Christmas Helper

Cal has been such a wonderful little helper this Christmas season.  He has been waiting for Christmas for a long time now; it's so hard to wait when you're little. I've been trying to help him bear the wait with little activities each day. Grandma Cally-coo bought him a little advent calendar, and each morning he runs into our room yelling, "My cander! My cander!" He loves it, but what's a three-year-old to do the rest of the day? Here are some of things we've been up to, which Cal has loved helping with...

For family home evening, we put up our little tree and decorated it. In past years, I've tried hanging candy canes from the branches, but they seem to mysteriously disappear, so we opted for non-edible ornaments only. 

 Cal was very careful about picking out each ornament and hanging it from a branch:

 But we did have one or two casualties:

 Although he's smiling in this photo, Cal was devastated when he broke ornaments. His face would crumple and he'd throw himself rather dramatically on the rug or couch, wailing. It was hard not to giggle at him while we explained that the ornaments weren't very important!

Cal also insisted on helping with our Christmas card assembly.  Reed was down at the L.A. auto show for a few nights, so Cal and I set up the operation on my bed. Here's our little guy, fresh out of the tub, stuffing envelopes:

 He'd put the card in, and then hand it over to me. He even helped with licking the envelopes shut, putting on address labels, and sticking on stamps.

We had a cookie exchange with friends this month, so Cal and I rolled up our sleeves and got our toffee-making on! I did the hot parts, like boiling the caramel and melting chocolate, while he was down for a nap...

...but you better believe he helped with the taste test!

Licking his chops after a sample!

 The cookie exchange was a big hit, although I believe it's kind of cruel to put a three-year-old in front of a table like this and then tell them they have to eat lunch first:

I was legitimately surprised by Cal's helpfulness with this next project. I saw a recipe for holiday potpourri on my friend Jessica's blog and decided to make some with Cal for our friends. We had an adventurous morning collecting the various ingredients (it was surprising hard to find whole cranberries!). Here's Cal with everything spread out before him, ready to start:

 I walked Cal through the first one, pointing to the different things to add, and then he told me he could do the rest. I hesitated at first, but watched with amazement as he added the right amount of one ingredient...

 ...and then another...

 ...and then another!

Holding up two fingers, the number of cinnamon sticks to add

He even tied some of the bags with the twist ties! I helped him finish up the tying and added the cards. Here he is showing me the fruits of his labors:

We had fun driving around to Cal's little friends, dropping off his gifts. I could tell he was proud of himself, and I was proud of him for wanting to share the things he had made with his friends. He asked me if we could visit each friend, naming them by name, and then held the little bag in his lap all the way over to their home. He really is such a loving little boy. Makes a mama so proud.

Our wrapping station!

Cal has been very excited about the amazon packages that keep showing up on our doorstep. He gets really excited when I suggest that we wrap presents, and picks out the paper and bows for each one. He loves putting them under the tree, and points out daddy's gifts to him when he comes through the door after work.

Biggest Christmas miracle of all so far this year is the laundry cart my wonderful mom got for me!  It has changed my life so much I'm almost concerned. Makes doing our laundry 5000 times easier. Cal loves helping me put the clothes in, and offers [demands] to push or ride in the cart as we roll down to the laundry room in our complex.

And look who I found beneath the warm, clean blankets:

My wonderful little helper!