Santa Goes High Tech

This weekend we completed a right of passage: LMH's first trip to see Santa. I was concerned that it might not happen, though...or at least that Daddy might not be joining us. You see, The Hubby hates line. No, actually he despises, detests and HATES lines. Long lines tend to aggravate his anxiety. And, since no one wants that, I end up despising lines, too.  The trouble is that I like the things that happen at the end of long lines...like Santa.

I had been contemplating how we were going to accomplish this might feat for awhile now. So long that we ended up waiting until the week before Christmas to make our first attempt. Probably not the smartest plan. There are two malls near us with "traditional" Santas. I figured that I could wait in line with LMH and call Hubby when our turn was near. Effective, but not exactly fun for anyone.

There were two other options, though. Northpark Mall in Dallas has a ticket program (think FastPass for Santa), where you go when the mall opens, get your ticket and then hang around (or come back) when it's your time period. That seemed like a good option except for two things: 1) It's a bit of a trek into downtown Dallas from our BFE north suburb, 2) we're not exactly the "be at the mall at 9am" type.

The next option was "The Big Guy" at The Villages at Allen. The Villages do something truly ingenious! They have an online queuing system for Santa. You go online to their website, check the overall line time, enter your cell number or e-mail and your done! They send you text or e-mail updates as you get closer to the front of the virtual line. When there are 15 people ahead of you, they tell you to head back to the North Pole.

At first, I wasn't 100% sold on this idea because "The Big Guy" isn't in full dress regalia...he's what I refer to as a"workshop" Santa. He wears Christmas shirts that his wife sews for him (yah, his real wife, not Mrs, Klaus) with suspenders and his normal red pants with white puffy trim.  I got over it, though, because I started reading reviews from past years online. He's the most realistic, genuine, kindhearted mall Santa I've ever seen!

And, come on...the no line thing! We were so there! Why on earth don't more malls come up with better Santa systems.  It seems to me that more shopping gets done while your waiting for your turn than if you were waiting in line. Oh well! It's their loss. We've found our family Santa!

As for how Harris did with his first Santa visit? Well, there weren't any tears, but there weren't any smiles either! I was pleased with how the pictures turned out, though. His expression is priceless!

Perfect Moment: A Christmas Surprise

I was in the middle of working on a completely separate Perfect Moment post when The Hubby bribed me to go put the bottles in the dishwasher.  That seemed innocent enough.  We were both exhausted last night and neither of us felt like washing them by hand. 

I walked into the kitchen in a half-sleepy state.  I turned on the water to start rinsing the first bottle and absent-mindedly reached down to open the dishwasher.  The handle didn't feel right.  It was old, something must be wrong with it.  I finally got it to open and started to put the first bottle on the top rack.  As I lowered the door, I noticed some blinking lights and thought "that's odd."  I didn't remember there being any lights on the dishwasher. Then, once it was opened, I noticed that it had a stainless steel tub.  Even then, it didn't click that it was a brand spanking dishwasher in there!

Only after I closed it and opened it again did I squeal with delight, "HEY, It's a new dishwasher! At that point, Hubby burst in laughing, holding LMH.  As it turned out, the dishwasher had been installed Sunday morning while LMH and I were on our way back from our weekend trip to Missouri.  He wanted it to be a surprises (he is, after all, the king of Christmas surprises!), so he waited for me to notice.  Him and his dad had placed bets on how long it would take. 

Truth be told, had Hubby not bribed me to wash bottles last night, it might have been another day!  I HATED the old dishwasher with wild abandon! Pretty much every time we ran a load, another rusted tine fell off.  I never felt like things really got clean.  And, I didn't want to wash bottles in there very often because I was afraid they, in particular, wouldn't get clean enough. The new dishwasher has Sani-Rinse (perfect for bottles), 1 hour wash (perfect for everything else), turbo clean and even a status bar that indicates where in the cycle it is. I couldn't be happier!

A new dishwasher may be the most practical of gifts for Christmas.  But, a state-of-the-art new dishwasher was the perfect gift for Santa Hubby to bring this year. I love that he knows me well enough to know that a dishwasher was a homerun Christmas present and not a practical present dud (as some people might think). And, the fact that he, once again, took the time to surprise me only makes me love him (and it) that much more!

(Check out the other Perfect Moments, and add your own, at Write Mind Open Heart)

Post-Christmas Catch-Up

I'm behind again...behind with posting and commenting.  Will be trying to catch up on ICLW comments today!

First of all, a belated Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to everyone!  I drove home from Arkansas to Missouri on Christmas Eve.  Snow to my North, West and South; rain in between.  Luckily, I seemed to be just behind or ahead of the worst of everything and managed to only have to drive through what amounted to a heavy sprinkle most of the way.  This was really my first solo roadtrip and I was pretty proud of myself for having handled it all so well.  I was also really grateful to be done with all the driving, since Hubby will be driving us back to Dallas on Wednesday!  For those of you that were wondering about when I got any downtime-- no worries.  I really never got out of my PJs the one full day I was in Missouri and since I got to Arkansas, I've slept in late and taken plenty of naps.  I was extremely tired after all that driving, but I'm doing my best to get caught up!

It's family tradition here to spend Christmas Eve with my grandparents.  This year was no exception.  And, we'd also been waiting for this occassion to share the news of their first great grandchild.  We put this picture in a pretty "baby" picture frame for them to open:

They were ecstatic.  A few tears; lots of congratulations and plenty of stories of when my dad and uncle were born.  My granparents also showed us where they had saved all of the Golden and other books from when my dad, brother and I were kids.  Our baby will start off with a very nice classic book collection!

Next up, was Christmas morning.  Hubby totally blew me away with a beautiful Mother & Child pendant...and I know that may seem a bit odd, but it's totally in keeping with how we're choosing to celebrate each day with Beaker; no matter what happens, we are parents now.  In fact, Hubby polled a few of our close friends and family on if this gift was a good idea.  The reaction was 50/50, but I'm glad Hubby went with his gut on this one...he knows me so well! 

Since then, there has been plenty of rest and relaxation, with a fair amount of worry mixed in for good measure.  My symptoms have been progressing, though still no morning sickness.  The boobs are terribly sore and that uber sense of smell thing has been taken to extremes!  Audrey happened to step just right on my tummy this morning resulting in a bit of pain.  That freaked me out a bit, but my mom reminded me that the uterus is built much stronger than that.  I know she's right, but I'd rather do without the stuff that amps up my worry meter!  In fact, I went to the book store to buy one of those "pregncy day-by-day" books and left the store empty handed, because a brief scan through the pages just gave me more to worry about than I thought I really needed.

We're just a few short days from our first u/s now, though!  Today is 5 weeks and 5 days.  I believe, despite the intermittent--sometimes stronger than others--worry, that Beaker is doing just fine.  We're looking forward to seeing that flickering little heartbeat by this time Wednesday!

Show & Tell: Deck the Halls

It's time again for Mel's Show & Tell.  When you get done here, please go check out what the rest of the class is sharing.  We'd love for you to share, too!

We decorated for Christmas the week of Thanksgiving.  Last year, we were technically in the house by Christmas, but all of our stuff didn't arrive from MN until a few days later.  So, this was the first year that we were able to decorate for Christmas in the new house.   I was so pleased with how it turned out!  It's amazing what a difference a roaring fire, stockings and a tree can make to your entire mental state.  It was also so wonderful to have Andy's family spend Thanksmas with us.  Their stockings, and two for our dogs, Audrey and Gracie, helped to make the mantle feel full this year!  The house just feels warmer, and I don't think it's the fire! :-)