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Wow, Christmas time is already here…time seems to speed up this time of year. You would think that with stores setting up Christmas displays in September, I would be ready by now. But no…despite my annual resolution, I am way behind schedule once again: the gifts for Italy will not ship till after Christmas, our New Year cards have not been sent out yet for the most part and none of the gifts have been wrapped yet. Oh well.

One thing is different this year, though. Keegan is getting more and more aware of Christmas, and it is very fun to see. He started noticing Christmas trees, which he calls interchangeably: “Kismas tree” or “bero Ntale”. He loves looking at the lights and usually the first thing he ask for when he gets up in the morning is to turn on the lights on the tree.

Our little reindeer

He also loves to go and see the decorated houses: of course ours is not one of them. I am resisting peer pressure so far. So I have been taking him to see different houses and cool light displays. Just tonight we went to see a massive display: basically all the houses in Lana Drive/Jamar Drive in Clairemont are decorated with over the top displays. After dark, the residents set up tables and fire-pits on their driveways, and offer or sell hot chocolate, cider and cookies. And most houses also play Christmas music: it is a real spectacle. According to one passer by, it is part of the homeowner agreement if you live there: you must decorate for Christmas. Not sure if it is true, but the peer pressure alone would do it for me.

check out the cool car display (real car, by the way)

 Keegan loved the moving polar bear and the penguins

Keegan’s favorite…and it not even the full display

He has also been introduced to Santa Klaus (Babbo Natale) at daycare: they have a tall, dancing and singing Santa: if you ask me it is a little freaky, but the kids love it. So, he is now well aware that Santa comes at night, when the kids sleep, and bring presents to good kids. Keegan even said he wants Santa to bring him a bike; not sure how sincere it was, and how influenced it was from the store display of bikes, but no matter: he is getting a tricycle for Christmas. It arrived today, just in time. So, guess how Matt is spending Christmas Eve.

Dancing Santa

Keegan is not too attached to the old guy, though. We happened to see one at a mall while he was playing, and on a whim, I decided to take him to see him…well, he did not cry, but he really did not want to be there or sit on his lap, as he repeated multiple times: “no Santa Lap”.

No Santa’s lap

All considered, it went a lot better than his visit with Santa at his school Christmas party: he refused to sit on his knees, or to get close. I can’t blame him: he looked like a total fake.  (-: The party was not that exciting, but we got some great cookies.

Grandma, Keegan’s godmother, also sent a cool, cut-outs book about the story of Jesus: we did read it a few times, even if he is not sure why the little boy is in a stable. And, of course, so far he finds the story about Santa much more interesting.

Keegan has also been “singing” a lot lately, and we learned to recognize what song he is trying to sing. One of his favorite is Jingle Bells, that he accompanies with hand gestures and some words. We will try to shoot a video soon: we have anew video camera that seems a little easier to upload.

So, here we are: just a couple of days away, and we can’t wait to see Keegan’s excited face (or so we hope) on Christmas morning. In the meantime we want to wish to all of you a very Happy Christmas: even if we are not together, we are thinking about all of you, and we are sending you all of our warmest (75+ degrees) wishes and love.

Buon Natale a tutti!