December.

December is here.

No one can stop me from listening to Christmas music now.

Ellie is obsessed with the Christmas tree, the gifts under the tree (blocking her way to the ornaments), her little felt tree, her felt Rudolph, and the twinkly lights that appear everywhere we go.

Meanwhile, I am desperately trying to kick our Elf into shape, as he has a tendency to "forget" to visit Santa.  I think he's trying to help Ellie's naughty/nice record with his forgetfulness, because he tends to forget when Ellie's been up at night teething/yelling/otherwise causing problems.  This morning, I saw him dive headfirst into a stocking at four thirty while Ellie played with her baby dolls.

The Elf's presence isn't exactly keeping Ellie in line.  Just the other day, she was giving him dirty looks at breakfast while she dumped her breakfast on the floor.  (Did I mention we just had our carpets cleaned?  I think we need a bigger splat mat under her chair.)

Then, she threw her baby violently from her toy stroller/walker and replaced baby with a small stuffed camel named "Mo," walked Mo in the stroller, and removed all the credit cards from Daddy's wallet (presumably to purchase her own toys), all before five o'clock in the morning.  Ellie seems to be uncertain of her place on Santa's Nice List, although Grandma assured her that it's Grandma's list that counts.

Taking photos and blogging have been on the back burner this week, because kids had a full five day school week for the first time following Veteran's Day, a hurricane, Thanksgiving, and a grading day (not in that order).

We have a full weekend of birthday parties, a chocolate shop open house (yum!), and a tea at church for just the grown up girls.  If we can convince Ellie to sleep past four, we'll have a fantastic weekend.