December!

It's December and we kicked it off with a visit with Santa this morning.  Tyler was being shy and wouldn't talk or look up (he has been doing that lately along with having tantrums and fits that are so out of character that the teachers are commenting on them), but Katie was super excited.  On the way home, though, they were both talking nonstop about Santa and what they need to do since he is watching :).  Last night we went out to Opry Mills, and spent most of the time at Bass Pro Shops.  The kids remembered it from a visit when they went with Lance, Ray-Ray and Matthew and Katie said she "just loves the fish store."  The logo has a bass fish on it on the sign.  The place was packed and we didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look around and there is certainly lots of fun stuff to look at this time of year at that store.  There is always the aquarium, but they had a train, shooting range, Santa's village and racetrack set up too, as well as Lightning McQueen and Princess tents in just the kid's size that they thought were fun.  We ate in the food court and were regaled with stories from school by the kids.  They sang the Dradle song to us that a friend of theirs from school taught them (and then told us all about Hanukkah and seemed a little jealous that their friend got 8 days of gifts but they only got one), and they told us that another friend doesn't celebrate anything other than snow, so we started talking about the meaning of Christmas and what it is all about other than Santa, and I really think it was a great conversation.  Of course, the kids are 4 and we do celebrate Christmas, so Santa talk is fun too!  They posed in front of the Bass Pro Shops tree and really wanted to open the presents (which I suspect were empty).  They weren't really dressed for pictures (just picked them up from school and headed that way), and we are having to be cautious particularly with Tyler about seeing too many Santas around town, so we didn't visit Santa last night.