I've been meaning to post pictures of Emmylou in her camouflage Ducks Unlimited outfit PawPaw and Nana gave her for ages. But maybe it was good to wait so we could test out the efficacy of the camo against the Christmas tree. See if you can find Emmylou in this picture:



It's almost like she's just a floating head, right? Maybe she'd be better camouflaged if I hung some ornaments and lights on her. Here she is really trying to hide, crouched down low in front of the tree:



Ooh, such stealth-like hiding skills! Hmmmm.... Maybe we can try this again sometime soon out in the wild? Thanks, PawPaw and Nana!

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In other news, today was a very big day for Emmylou-- she met Santa! We've been talking about him for a while and I was a little nervous she might freak out, but I knew things were going to go well the moment I saw that he had a big bag of candy next to him. Santa's pretty smart. As you all already know, she will do ANYTHING for candy.*



After seeing Santa, she rode the little train all by herself. Can someone please tell me where my little baby has gone?



And back at the house, just after telling Emmylou for the millionth time to quit rearranging the lights and ornaments on the lower third of our Christmas tree, a Christmas miracle occurred: a giant package arrived from Mimi that among other, adorable things, contained a stuffed children's Christmas tree (with its own ornaments) that she can hug and love and pet and touch ALL SHE WANTS! How smart are the people at Hallmark for making this and how smart is Mimi for picking it out?! Thanks, Mimi! I might actually keep my sanity throughout the holidays now!





(Emmylou's pretending to nibble on the cupcake ornament.)

*In another "Am I a terrrible mother?" moment today, I overheard the woman in front of me with her three (crying, approximately 3-5 year old) children tell the helper elf who offered them candy that "they don't know what candy is." Um, is she CUH-razy?! Doesn't she know what she could bribe those kids to do with a little candy?! No wonder they were all crying and clearly not as well-adjusted as my little sugar-filled angel.