It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

... Not really (when you look outside) but we're pretending anyway. The front and back of the house are decorated as well as the inside. I have a portion of chocolate crinkles baked, but that's it. I won't count how many days we have until Christmas. I don't remember when counting the days started being panic-filled rather than pleasure-filled, but somewhere around about when I became an "adult" is when that set in. I can't seem to shake it.

We decided to try to just save ourselves the aggravation this year and get a tree for on the table so Jasper couldn't reach it and want to try and topple it over. He spent a few days testing us on the tree skirt which he could barely reach. But at this point, he doesn't even notice it.

In search of outdoor holiday decorations, we headed over to the Domain this weekend. We arrived to throngs of people - more than I've ever seen there. We couldn't figure out what was going on, until we saw people lining up on the sidewalk outside Macy's (on the south side ... the side with the parking lot). Then it dawned on us ... fireworks. Don't ask me why, but they shot off a pretty nice display of fireworks. They were LOUD! And Jasper wasn't much of a fan. He didn't cry, but he certainly clung to Drew's shirt with a firm grip.
I gotta say I was disappointed with the holiday decorations, but we found a spot in front of one of the lit trees and tried to get a Christmas card-worthy shot. There was a parade of people walking by us (the fireworks had ended), so Jasper was fairly distracted. Amazingly, we got a couple shots of him looking at us - like this one:

(I think he looks elf-like in this shot.)

The airplane walker and ride-on toy from Grandma and Papa Jasper has fallen into the rotation of Jasper's other walkers. One can be seen behind him in the kitchen. Other things he uses are empty diaper boxes or a large package of toilet paper. He's very discriminating. ;)



Jasper got these cardboard bricks from the Shivelys and Atkinsons for his birthday. Right now he's not too into building anything, but he loves knocking down everything we build. He'll come scurrying from across the room to knock down anything, and he'll keep batting to knock things down even as we're trying to rebuild simultaneously. It's lots of fun because he just laughs and laughs and laughs!


This is Jasper's version of beating his head against a brick wall.
Earlier this week our street was filled with trucks and workers as the house across the street was getting a new roof. Jasper was overcome with excitement. He stood at the window and banged on the glass, squealing with delight at all the activity. There hasn't been that much activity outside our front window ever since he's been born. It was a treat.