Excited for Beanie's Christmas.

Beanie has been talking about Santa non-stop for the last week or so. I don't think she really understands; in fact, I think she thinks Santa is a friend that is going to come over for a play date. But, for the first time, she is very excited about Christmas -- Santa, the presents, cards, making cookies, the list goes on and on. In turn, I am very excited about Christmas.

Turns out this year is going to be pretty darn low key. My mom & stepdad will not be in town and my sister is heading over to Montana to visit them (well, she is as long as she is fully recovered from her flu & pneumonia ordeal -- poor gal!). We are celebrating with my dad and stepmom tomorrow. My sis was supposed to come over also, but she's just getting well so she'll have to skip out. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are going to be new parents (they're at the hospital as I type!!) so not sure if they'll be over with a week-old newborn. Maybe we'll just head over there for a short bit. It may just be Glenn, Beanie & I for Christmas which will be sort of strange, but also nice in a way. Christmas for me is all about celebrating with family -- getting together, eating food, exchanging presents & having a good time. It will be odd having such a quiet celebration.

I am very excited about the gifts we purchased for Beanie. She's at the age where she's sort of outgrowing a lot of the toys she currently has and it's time to upgrade. Plus, I'd like to pack up some of the baby toys and set them aside for when Baby 2.0 arrives. I don't think that will be a problem because it sounds like she's going to have more than enough toys after the holiday.

Here's a few of the things we purchased for her:

Melissa and Doug Bead Sequencing Kit (I've wanted to get this for her just about forever, since I saw it on Chasing Cheerios)

Melissa and Doug See & Spell

Melissa and Doug Ice Cream Parlor Set

Can you tell I really like the Melissa and Doug toys? If you haven't seen them, make sure and check them out! We got her a few other things -- a game, a ball, some doll dress-up magnets, and a digital camera. Beanie loves pretending to take pics and I really think she'll have a ball with her own camera!

My dad got her a few things that I saw on the Tot School blog:

A ladybug alphabet puzzle game

Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks

I received some Christmas money in the mail yesterday and I am so excited to stock up on some arts & crafts supplies for our Tot School time. We haven't gotten too into it yet, although we have been trying to fill our time with more crafting and play & less TV. To be honest, I've been a bit down that we didn't have the extra money right now to buy some of the neat things I saw on the Tot School blog, but now I can!

So, Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! And yay for the Winter Solstice. Whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope you have an enjoyable one.

*** Wow, I did not write this post knowing the details of the Amazon Associates program on Blogger now. I had heard them mention something about it coming up on the news, but never saw the story. It's definitely something to look into! Check out the monetize tab and there's a new option to get paid. I don't have any of these items on my blog (yet), but it might be something to check out! ****