Ho, Ho, Holy Crap!

That pretty much sums up Maja's first experience with Santa last night. For the past two weeks, we've had a photo of Santa stuck to the fridge, showed Maja Santa in books and talked about going to see Santa in hopes of making Maja more comfortable with her upcoming visit with the big man himself. But last night, it became very obvious that all of our efforts were for not! :) Here's what happened... Maja was waiting anxiously at the front of the line to see Santa at Sherway (it was an interactive thing with Santa reading stories and singing songs with the kids instead of the usual sit-on-his-lap kind of thing) when one of the "elves" came over and asked all the kids to shout "Santa" to see if he would arrive. So right away, Maja was quite startled from all the kids shouting and then out of nowhere, Santa appears out from behind a corner and starts walking right up to her. Needless to say, Maja freaked out and wailed... I mean just wailed! She was shaking and trying to climb up me to get away (not that different from a cat's reaction to being put in a bath). We felt so bad for her. :( After a couple of minutes though, she settled down and was at least willing to sit on the same carpet as him. We never did get too close, but at least she stopped crying! :) We hope that next year will be less eventful for her! :)

These days, Maja & I spend the first part of our mornings hanging out in the kitchen. Maja playing with the various "toys" in the kitchen while I wash the dishes or get breakfast ready. Here's a shot of Maja just entertaining herself with a strainer and a whisk... I mean what more could a girl want?
Maja has started to recognize the camera and will now ham it up for almost all of the photos I try to take. Here's what I mean...
Here's Maja just hanging out on her princess chair yesterday morning watching a little bit of TV...
Then after her morning nap, Maja & I headed into the city to go visit my friends from the office. They are based in the Eatons Centre now so when we arrived, Maja had so many cool things to look at. Her favourites were the neat water fountain on the lower level and the huge poster of Shrek. After getting a tour of the new office, we all headed down to Mr. Greenjeans for lunch. Here's a group shot after chowing down (left to right: Jackie, Brian, me, Maja, Dalia, Lucy and Eva). Thanks again for a great time guys...

Now I've already told you about how our visit with Santa went, but here are a couple of pictures of little Miss Maja getting ready and hanging out in Sherway waiting to cry for Santa. :) I recently put a mirror in Maja's room because she just loves looking at herself these days. Here's a shot of Maja delighted to see herself and giving herself a hug (I'm still not sure if she realizes it's actually her in there or if she thinks it's some other cute kid)...
When we arrived at Sherway, Maja was quick to run over to give her buddy, Emily, a hug hello (these two are so cute with each other)...
Here's a shot of Maja at the front of the line anxiously awaiting the arrival of Santa (a bit apprehensive, wouldn't you say?)...
And what better way to recover from seeing big, bad, Santa?!? Hang out in front of a huge TV with your buddy watching "Finding Nemo"...
A shot of Maja strolling through Sherway with her "purchase" (aka a pair of winter boots her buddy, Emily, is letting her borrow)...

Then today, Maja got to see snow for the first time (ok so she saw it last year but she wasn't really aware of it). So after the gross freezing rain stopped and the light fluffy snow flakes started to fall, Maja & I headed outside for a little winter-time fun. Here Maja is sitting on the back steps looking out the window at the snow falling...
Maja trying to dig her wagon out from the snow on the driveway (Before I get any emails or phone calls from Childrens' Aid, please note that her hands were only out of her mittens for about 5 minutes so that she could actually hold on to the shovel! Rest assured, all ten of her little fingers are still intact and functioning fine!)...
Maja working over-time with her shovel and mine...
And finally, Maja being the great little neighbour she is, she headed over to Ann's house across the street to help her shovel her driveway...