New Holiday Traditions

When I was a little girl, we used to go to the downtown L.S. Ayres tea room to have breakfast with Santa, and afterwards we would ride the Santa Express train and meet Santa in person to tell him how nice (not naughty) we were and the long list of gifts we wanted for Christmas.


Fast forward to 2009. L.S. Ayres vacated downtown Indianapolis long ago, but the Indiana State Museum has reinvented Breakfast with Santa for little girls of the 21st century like Moira. The event is still steeped in some of the same traditions I remember from when I was small, but introducing Moira and Alan to Breakfast with Santa added the perfect new twist to my nostalgia.



After breakfast we rode the same train I rode last year with Moira when she was just a wee little thing, and once again both Alan and I were taken aback by how delighted she was by everything she encountered. She charmed the waitress (and my mom, dad, and sister) at breakfast, flirted with Santa (when I was her age I screamed my head off), and was utterly mesmerized by the little train ride.



As we were riding home and Moira was dozing off after her eventful morning, both Alan and I marveled at how far we've come in the last year and how much fun we're having with our baby girl!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Random Moments

Image
I am still playing catch-up from all the photos we took over the holidays, and I have a few random ones that I want to share! Here they are: Moira's first official haircut. She was so good. I wasn't sure she would sit still, but she did. The stylist did a great job of keeping her entertained! Moira walking around in her "shoes." Moira is fascinated with shoes. She loves taking our shoes on and off. And she loves walking around in adult shoes. We went to the Eiteljorg on Martin Luther King day and Moira had fun exploring the Wild Wild West. You may recall that Moira's 2nd birthday party was pretty entertaining because Moira fell asleep in her high chair, and then she was completely overwhelmed by everyone singing Happy Birthday. Since then, we have had lots of family and friend birthdays, and she has mastered singing Happy Birthday. At this point, she sings Happy Birthday to just about anyone and anything--babies at a restaurant, the light, the birds......
Read more

To Hannah, With Love

Image
Hannah, You, my darling baby girl, are growing up entirely too fast. By the time you were one, here’s what you were up to: On the Move Well, truth be told, you haven’t been that interested in moving.  You’re quite content to reach both arms in the air and look imploringly at mama or dada to pick you up. By the time you were 5 months, you rolled over, and by the time you were 10 months, you finally decided to crawl. Since then, you’ve become a very quick little girl on your knees, and you’re just starting to consider standing up and walking on your own. One of the cutest things you do is crawl while holding onto a baby stroller—it is quite a feat! I predict you’ll be about 16 months old before you walk, and that is fine with me. What did you say? Hannah, you are a talker. At a year old you have a few words in your vocabulary. They include the traditional words like “mama” and “dada.” Your very first word, however, was “Mo-ra” in honor of your big sister,...
Read more

Time flies!

Image
It's hard to believe Moira is already 5 weeks old (today)! Here 's a quick recap: October 14th, 9:32am, Moira Joan Mackintosh came into the world. She was a healthy 7 lb, 14 oz, and 20.5 inches long. My labor was fast, but delivery was slower than I would have liked. On the whole, neither Moira nor I can complain . October 16th, we came home. I discovered after a couple of sleepless nights that Moira would only sleep for about 15 minutes in her bassinet. She preferred sleeping on someone or sleeping in her little swing. The first few weeks went by in a complete blur. We were all trying to get used to a new kind of normal. Moira and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out her preferences for eating and sleeping. Alan spent a lot of time trying to help his girls get as comfy as possible. We've had fun discovering the little things about Moira. She has dimples and so much dark hair. She has the cutest high-pitched hiccups. She loves it when her Dad holds her and paces with...
Read more