", finish it - and then publish it. Linking, that's cool - but over my head. Oh yeah, watch for a slide show of Santa and Kids Pictures. It's been a long time since I made a slide show and I will try and "re-learn" it out today at nap time.