Christmastime in Cary

Christmas has arrived at our home. Lily and I picked out a tree yesterday. I was leaning toward the 7 foot trees, but Lily picked out a gorgeous 7 1/2 foot tree. I did manage to get the angel on it, though I had to bend the top of the tree over a bit to get her on. There is probably a good inch or two between her head and the ceiling. It really is a beautiful tree and Amanda thinks it is our best out of the 9 trees we've done.

We also made sure to put some lights up outside. Lily has started taking notice of the neighbors and what they are doing. She started saying things like, "Everyone has put up lights except us," when in reality there are only a few houses on our street with lights. Most have very tasteful white lights, but I've recycled some old colored lights that we got way back in our California apartment in 1998. We don't have a Griswold-esque lighting spectacular or anything, but it does add a festive note to the house.

I think this is the first year that Lily is really aware of Christmas. She made up a song yesterday with the words "Christmas is tomorrow" in it. I showed her the calendar and explained where we were (December 1) and showed her how many days had to pass until we got to Christmas Day.

Amanda said that she had to wait until 7:00 to get up on Christmas. I think I got up at 6:00, but we had to wait for mom to get home from work to open gifts (she worked as a nurse 11-7). Since I'm the early-riser I'll have to decide what to do with Lily. The key is understanding that these decisions set precedents.

Noah continues to charm. He also continues to spit. We had some good chocolate cake at a great Peter Pan themed party yesterday. I think Noah had some reflux as a result, but that's OK. I'm about 99% sure that he will have some rice cereal before his 6 month birthday.