This PR Mommy

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

I have to begin this blog post with the familiar and famous line “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown”. The reason why I start with this warm holiday greeting borrowed from a classic TV-special is because not only are we in the season of giving, but this is the greeting I get from my 2-year old daughter whenever she sees our Christmas tree light up.

As a young child, I recall decorating the tree with my mother and waiting to see my all-time favorite Charlie Brown cartoon that one time of year, minus the pause button and the DVR — and feeling excited.  And it’s my turn to proudly carry on this simple sentiment with my little one who is just now building her portfolio of warm memories and keepsakes of this wonderful holiday tradition. Throughout my journey with her this season, I had the joy of sharing with her the smells, sights, sounds and even tastes of this wonderful time of year and watching these first memories for her unfold. To marvel at watching her reaction of smelling her first Christmas tree and helping her decorating it with festive ornaments was literally a Hallmark moment for me. Hearing the sounds of Christmas music and listening to her sing the lyrics to “Jingle Bells” was music to my ears.

I guess its helps that once Thanksgiving was over, you would only hear Christmas music in the car and see Christmas films in our living room playing such as Frank Capra’s classic “It’s A Wonderful Life”; “Miracle on 34th Street” the black-n-white version; all versions of “Scrooge” from Disney’s animated version with Jim Carrey to the silly but simple Mickey Mouse version and watching classic animated films such as the 1968 short “The Little Drummer Boy”, which she now sings “Pa rum pum pum pum”.

With the food, I loved seeing her try her first hot chocolate and testing the theory of which part of the gingerbread man would she eat first. I quickly discovered that she is just like rest of the 60% of the human population with eating off his poor but tasty little head.

Gingerbread head.

Finally, my hubby and I had the pleasure of taking her to her first holiday Riverwalk parade and watching Santa floating on a float and touring her around a winter wonderland adventure at SeaWorld and seeing her run around the marvelous holiday lights singing, all under the falling but fake snow.*

Running under the holiday lights at SeaWorld.

Christmas is just a day away and as she learns to embrace these traditions from us, I can’t help but think what fun new traditions awaits us. It warms my heart knowing how I remember as a child spending the best of times with my family and thinking how wonderful this time of year truly is. What old traditions will she carry on when she is older and has her own family?

For now, I am just enjoying being mommy and showing her the world of Santa Claus, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer and the tale of the Misfit toys, and the ever famous “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown” cartoon.

Riverwalk Parade

Happy Holidays!

*I was invited to attend an SA Blogger’s Holiday party at SeaWorld. My admission was complimentary and I was grateful to be able to bring my daughter on my little holiday adventure.