Getting ready for Christmas...

The first Christmas is a big deal. So in an effort to prepare for this momentous occasion, we decided to get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving...a little early and it was a little freezing and rainy, but we persevered. We usually cut down our tree, but this year, it was too cold.

So for the sake of the "first tree", Tim still had to pretend.

We choose our tree in about eight minutes, had a quick photo shoot, paid the man for the tree, threw it on the top of the Forerunner, and were back in the car four minutes later.

Canaan was not sure what had just happened.


After enslaving Tim to take all the boxes and trunks full of Christmas stuff down from the attic as well as checking and untangling hundreds of lights, the tree was up by December 1. THAT was a first for us. We wanted to make sure that Canaan had plenty of time to enjoy her first Christmas tree!

She loved it.

She especially loved the fact that her mother refused to vacuum up any more pine needles after the seventh time of vacuuming in only three days. Canaan grew to love playing on the floor ridden with poky pine needles as well as being careful not to eat the pine needles that would get stuck in her stuffed animals.

That's why it takes more than eight minutes to pick out a good Christmas tree--questions like, "Does this tree shed a lot?" are good to ask.

That was Canaan's FIRST lesson in choosing a Christmas tree.

And what Christmas would be complete without attending a Tacky Sweater Party? Hosted at Dustin and Angela Lyle's, Canaan was adorned in her own felt-Christmas-tree-sown-with-a-gold-star-at-the-top-tacky-red-sweater. Tacky sweaters are kind of cute on a baby--not as cute as a sweater vest on her father or a Scottie-dog-complete-with-shoulder-pads sweater on her mother, though.

Finally, the time came for Canaan to visit Santa Claus. We leave right after church to try and beat the mall lines. Apparently, people start standing in the Santa line at 5:30 in the morning. So, no Santa that day.

We then decide to take her to a more remote location where Santa has his own little house that kids come and visit with him. Waaay cuter anyway. We head off on a rainy Tuesday night only to find out that he only sees kids on Mondays and Thursdays.

So, for Santa attempt number three, we load up on Thursday to arrive and find zillions of kids running amuck in the front yard of this little Santa house. We put our name in, thinking we'd be called 20 minutes later. Instead, three hours later, at 9:45 at night, hours after Canaan has fallen asleep in her car seat, after eating dinner at Tim's parents house (thankfully only five minutes down the road), and catching 30 minutes of a Christmas movie on TV, our number is called to see Santa. This had better be good.

And he was! Not only was he FREE, but he had a real beard and the Santa suit wasn't so polyester-looking!

Canaan was thrilled to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas...her two front teeth.

Seriously. So that her parents can finally sleep through the night again.

She tried to show Santa where the teeth would go. Preferably two straight teeth.

She was a little upset when Santa told her he didn't work in that department. A cute doll will have to do.

Of course, we caught it all on video! We also filmed her rendition of "Away in a Manger", a family tradition we'll do every year--the kids singing that song in front of the tree. This year, Canaan was only interested in the ornaments on the tree.

First Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2008 was a day filled with pictures. It actually began the day before with her Uncle Kevin (Tim's brother) getting sworn into the Army at Pop Pop's church. So here's the beginning of thousands of pictures of Canaan at Thanksgiving.




I think the sergeants were a bit flustered that Canaan was "boneless" instead of "at attention." Uncle Kevin's collar bone was broken (biking accident with Uncle Aahron) so that's why he was holding Canaan's dress with his left hand--in case he dropped her. That would be a bad start for a "medic" in the Army. So we were THANKFUL that Canaan wasn't dropped at the swearing in ceremony.








After a lovely Thanksgiving at my aunt's house (eight aunts and uncles, fifteen cousins, five second cousins, one sister, one brother in law, one husband, and one five month old), we traveled to Nana and Pop Pop Goodwin's house for Thanksgiving and more pictures.


Aunt Beth, mother, and Canaan.




Canaan is beginning to show signs of "discomfort" with the paparazzi. You can tell by the slobber on her dress's collar that she has tried to self-soothe, but to no avail.






It's only getting worse. Now someone took a picture without Canaan even looking. To top that off, Canaan's tights were bunching--and Elephant Ankles at Thanksgiving is extremely inappropriate. So her naked diaper was showing.




As if that weren't enough, sometimes Canaan got confused about who her real mother was since her Aunt Beth's looks are so deceptive. If not for the brown hair, Canaan might have gone home with the wrong person.










And then, the world was coming quickly to an end. Another picture. This time with her father and mother. At this point, not only was Canaan seeing spots, but her boots with the fur were missing. I'd like to say it's her own fault for kicking them off, but maybe it's mine--I have no idea how to "size" infant shoes...is that her toe I feel or just the arch of her foot? I don't even know. Tight boots or not, she sure looked cute on Thankgiving Day.

And then, the final picture with Uncle Luke and Aunt Beth. That was it--Canaan was no longer thankful for anything anymore. At this point, Thanksgiving was nothing but flash photography, bunchy tights, boots that didn't fit, a slobbery dress, and her Uncle Luke who wouldn't even divulge any of his secret military tactics when he was a paratrooper in the Rangers...seriously he was. And he seriously wouldn't tell us about his secret tactics. I was not thankful for that.





So that was it. Just when we thought Thanksgiving was a flop, Pop Pop saved the day.





With Canaan's first bite of Thanksgiving Turkey. Suddenly, the world seemed brighter, our hearts were truly thankful for our friends and family and a healthy baby, and the taste of polyester turkey lingered in our mouths to remind us how wonderful Thanksgiving really is.









And to check out the other food Canaan ate for Thanksgiving (green bean casserole...just kidding. It was broccoli again.) Check out the video!

First Food!

Choosing the first food your child will have is cause for deliberation: should we feed her oatmeal cerael or go the route of rice cereal? Organic or Publix brand? Baby food from the jar or the Majic Bullet?? Veggies or fruit? So after much discussion with Bonnie (Canaan's future mother-in-law), we decided broccoli. One might wonder why broccoli and there are many reasons: it's a vegetable and I think vegetables are better than rice. And that's maybe one of the only reasons I can think of. But we decided to go for it.

So after steaming, food processing, and sticking the leftovers in the ice cube tray like Martha Stewart tells you to do, Canaan was ready for her first "real" food experience.

Canaan was anxiously awaiting the first taste of broccoli.

The camera is rolling, the silver bowl that she'll probably never eat from again is filled to the brim (as if she's going to eat an entire serving of broccoli...), she's propped up in her grandfather's antique high chair, the Georgia bib is proudly displayed, and we hold our breath...

She's not sure what hit her.

She desperatly tries to hide the broccoli underneath her high chair tray in an attempt to fool us..."What?!? I ate it all! I swear!!"

So after most of the blessed broccoli ends up on the bib and in the folds of her neck, we decided to try bananas. Two days later, after the organic bananas were freshly prepared, we were ready for round two of "Canaan's First Food."

"Not bad," she thinks. "I can smell them better than I can taste them, seeing as how my mother got most of them in my nose."
























She decides bananas are actually better than broccoli--better smelling when they're shoved in my nose, better feeling in the folds of my neck, I don't have green things stuck in my teeth (gums)...I can handle bananas.



















And for dessert--my bib.




























And for more broccoli-action, click on the video below to watch Canaan's actual gag reflex kick in when she eats the broccoli for the first time!