Adventures of the Family Smith: Joyeux Noel

I love December. I love Christmas. In our families Christmas is a time for family and giving thanks. We will spend a lot of time with our families this year. Its also a time for starting new traditions as our little family unit. I am excited to read to Claire the Christmas story and share with her what Christmas is all about. As I decorated for Christmas this year I pulled out the Nativity scene that my parents had at our house growing up. When I was a little girl, my parents let me "play" with our Nativity scene. Consequently Mary and Joseph's noses are sort of missing because I used to make them kiss when I was younger.

The other night while Josh was in class I attempted a Christmas photo shoot with Lola and Claire. I don't have the same talent for photography that my sister does and attempting with work a dog and infant was a challenge. I guess you could say I'm learning that especially as a parent, things don't always go as planned. I rearranged the furniture so I could get Claire and Lola in front of the Christmas tree. I found this hilarious little elf hat and holly collar (all felt) at Target for Lola but she freezes when I put it on her. Literally she becomes a poseable dog. You'd think that is helpful for a photo shoot and perhaps I should have been grateful but I found it difficult to work with a dog that becomes a statue. I tried taking pictures during Claire's fussy time and because she can only sit up when propped she kept falling over into Lola the statue dog. Anyway, I did get some laughs about the whole thing.

Claire and Lola..the statue dog.

Here you can see poor Lola's shaved neck. She plopped down right next to Claire. She loves her Claire. When picked Lola up on Sunday from our friend Chris' house, Lola ran right past Josh and I hunting for Claire. I guess we don't matter as much anymore.

Brieanne and Brandon came over the other night, she was much more successful at getting pictures of Claire but refused to shoot Lola in her elf outfit. She didn't think Lola liked the hat. Perhaps its because Lola looks a little sad and pathetic right now. She got a little infection on her neck and so part of her neck is shaved and now she has this big scab. So, I guess lucky for Lola she didn't have to wear the hat again.