It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We are busy getting everything ready for Jack's second Christmas! Sadly, we are using our artificial tree this year, as we will be out of town for a week over the holiday, and as life has been a bit of a blur recently and, with the Bedford house insanity, we didn't feel up to the tree hunt...
So, our scraggly little trouper of a tree is up, on a little table, and full of 200 white lights and as many Hallmark ornaments as we could fit, it looks all right. For a $30 tree that has been to Winnipeg and back, it's doing pretty well! We've gottene a few packages wrapped and lights up outside and in spite of busyness at school and lack of renters for Bedford at the moment.. I am beginning to get in the spirit.

Jack is enjoying the Christmas decorations. He loves to watch the tree lights come on. He also really enjoys our snow globe. He knows to turn it over and turn the key for the music, and my little detail-oriented guy noticed and pointed out, by name, the little truck hidden amongst the decorations around the base...
He is getting very good, actually, at pointing out lots of things. He is very involved in looking at books these days, and will point out any dogs he sees, as well as some cats. He says "whoo" for the owl in his Lonely firefly book. And he is loving "5 little monkeys". He pats his head during the part of the rhyme where the monkey bonks his head, and then points his finger and babbles emphatically in imitation of my "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!" It's hilarious.

It also partially makes up for how "opinionated" (read, whiny) our little guy has been these days. He is so very fast to say "no" to anything-- tonight he said no to dinner all evening until just before bed when he realized he was starving, and that perhaps that was the cause of all of his whining and distress... sigh. I have to try to remember that as frustrating as it is for me to deal with Mr. Whino-pants, it must be even more frustrating to BE Mr. Whino-pants, unable to fully communicate or control anything in his little world. Poor bub.