Day 1: Visit Santa. Which was very exciting up until the moment we actually came face-to-face with the man himself and then it turns out he is one scary dude.
Day 2: Hang wreath on our front door to let the world know how festive we are.
Day 3: Take Alice for her first hot chocolate.
Day 4: Make cookies. Also a mess, but that’s how you know it was fun.
Day 5: Buy or make Chris something that reminds him of Christmas at home, in this case Christmas pudding, which I’m pretty sure you have to grow up eating in order to enjoy because while it looks like chocolate cake it most decidedly is not. (See also: Vegimite.)
Day 6: Paint ornaments for presents for people who shall not be named. Pretend you never saw this.
Day 7: Dress my family up in crazy holiday gear.
Day 8: Attend a holiday party, in this case an annual cookie swap where I believe we were supposed to take cookies home, but I was too busy shoving my face to really listen to directions and so had crumbs to offer Chris.
Day 9: Take presents to local Giving Tree.
Day 10: Read a Christmas story, in this case “The Night Before Christmas.”
Day 11: Teach Alice all of the words to a Christmas song, in this case “Rudolph” which she totally rocks.
Day 12: Donate canned goods. Most grocery stores are still taking donations!
Day 13: Purchase one holiday item to add to our family collection.
Day 14: Put up Christmas tree. Notice I didn’t say “decorate”, but I’m giving myself points for even getting it out of the box.
Day 15: Enlist sister to help Alice decorate a homemade gingerbread house.
Day 16: Take plane to Denver, but very cleverly load iPad ahead of time with “Rudolph.” Congratulate self on unexpected competence.
Day 17: Eat copious amounts of Christmas cookies, thanks to the wonder of my mother’s baking.
Day 18: Take Alice to her first play, which made me a bit teary. It was when she said she wants to be in a play (something I did for 20 years!) where I almost lost it.
Day 19: Go to a holiday concert, in this case my niece’s, which underscores the point that there is nothing cuter than 20 3-year olds singing Christmas carols.
Day 20: Check out the Zoo Lights. It is everything it’s cracked up to be.
Day 21: Go to Christmas parade, which is basically a whole bunch of cars with reindeer antlers, but Santa shows up so it’s still a pretty big hit.
Day 22: Stop and watch Christmas carolers in full regalia.
Day 23: Decorate a huge round of sugar cookies, because, you know, the other nine types of cookies weren’t quite enough. Proceed to eat a huge round of sugar cookies, because, you know, sampling the other nine types wasn’t enough.
Day 24: Watch Santa’s journey to our house, put out cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer, double-check the fireplace to make sure Santa has a clear pathway and realize it’s just for show so leave front door unlocked instead.