THE COLLINS FAMILY: Santa Claus is coming to town...

We have been busy lately at our house getting ready for Santa to come! It started the weekend after Thanksgiving when we hung the Christmas lights outside and put up our Christmas tree. Parker enjoyed helping with both of these things this year, and was actually a good little helper. He is OBSESSED with Christmas lights, and I think he would be happy to drive around all night looking at them. He is also very into singing Christmas songs right now. He sings 'Jingle Bells' all the time now, thanks to the singing penguin that Grammy and PawPaw got for him! His other favorites are 'Santa Claus is coming to town, and Frosty the Snowman.'

We have been talking to him a lot about Santa, and a lot of mornings he will come to the top of our steps and look down at the tree and say "No, Santa not bring my presents yet." I think every morning he is hoping that it just might be the day that Santa brings his presents. He also got to visit Santa twice this weekend, and he loved it both times. We went to the mall for our annual trip and photo, and he told Santa he wanted Thomas the Train and some cars for Christmas. We also went to a Breakfast with Santa at my friend Stephanie's house today. Mr. and Mrs. Claus were there, and everyone brought a toy to donate to Vanderbilt Children's hopsital. It was such a great idea, and Parker once again went right to Santa without hesitation. Except today he said he also wanted a hat for Christmas :)

We had our first "big snow" of the year a couple of days ago. We went outside with Parker and he had a great time until his hands froze because he would not keep his gloves on. He was pretty much over it at that point. So, if anyone has any ideas on how to keep gloves on a toddler...please share!

I hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas and enjoying the holiday season!!

HANGING CHRISTMAS LIGHTS WITH DADDY