"Bye-bye, Ho Ho"

We have had a really good Christmas season. I know they make tons of ornaments and bibs and stuffed animals emblazoned with the exuberant "Baby's First Christmas!" but for us, baby's second Christmas has been far more memorable (and I have a hunch that subsequent years will continue to outshine their predecessors).

Off to see the Christmas Lights!

From listening to Pandora's Christmas stations nonstop throughout the day to reading A Night Before Christmas almost every bedtime, we have sucked the marrow out of the season, so to speak. We have managed to introduce Luke to just about every important holiday pastime - short of watching A Christmas Story, that is. We even turned his carseat around for a short while just so that he could see the Christmas lights better as we drove around town (incidentally, it's hilarious to watch an 18-month-old get used to seeing traffic in the forward-facing position after a lifetime of the opposite - the first few days, he just sat back there repeating, "Uh-oh, car" over and over...).

I'd be hard pressed to pinpoint the best memory we've "made" in the past few weeks; surely nothing compares with enjoying this special time anew through the eyes of such a young soul (even if he did spend half of the time with the baby Jesus from our Nativity sticking out of his mouth - that is, until he threw Baby Jesus to a yet unknown location - probably an old lady's handbag - during the middle of Sunday morning church service one week).

However, I think the "theme" memory for me will be Luke's own verbal expression for Christmas: "Ho, ho, ho - Santa!" This is the key phrase he used to describe everything related to Christmas - Santa (of course), Christmas trees, lights, reindeer - you name it, and he had this to say for it: "Ho, ho, ho - Santa!"

Luke is actually singing the "gloria" part
of Angels We Have Heard on High here,
but that's the same expression on his face...

Unfortunately, the written words come nowhere near to conveying the experience of a live performance: serious face, brow furrowed in concentration on those "o" sounds - a dramatic pause - and then, in deeper, more booming tones - Santa! - as if the name announced some dark Superhero come to save the day. It was that way every. time. Even when he was busy doing something else completely and his mind and attention seemed to be elsewhere, if the subject of Christmas came up, Luke reacted immediately with this special response of his own creation, "Ho, ho, ho - Santa!"

Today I packed up all of our Christmas decorations, and by the time P got home from work, the only evidence of the holiday left in the house was the empty spot where the tree once stood - and the tree itself, neatly tucked in its box and waiting for a strong, studly man to do the honors of taking it out to the garage. But before he did so, P pointed to the box and encouraged Luke to say goodbye to the tree. Luke peered inside the box, fingered a plastic pine needle, and softly but firmly said, "Bye-bye, Ho Ho." I knew at that moment that we might be hearing that sweet phrase for the last time ever, and I'm not gonna lie: it makes me a bit misty-eyed.

What joy.