ho ho ho. holiday fun, twenty-fifteen

There is nothing like a toddler or little kid to bring on the holiday spirit, is there?  Now that Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone, it is all about the Santa, Elves, and twinkly lights over at our house.  We arrived home from our Thanksgiving trip and the next morning boxes and boxes of decorations were carried down from the attic.  In addition to the Halloween decorations my parents gave us this year, we also received tons of Christmas stuff too!  Which came at an excellent time because Arlo is at just the right age to really start to enjoy it. 

Two weekends ago we attempted a family photo shoot.  I say attempted because most of the few group shots I was able to capture looked like this:

and this...

I guess that is what I get for taking the photos myself, without a working remote for the timer (essential for successful DIY photos!!) and trying to make a rambunctious toddler and confused dog all look at the camera at the exact same time, when all the while I was running back and forth to the tripod and camera to press the timer button.  Sounds fun, doesn't it??  Thankfully, we managed to get a couple decent ones:

After the oh-so-fun group shots were done we let Arlo run around and I took some photos of just him.

Last weekend we went to visit Santa.  I wasn't sure how he would go over with Arlo this year.  Right now Arlo is a little Santa-obsessed and excitedly says "ho ho ho!" every time he sees a decoration of any kind with Santa on it.  But I knew that Santa decorations were a lot different than the real thing.  Not being big on mall Santas (and the long lines and high prices that come with them) I did some research and found that a free Santa was visiting the Hallmark store right down the road from us.  This Santa was the real deal I tell ya.  He was so kind and patient and even said to us right away "no picture is worth making your child upset."  So when we went up to him the first time, Santa offered to let Erik and Arlo sit in the chair together, while he stood behind them and let Arlo warm up to him.

We then walked around the store for a bit until Arlo seemed ready to greet him again.  This time I went up with him (and a Minnie mouse doll for comfort) and surprisingly Arlo was willing to give him a high five at this point:

Finally, we approached him for a third time.  By this point Arlo must have really been okay with him because he sat right on his lap without a problem.  He gave us a little grin and even when we were done with photos continued to sit there like "what's next y'all?"

Let's look back to last year's photo for a minute.  Even though the kids were totally upset this is still one of my all-time favorites of them.  Classic first Santa photo!

And lastly a few shots of our holiday decorations.  This is the first year we have put up a tall tree (previous years have just been small table top trees) and it is also our first Christmas in our current house.  So, it was a lot of fun to decorate and Arlo has loved every part of it.  Our tree is one that we randomly picked up at a yard sale for like $6 a couple months ago.  Its not a bad tree and originally came from Target, but I think eventually I might like to pick up one that is pre-lit and maybe a little fuller looking.  But this one is great for now.

At the end of November my parents sent Arlo an advent calendar.  We had one of these when my sister and I were little and the highlight of the day was moving the little mouse from pocket to pocket every morning in December until Christmas.  Arlo's is a magnetic board with a movable "candy," and he loves it!  Every morning I tell him it's time to move the calendar and he runs right to it.  There is another advent style calendar on the mantle where we hang a mini ornament on the tall wooden Christmas tree, and he knows that is part of the routine as well.

Last year we were gifted an elf of the shelf and while Arlo wasn't easily able to run around the house and search for him then, he sure can this year.  Providing mom and dad remembered to hide him the night before (otherwise it's done secretly while Arlo is busy eating breakfast) he will search high and low for that little elf and then yell and point when he finds him.  Here are a few things our little elf has been up to...

and in case you ever wondered - elfs poop purple play doh!

A couple of nights ago we took a ride around our neighborhood to look at all the Christmas lights.  Arlo got to sit on my lap as we cruised around our virtually traffic-less neighborhood at about 5 mph and he thought it was completely awesome.  Everytime we would come upon a house with a lot of lights he would inhale sharply, say "wow!" and point to them.  Melted my heart every single time.

this house had musical ornaments and also some large inflatable decorations that moved!

Arlo has no idea what he is in store for in just a few days.  I can't wait to see his face on Christmas morning.  I always thought Christmas was the best thing ever when I was a kid, but I don't think it even compares to seeing it through the eyes of your own child.  We will be spending Christmas with my parents and then the following week Erik's family is coming into town.  Looking forward to a couple weeks of rest, relaxation, and fun family time.  Merry Christmas from our family to yours!