Christmas is coming!

I am a little girl at heart and this is the time of year when I am so glad to be a little girl who is a Mommy! (having kids is having more young minds to revel with). The holiday season has begun at our household! We saw Santa in the parade last weekend so we now know that Christmas is not far behind.
The Santa Claus parade is the beginning of over a month of festivities and I am so going to make this the best Christmas ever!! (I say that every year) Our family has grown by one and "the more the merrier" absolutely applies with Christmas morn. Anyways, that comes later... back to our parade day! This year Josh opted out, at 13 he has decided that road hockey beats out curbside excitement and left us with a message to say "hello to Santa" for him. Mike annually chooses not to join us, not his thing, he helped me bundle up the babe and told Aidan to go and have fun. The work for this day begins at home! Pack up the blankets; one to sit on and one to put on our laps. Get out the canned goods for the food drive and some change for the collection. But most importantly to a six year old..... the letter for Santa!! The mailmen will collect these and get them to the Big guy himself!!
The letter to Santa begins a few nights prior to the parade, actually Aidan has had draft lists for almost a month! We decided that I would write Colin's letter so Santa would remember that he was born (very concerning for his brother)and Aidan would be able to print his own letter all by himself (yay to Grade one!) We decorated our papers, Aidan being so impressed when I showed him how to make a tree, holly, a candy cane, a wreath, and a stocking on his page. We wrote our letters, I hope Santa knows who WWE wrestlers are because Aidan listed off a few. I looked at his list and stored to memory and we sealed our envelope with a big wish for Santa to come to our house. Aidan said he had to come for sure because Colin is just a baby and babies are never bad!
The boys bundled up with pyjama bottoms under their pants and warmest mittens and hats. The weather was not too cold but in my experience I knew that sitting for almost 3 hours outside can get pretty chilly even on a nice day, it is November after all. We truck down on the bus with a full load of other parade goers and make one very important stop... Tim Horton's. Bathroom stop is important when travelling with only one adult and more than one child (this too is my experience). Coffee and hot chocolate is a must and kudos to Tim's, they had boxes upon boxes of timbits made and ready to go. Other people have Tim's as part of their parade routine too, of course.
We found our regular spot at John & Main in front of the Court house we cozied up and waited with much anticipation. It finally started and did not disappoint! We saw the Grinch, Scooby, Dora, Clowns, bands, dancers, dogs in costumes, the famous "Red hat ladies", Ronald MacDonald, local tv personalities, my niece Emily marching with her Brownie pack and at long last we saw Santa Claus!! Aidan and I had to agree that he looked as if he was happy to be here and looking pretty plump. We hooted and hollered and away he went. We took home a bag full of loot and managed to stay relatively warm. Little Colin slept through part of it but when he was awake, he danced on my knee to the band music. These are the times I hope to remember when my boys grow up. I already have Josh losing interest in the parade adventure, and I remember a time when he hooted and hollered with the best of us. We have them small for such a short time! It is imperative in my mind that we teach them the beauty of allowing the child in us out at this season. Merry Christmas!!