I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...

Have you ever heard that song? It's old. But, it's definitely worth a download from iTunes. Gayla Peevey sings it. Anyway, Hazel heard it for the first time a couple of weeks ago on the all-Christmas radio station. It was love at first listen. Unfortunately, for her audience, she only bothered to learn one line. Now, she walks around all day singing, "I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS!" at the top of her lungs. Imagine my surprise when I took her to see Santa today, and she jumps right up on his lap and says, "Santa, I want a hippopotamus for Christmas." To which Santa bewilderingly replied, "Well, we'll have to see what we can do about THAT." I don't think he'd ever heard the song. But, I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. And, this year, finally, we got pictures of her on Santa's lap without tears streaming down her beet-red face.



Luka was more interested in petting Santa's beard. It was so cute! The pictures that I actually ordered enlargements of, have him looking at Santa with fascination, and running his hands through his beard. But, the quick print that they gave me to take home today was cute as well:



My mom took the kids shopping while I ran into Build-A-Bear Workshop, and had the kids' annual teddy bears made. It's a tradition in our house. Every year, Santa brings them a special bear dressed up in something appropriate for whatever they are into, or something important for that year. I was going to dress them up in army gear, but the B-A-Bear in Alaska only has army uniforms with black berets. Bryan would die if I gave them something with a black beret. He's Airborne, and they wear maroon berets. Apparently, Airborne guys make fun of the guys that wear the black berets (mostly people with office jobs). Whatever. So, I decided to dress them in the limited edition Christmas outfits for this year. And, Bryan recorded messages for both of the kids on voice recorders that were placed inside of the bears. Very special. I'll have to post pictures of them when I get the bears all dressed up.

Speaking of pictures...I am now the proud owner of this amazing vintage photo (or I will be after the guy I won it from on eBay pops it in the mail):



Not the greatest picture of the photo, but you get the idea. It's so neat with the Santa and reindeer. I'm going to use it to make a collage hanging. I subscribed to Teresa McFayden's 12 Days of Comfort and Joy blog. Normally, I would never pay to read a blog when there are so many FREE ideas available on the internet. But, this was SO worth it. It's like a little gift just for me on my computer everday! You can still pay to subscribe. Just go here to sign up. I promise, it's worth it. Anyway, one of her projects was a beautiful Christmas collage that is the inspiration behind the project I plan on completing with the gorgeous photo above.

Well, I am going to try to squeeze in a nap while my kids are taking one. Happy Hump Day everyone!