Ringing in the holidays

(I have no idea why she is pulling this face,
but I love it.)













On Friday Lydia joined me for a work assignment shadowing a man who has been ringing a bell for the Salvation Army each holiday season for 10 years. Since I don't normally work on Fridays I wasn't sure if I'd have childcare but the bell ringer told me to bring her along because apparently having an adorable child near the bell ringing station ups the donations.
So I dressed her in her most festive ensemble (which made me realize she is in desperate need of festive apparel) and off we went to join in the spirit of giving.

Lydia with Dick Higgins, the Salvation Army bell ringer

With her very own bell.

The man I interviewed was very sweet (story coming Sunday, Dec. 12, on TheSpectrum.com) and Lydia was in pretty good spirits. The only problem lately is that she is not a fan of anyone except mommy and daddy and sometimes she only likes mommy.

Naturally I'm flattered to be the chosen one, but it can be draining and for some reason I feel like I have to apologize for her lack of desire to socialize or be friendly to most people -- even people she knows. I assume this is a normal stage.
I hope.
Still, the bell ringer was sweet and even gave Lydia her own Salvation Army bell to ring. It was cute.

More holiday cheer
That outing kicked off a whole weekend of holiday fun.
Derek and I went Christmas shopping with Lydia on Friday night. Then on Saturday we hit the Dickens Festival -- this amazing annual event here where the entire area is made to look like Charles Dickens era England. There's street theater, tons of shopping, festive music and all the vendors are dressed in period costume. It's a ball.
Sorry, I forgot to take any photos but we got a lot of Christmas shopping done there as well.

My kind of home
Saturday night we had a few friends over to decorate gingerbread houses which was so much fun!

Lisa, Josh and Amber Every, Emily and Nick Neumann

I stuck with my traditional style home -- the same way I've been doing them since I was a child.

I was impressed with the creativity of everyone else at our house though. Derek particularly took his love for all things Apple to a new level and made the Apple headquarters building out of graham crackers and candy. He's so funny.