Anticipating Christmas

It has snowed every day for the past ten days! I can hardly believe it. The part that seems most unbelievable about it all, is that our city FINALLY decided to plow the roads this morning. And check out those pictures..... that's how they plow the roads here.... leaving HUMONGOUS piles of snow all over in the middle of the road! Sadly, they don't bother with the side streets - only the main streets get plowed. Crazy. I guess that's what happens when they put the city budget towards keeping all those pretty streetlamps lit 24/7 during the month of December, rather than using the money to keep our roads clear. Oh well. They are pretty.
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Andrew has been counting down the days until Christmas for the past few weeks, and it's a blast to watch his excitement grow day by day. This morning we went over to an open house at the city library to visit with Santa. The "fun" part, is that a couple days ago Andrew asked me how it's possible for Santa to be all over the world at places like stores and libraries, and still be up in the North Pole getting ready for Christmas. Yikes! So, I went the route of explaining that Santa has helpers that dress up like him and go visit the kids all over the world, and then they report back to him. Andrew decided that they must be elves, so he was a little wary of going to visit a "Santa Elf" this morning. It was so fun watching his jaw drop when he walked in the door and saw Mrs. Claus too!!!! Ever since we got home he hasn't stopped declaring, "I can't believe I was so scared to go see Santa. It wasn't scary at all!!"
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It's funny the questions he's been asking us this year. The other day he came to me all concerned because he wanted to make sure that Santa knew that mommy and daddy were being good too and that he needed to bring presents for us. How sweet! He has also been VERY concerned about how Santa is going to get into our house if we don't have a fireplace. Granted, that's not a very abnormal concern. I wish I could remember the other questions he's been asking us this year..... I'll have to come back and edit this after I have Trav remind me.
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This snow has been wonderful for Andrew..... EVERY time we open the door he runs straight out into the snow and starts throwing snowballs at us. He doesn't care how he's dressed or if he has gloves on.... he just LOVES to see the look on our face when we get hit. And I gotta admit, for being four years old, that kid has got a great arm. He hits me in the face, shoulders, or back almost every time he throws a snowball. He even started throwing them at me in the parking lot at church, yelling, "Watch out! I'm gonna get you girl!!!"
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Lastly, I've got to record his experience with his first in-person gift exchange. At his preschool they drew names and he just happened to get a little girl's name, Quincy. And she just happened to draw his name. Well, when we went shopping he was very purposeful in what he selected for her, all the while repeatedly asking aloud, "I wonder what Quincy is going to get for me?!?!?" Well, let's just say the gift exchange was a home run. She loved his gift (a small barbie doll - one of Barbie's little sisters), and he loved hers. She bought him a red Power Ranger transformer, and that thing didn't leave his hands for two whole days afterwards. In fact, he was so excited about it that he decided she's his new girlfriend. Hee, hee, hee!! In fact, it was his first Christmas present this year, so I'll add a picture or two of him with his power ranger onto this post.
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To all of our friends and family who are reading this post, please know that you're in our thoughts and our hearts and we're hoping you have a wonderful Christmas.