holiday happenings

Cole has been loving all of the Christmas decorations, especially a few of "his" ornaments on the tree (the only ones I hung low enough for him to reach).

The santa that my mom made for me a few years back. We had to actually put this guy on top of the piano with the hope that it'd be out of sight, out of mind. He was getting a bit mangled from being carried around by his hair.

And the big book of Christmas stories that Cory's mom gave us. He likes to have me "read" it to him, which basically just means I hold it while he flips to different pages, points to photos and asks "what's that"?

His favorite word this month is "santa" -- very appropriate, don't you think? A couple nights ago he was walking around the house all night saying "santa, santa, santa, santa" each time in a slightly different tone and volume. My favorite is when he says it in a very deep voice. It cracks me up.

Last Friday Cole and I headed downtown to see Santa in front of the Whiteside Theater. Definitely not the best Santa showing ever (sorry if any of you know this gentleman!) but it was free and although it doesn't look like it in this photo, Cole kind of enjoyed it. Much more than the little girl in front of us, at least, who screamed the whole time. Cole just sat there in his very Cole sort of way. A bit skeptical, but calmly taking it all in.


Last weekend Cole stayed with my parents for the weekend while Cory and I headed up to Portland for a weekend in the city. We did some shopping, some drinking, lots of eating, and spent the night at our favorite spot, Hotel Lucia. It was a wonderful weekend away. Meanwhile, back at Grandma and Grandpa's, Cole was having the time of his life! Their house is much more festive than ours, and they have a growing collection of singing things -- a santa that plays a song a spins around, a family of snowmen that sing a song, a christmas tree that plays music every time you walk by. Basically a one year old's dream home. My mom has some cute video of Cole playing with his new singing friends, so I'll have to get that up here soon. Apparently he also go into trying on various hats, including my dad's viking helmet. Love this photo.