Christmas is coming

Christmas is coming and Jack is getting excited. Every morning we do the advent calendars, we have three. Jack is most impressed by the chocolate calendar but he likes the others as well. Helen counts down the days and tries to get him excited but once he's got the chocolate or lego toy (thanks Mom) he's pretty much tuned out.

It's hard to say exactly how much of the holiday he understands, Jack seems to struggle with anything that's not here and now, the only thing that I know he understands for certain is that Christmas means presents.

Jack loves presents, his birthday was a bit of a wash-out because he was ill so we're all looking forward to him opening his Christmas presents. Packages are arriving almost every day now and Jack is dying to know what's in them. We try to explain to him that we can't open them because they're for Christmas or because the recipient is in the room but he simply won't have it. He loves secrets, present and surprises and having to wait for Christmas just seems ridiculous.

Jack helped his Nanny set up her Christmas tree today. When I arrived to pick him up he took me right to it and told me about the lights.
There are lights, look. First I didn't like that Christmas tree, but now I do. I changed my mind. Now it's GREAT!

On the way home Jack gawked at all the lights strung on various houses. Jack loves Christmas light, he's liked them since last year when we took him with us to Blackpool to see the illuminations. Rectangular lights are his favorite, so he told me on the way home. Not blue, or twinkly or glowing Santas nope, rectangular...

Santa is also big in his mind this year. I remember believing in Santa clause, I'm one of few people that doesn't remember the day or reason they stopped believing. I do remember being confused why Santa always seemed so different every time I saw him and thinking it was weird that he was doing such a heavy PR schedule so close to his big day. I remember hearing noises in the hallway one night and sneaking out of my room to see Mom and my brothers setting out the presents for morning and not being surprised by it in the least, for me Santa just seems to have dwindled away.

Jack is a firm believer, at least in one aspect of Santa's role. We've been to see two separate Santas and so far and he's reacted to them both in the same way. He's all talk until he gets up close, then it's all muttering and whispering so quietly that you can barely hear him. The first Santa he mumbled some of his list with a little prompting from Helen, then waved politely for the camera and made off with his sweets. With the second Santa he was a little bolder.

"Have you been a good boy this year Jack?"
Yes I'm a good boy, can I have a present?" Jack had noticed the huge piles of presents stacked up behind Santa.
"Is there anything in particular that you want Santa to bring you this year?"
I'd like one of those presents, and a biiiig bike with a ladder so I can climb on.