It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas!

Who could have guessed it? A white Christmas is virtually unheard of in Seattle. In a non-stop flurry since last Thursday, we've watched each glorious flake neatly stack itself on the one before it; slowly, ever slowly, mounting to a snow pack of over a foot in our neighborhood. It is beautiful and has provided us a reason to shift into a slower pace to enjoy the wonder of winter time we so rarely see. Our fridge is full, our gifts are wrapped, the tree is slowly drying out from the heat of our fireplace and our warm clothing is stacked high on the dryer awaiting another snowy outing. PERFECT!

While Pat and I were chomping at the bit to make our first foot prints in the pristine snow laden driveway, Devi was not so sure. After recognizing a few familiar neighbor faces under hats and scarves, however, she finally decided going outside to play could be fun. The zipping, velcroing, tying, snapping and buckling that ensued had Pat and I sweating long before ever leaving the house, but we knew that keeping our girl warm was key to the whole success of this or any future outside snow time. Wrapped like a package herself, her round little face and cute pink button nose were the only distinguishable body parts revealed on our little Indian princess experiencing snow for the first time.

Once we convinced her that mittens were good, we all had a blast. Sledding down the driveway, pulling the sled, catching snowflakes on our tongues and building a snowman. Somehow an hour passed and Devi's lack of body fat was losing the battle to stay warm. It brought back memories of when I was a kid and would succumb to the reality that you must go inside, although you'd much rather make just one more snow angel.
Seizing an opportunity over the weekend, we did manage to convince Devi that she would like to take some cookies and her Christmas list to Santa. Staying warm as long as possible, we changed her into the black velvet and pink taffeta of her hand-me-down (thanks Sean and DeAnna) Christmas dress in the corridor of the shopping mall and took our place in the Santa picture line. With the blizzard outside, the line was relatively short and soon we found ourselves next in line. All that kept us from Santa was a velvet rope toggled at each end to silver poles. Devi was brimming with confidence, waving and shouting hellos to Santa before it was even her turn. (Mom, is secretly surprised that the week of counseling her on how "not" scary Santa is has paid off) The rope is pulled away and without hesitation, Devi rushed Santa and delivered her stash to the jolly St. Nick. They made eye contact and she was totally into him! They had a conversation about her behavior. Yeah!!! Then, he took his eyes away from her and fell silent to read the way-too-wordy letter that mommy wrote. That was all it took...the disconnect and silence opened the door for her fear to enter in and overcome her. (Dumb mom wrote too much!) I had hoped that they would snap the photo while she was wailing - for documentation sake - but they managed to catch her just before with a goofy/surprised look. Oh well. Like a typical woman, once presented with a candy cane she got her emotions in check and was yelling Merry Christmas, and blowing kisses to Santa as we exited. Can we say drama queen? Note to self...next year, short note :)