As has been the case for the past 2 years, Ryder has been extremely pumped for Christmas this year. Thanksgiving was very early this year but our Christmas tree place didn't actually have Christmas trees until December 1st, so that was when we got our tree. I had to call every day to see if they were in because I knew that when I got home from school Ryder would ask me if they were in. We got the tree on the 1st and then decorated on the 2nd. Ryder was super pumped and did most of the decorating, partially because Vivi was sick, but mostly because he was so excited to hang everything up.
Ryder had a very strong vision of his Christmas list this year. I added a bunch of things that I knew he would want and things that he needed and then he added and cultivated his list. There were a few things that he wanted me to remove (that then got added back, by the way!) and then many things he wanted me to add. He frequently asked to go on my computer to look for and add more things to his list. He was adding things until mid-December! I did warn him that some of the things he added might end up being birthday gifts, since he added them so late. He also needed to designate which items on his list were "highest priority" and how many of different items he wanted. It was very involved!
Ryder plays basketball in the morning before school, which sounds a lot like kindergartners getting in the way of the older kids. Ryder had the opportunity to play basketball at the YMCA this winter, but at first he didn't want to do it. He is not quick to join new activities, but once he found out that one of us parents would stay with him at practice, he decided to do it. He really seems to like it; I'm not sure if it's the basketball or just getting out and running around with other kids his age on the weekend but either way, he has a good time.
On December 20th, Ryder looked at the calendar before school to mark off the days left until Christmas and he realized that the next day would be the first day of Winter. He was super excited and asked me if it was going to snow that day. I had to tell him no. He then asked if it was going to snow on Christmas and again I had to tell him no. The poor kid was beside himself because he was so upset that we weren't going to have snow. Because he wanted to play in the snow so badly, we decided to go to Mount snow in VT the day after Christmas and go tubing. There was no snow anywhere until within 30 minutes of the mountain and then it actually began to snow, which was great. The tubing mountain had about 6 inches of snow and conditions were great for some fast sledding. Ryder really seemed to like it, although he preferred to go down tethered to us for now. It was pretty cold and windy, so he didn't make it the whole 2 hours, but he did get a lot of runs in.
At the Rockport Christmas Tree
Out at the end of Bearskin Neck
Decorating the tree
On a field trip for school that I chaperoned - The Polar Express
Looking like such a big kid at school!
One of our Christmas photo shoots
Christmas Eve in Rockport
On Mount Snow in his tube
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