Christmas decorations and holiday parties...

Maddie with her favorite Christmas decoration...the Snowman!

It is already December 2nd, and we've been to two (2) holiday parties! It's true! The past week+ has been "full" schedule wise. Thanksgiving weekend we broke into the attic and brought out the Christmas decorations. We use a fake 9 foot Christmas tree that is pre-lit. It looks nice, although I do miss doing the "Christmas tree farm" thing that we did when I was little. But over the years we've tried all of the variations from cut trees, balled live trees and fake trees...and for now, the fake tree is working just fine.

Maddie enjoyed the decorating, not just the tree but the whole house. She is in love with a 3.5 foot tall Snowman decoration, and keeps giving him hugs. The holiday parties were with the FCC-DV and our International link group (both adoptive families groups, one just for Chinese children, the other is all international adoptive families). It was great watching Maddie play with all of the kids! She's really quite social so getting together with the groups is great.

We really haven't started the Christmas shopping in earnest yet, but I need to get in gear. One good thing coming up this week is that I'll FINALLY be able to pick up my pictures from JCPenny, which I can't wait for!

Some fun kid-related things...Maddie is very vocal and loves to talk, making up stories and songs that she sings. Her pronunciation is good but there are two things that she says that cracks me up.

1. The word "helicopter" Maddie says, "Hello Doctor!" which only makes me think of the Animaniac's "Hello Nurse"!

2. "Lily Cat" is the term Maddie uses for Hello Kitty. I finally figured it out when we were at the Drs office and she pointed to a picture of Hello Kitty and said the phrase.

Now...I know, bring on some more pictures!!!!

Maddie pondering the best placement of the "crush" ornament.

Maddie all dressed in purple with a dress up Tutu and magic wand, despite all of my best intentions, she does seem to have a girly side to her *grin* But never fear...I'm balancing it with books like "Do Princesses wear Hiking Boots?"

A group picture from one of the holiday parties...