Friday's with Eddie - week 2.
It's November. As the weather warms up, the same thing happens to me every year. I become like Buddy in the film "Elf"- I get insanely excited about the upcoming Christmas holidays. Decorating the tree, planning the Christmas menu, looking forward to some relaxing time with family... BRING IT ON!
The big discovery of 2015 has been that our son has seemingly inherited this cray-cray obsession with all things Christmas. It must be in his blood, as I don't think I've had an overt obsession in his presence this year. Let's just take a look at the timeline of events as I recall them... Here's what I know so far:
While we were there we kept hearing a train noise, and when Eddie discovered that there was a real train zooming through tunnels to Santa's Grotto, and that real kids were actually riding on it - he was about to pop with excitement! But his silly Mummy did not plan our time very well as I had no idea all of this Santa business would already be here. I promised Eddie I would bring him back another day to ride the train and visit Santa. Hopefully next week we can do this (it'll be nice to do it before the December crowds become too much). I cannot wait to see how he reacts to Santa this year!
If you are visiting Melbourne in November or December, the Myer Christmas Windows are always a special treat for all ages - especially kids! And it's never too late to start a new tradition that you can enjoy with your family. If you've already checked out the windows, what did you enjoy most?
Next week we are visiting Santa Claus and putting in a request for a present at Christmas!
It's November. As the weather warms up, the same thing happens to me every year. I become like Buddy in the film "Elf"- I get insanely excited about the upcoming Christmas holidays. Decorating the tree, planning the Christmas menu, looking forward to some relaxing time with family... BRING IT ON!
The big discovery of 2015 has been that our son has seemingly inherited this cray-cray obsession with all things Christmas. It must be in his blood, as I don't think I've had an overt obsession in his presence this year. Let's just take a look at the timeline of events as I recall them... Here's what I know so far:
- Since August, Eddie has been remarking on and seeking out books about Father Christmas
- When questioned about our Christmas Tree, he has no memory of where we put it last year - so it's only become 'a thing' in 2015
- When questioned about seeing Father Christmas, Eddie has no memory of the horrific visit to Santa Claus last year. The time when he screamed and cried like a madman, and I had to sit next to Santa for the photo, with the screaming vocals of Eddie in my lap... Mummy wasn't prepared for this - and looked like a shocker in this photo!
- Eddie has been spending the last few months gathering intelligence on Father Christmas, in the form of story books. He has learned ALL THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT CHIMNEYS, and fireplaces. He also has some understanding of reindeer's flying and that sometimes Santa needs to use a door (like when he visits our house, which has no chimney).
The result of all that information is... our son loves Christmas, and this love has grown through his own research and interests this year. He seems to have gotten past his fear of Santa Claus, to the point of obsession about his activities. This remains to be tested for the annual Santa photo!
Anyway, today on my #FridayswithEddie activity, I took him on a fun train ride into Melbourne's CBD to see the 60th annual Myer Christmas window display. Many of my readers are from overseas, so if you want to know more about the history of this great family tradition in Melbourne, Australia - please check out this news story.
The theme of this year's animated Myer Christmas Windows is Christmas Eve in 1956, with many iconic Melbourne sites included. I'm not originally from Melbourne. I moved here from NSW 10 years ago. Many of the scenes in this window display have captivated my imagination and sense of nostalgia for this great city. This was the era my mother grew up in, even though she was not from Melbourne, it still had a strange way of reminding me of her. Which I liked.
Ok, so back to the adventure that unfolded today. Eddie is almost 2.5 years old now, so I thought it might be a great time to introduce him to a new tradition that I hope to continue throughout his childhood. I wasn't sure how it would go because there are usually massive crowds and long queues to see these window, but we struck it lucky by visiting on a weekday morning. Thank f*&k for my 4-day-per-week job!
The first window was slightly challenging as there was a couple that stood directly in front of the glass and wouldn't make room for the stroller so Eddie couldn't really see and hear the story that was unfolding in front of him. As we moved onto the next window, I let Eddie out of the stroller so he could get a better view. A very good decision, as he was immediately captivated by the wagging tail of the puppy that the story is about. Overall, we were so lucky not to have to wait for anything - and totally enjoy the crowd-free experience.
It was so lovely to see his usually short attention span, get involved in the story and hurry to the next window to find out what happens next. Here are a couple of photos of our first Myer Christmas Windows - the photos in this blog post show the detail and story SO MUCH BETTER!
After the window fun, we headed in to the store to look at Christmas trees and decorations... I (stupidly) had no idea that the whole Christmas Kingdom and Santa photos would already be set up and summoning children in. We exited the lift to come face to face with a musical extravaganza of elves singing, dancing and generally revving up the crowd of parents and children. It was a bit overhwhelming at first, especially as I spend five minutes standing like a mute trying to decide if it was rude to cut across the dancing and singing elves to actually enter the store (their performance area seemed to cover the entire entry, and the only way to get through it was to walk across their performance). I always have those moments of fear (like when you're in a comedy club trying not to make eye contact with the performer, in the hope that they will not pick on you or try to get you involved).
Luckily the fears did not eventuate. We zoomed past to look at the gifts and decorations... and that's where Eddie was in his element!
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| CHRISTMAS is EVERYEHWERE!! |
If you are visiting Melbourne in November or December, the Myer Christmas Windows are always a special treat for all ages - especially kids! And it's never too late to start a new tradition that you can enjoy with your family. If you've already checked out the windows, what did you enjoy most?
Next week we are visiting Santa Claus and putting in a request for a present at Christmas!
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