Christmas, Mason Style

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends out there in cyber space. What a day it's been! Mason has definitely gotten the art of wrapping-paper shredding down!

Before the presents, though, there was a visit to the Christmas Eve Vigil at our Church, St. Catherine of Genoa. Complete, of course, with a trip up to the altar after mass to see the Nativity. Unfortunately, Baby Jesus hadn't made his debut yet (not until Midnight Mass!) so we'll have to see him next week. Mason did get a kick out of seeing all the animals, naming them off (Camel!) and making noises (Baaa!).

After that, we headed downtown to see the tree. Mommy had been avoiding it, even though it's mere blocks from her office, so we could all see it together -- a tradition we started last Christmas Eve. Mason was SO cute. We told him we were taking him to see the BIG Christmas tree, and all the way there, every tree he saw, well, he thought that was it. When we finally saw the big one, he wouldn't take his eyes off it. Pretty impressive!

We also took in the Snowflake Show at Saks Fifth Avenue before heading home and then over to the neighbors for a party where the gift opening began with some Cars action figures, which, you can guess Mason LOVED.

After reading The Christmas Story and 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, we tucked Mason into bed and waited for Santa Claus. He slept soundly (Mommy couldn't, she was too excited) and it's a good thing, because he needed his energy to open the pile of presents he received:

The aftermath:

The first ride on the new trike -- it was nice enough to go 'round the block!

Now, it's off to eat the Christmas lasagna...

Tis The Season...

Mason and I headed up to the Bronx Zoo on Tuesday night with our friends Melissa, Kellyn, Ti'lur and Diamond to take in the annual Holiday Lights display. Here's what we saw:

A well-bundled Mason making a silly face for the camera.

Santa's helpers readying for their journey.

The lights.

Two hungry toddlers helping this mommy eat some popcorn.

There as more to it than that, but the camera was a little tough on the dark night! We got some nice up-close viewing of the monkeys in the Monkey House, saw the sea lions and took a walk through the butterfly garden while reciting "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as we passed all the light-up illustrations from the book. With Christmas carols piped through the speakers, and snow still on the ground, it was a great way to spend a not-too-chilly December evening!

We Have A 2-year-old ... Officially

Mason's birth-week celebration continued Monday with the celebration of his ACTUAL birthday. Dado took the day off to spend with the birthday boy and after a taxing few hours of TV-watching, book-reading and nap-taking the boys met up with Jess and I at Chuck-E-Cheese's on 125th Street to properly celebrate.

The highlight for the birthday boy? Well, aside from carrying his newly acquired Thomas balloon around with him (note to self: that was a good kid locator) everywhere, he loved what all kids love: putting the coins in the games, pulling the tickets out of them and, of course, shoving them in the ticket-muncher machine.

Oh, and one more joy: interfering with skeet-ball games by climbing on the lanes, snatching balls and throwing them -- overhanded -- up the wrong lane. Ahhh, the joys of toddlerhood.

We finished off the night with another round of cupcakes. Last year Magnolia. This year Buttercup Bakeshop. Both delicious...

Start Your Engines, It's Party Time

With Mason on the brink of being a 2-year-old (officially) we threw him a little party this past weekend at the daycare. Mommy did lots of work to prep for the shin-dig, but it was well worth the effort when Mason walked in, looked around in awe and said "My birthday party? Thank you for my party, Mama!" It was also well-worth the effort to catch up with some old friends, some new friends and some kid friends we don't get to see as much as we'd like.

Without further ado, here are some of the sites from the day. If anyone has pictures they'd like to share, feel free to send them my way. I was too busy partying to actually take many!

Mason is currently obsessed with the movie Cars, so it was only fitting we adopt that as his party-theme...complete with a Lightning McQueen customized cake. Kaaa-Chow!

The birthday boy was a gracious host, taking time to help Mommy and Dado greet his guests and he even wore his customized "2" hat for a time. After getting his fill of cheese sticks, mini pizzas, booty and even a little bit of broccoli, Mason decided to take dessert serving into his own hands -- by climbing up on to a chair adjoining the dessert table and promptly licking one of the cupcakes stacked there.

We took the hint, and started serving after a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday for him and his secret twin Malka.

One slice of McQueen cake, two cupcakes and some ice cream later, he wore off his sugar high and hit the floor. Literally...

After spending the afternoon and evening recovering from our party hangovers (you can see all the fun here), Mason had some unexpected guests arrive to wish him happy birthday as Grandpa and Auntie Ro arrived after a L-O-N-G day of travel with smiles on their faces and a present in-hand.

What we've been up to...

Dumping a few pics from last weekend in here:





Mason and Kellyn do the American Museum of Natural History. They got a kick out of growling at the lions and yelling at the zebras, but, as always, the dinosaurs stole the show.

Mason... Santa, Santa... Mason

Well, 'tis the season, ho ho ho and all that other good stuff. It's Christmas time and we had to let Mason get a taste of the holiday season. While I was shopping for Christmas presents at Macy's on Wednesday, December 12th, I noticed the line for Santa Claus was pretty short. After talking to the attendants, they let me know that on weeknights there are not as many people that visit “Santaland” and if you did want to visit Santa Claus it was the best time to do it. I told Jody about this and we both thought it would be great to get Mason in front of Santa, especially if it wouldn't take half the day.

So, the very next evening, we hoofed it down to 34th street. Jody, Macey and I met at "The World's Largest Department Store." Before going into the store, we had a chance to look at the window displays they had facing the Broadway side of the building. There was one of a sled going along a roller coaster, an aerial view of Macy's, Santa Workshop and some other cool dioramas. Macey loved them all! Afterwards, it was time to head on up to meet the Big Man himself. When we got up to the 8th floor, there was a short line, but nothing too bad. What made it better is that there were all kinds of interesting things to look at:
talking trees, polar bears and Macey's favorite... trains.

When we finally got the front of the line, I've got to admit we were a little nervous. You see, for a while we've been talking up Santa to Mason, however as recent history suggest Mason and certain characters have not seen eye to eye. He wasn't very friendly when he met Elmo, didn't even want to meet with the kids in caveman outfits and bumped his head trying to get away from Curious George at the museum. So, as we got close we didn't know how he'd react. But when he turned the corner and saw Santa, he smiled and gave him a huge hug. He was excited and could hardily get his words out. After visiting, Santa gave him some crayons and we were on our way. However, before we headed home, we got a chance to see some more displays on the 34th side on the building and saw an interesting one. The diorama had a courthouse, bearded old man and a bunch of letters... "A Miracle On 34th Street" how apropos.