Dear Santa, Sign Here - Christmas 2009 Submitted by: Jim Ford - 05/07/10 2:23 pm

Dear Santa, Sign Here - Christmas 2009 It may have been our last Christmas together, at least one in which the wonders of Christmas are magical through the innocent eyes of a child. This year it was my turn to have Haley to celebrate the birth of Christ our Savior. Now that Haley is a self-described "big kid", I relied on her to help her old man decorate the house and get us in the Christmas spirit. If anything Haley has become somewhat of a little "Mom" ensuring our traditions are maintained and keeping Daddy on track. Please click on each picture to see an expanded view with more detail. I pulled everything from the attic and Haley helped decorate the entire house! We turned on all of our favorite Christmas music, wore our reigndeer antlers courtesy of Aunt Jane, and made a beautiful little tree that we call our own. It's covered in homemade ornaments from my childhood forward and lots of sparkly orbs and shapes that look so good with the lights on the tree. I spent all afternoon putting lights, wreaths, and decorations outside as well. When I finally finished, Haley wanted to show me a cheerleading pose on top of the mailbox! I think it all looked pretty good if you ask me. We made hot chocolate and brownies with cinnamon smells wafting throughout the house and candles lit. We sang and sang and sang. We followed the Norad Santa Tracker and sat on the front porch looking at the neighborhood lights, holding hands. We had our traditional slow Haley-Daddy dance around the Christmas tree and hung a key on red ribbon for Santa since we don't have a big chimney. While we made cookies for Santa, Haley hinted that she didn't quite understand exactly how Santa could do all these things and wondered if he really did come to our house. So, being the analytical Ford kid that she is, she left a note by the tree that told him she hoped he and the reigndeer were good, she knew he was working hard and she loved him. But to write a note back and PLEASE SIGN HERE! My kid wanted proof. I'm not sure Santa was ready for all that but we put the cookies, milk, and letter out and went on to bed. She could barely get to sleep she was so excited! We got up and went to the den to find presents by the tree. The first thing Haley did was inspect the note that Santa did indeed sign! Her response was, "Daddy, Santa really was here! But last year he signed it in cursive and this year it was in block?". Ha ha ha! My kid for sure! Even more special was the half eaten plate of cookies and the milk was gone! Haley made out like a bandit with Guitar Hero for the Wii with three different discs of songs. She's a pro at it beating me, the guitarist in the family! Lots of books, games, clothes, blow pens, and more. Santa brought me a camera tripod and a poker chip set! Haley did a great job shopping and I unwrapped the most awesome new Star Trek movie and a cool Santa tie that makes music. Even our pup Brittany Rose got in on the Christmas spirit opening her own gifts and stocking filled with dog treats. Even after she was done, she waited with rapt attention for more... whilst tangled in a mound of wrapping paper. So precious. Haley and I are obviously big music fans, singing together multiple times every day. She is in the honor choir at school and constantly performing for me. So she began opening some of her non-Santa gifts. First, a picture of her favorite singer of all time, Martina McBride. Cool Daddy! Then Martina's latest CD. Thank you Daddy! Then a t-shirt from her current concert tour.... hmmm.... and then finally, two awesome tickets to her show with Trace Adkins in Little Rock in January! I LOVED the shocked look on her face when she figured out what they were. Priceless. We can't always afford gifts like this but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I couldn't pass it up. This picture in front of our church's Chrismon tree is one of my favorites. Haley and I love Christmas together and cherish the experiences we have. More importantly is that we have another opportunity to praise the Lord and marvel in the eternal gift God gave us with his birth. Log in and leave some comments or go to my pictures page to get more details on many of the pics you see here.

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