And this post got way longer than I expected. Proceed with caution.
B is at the most fun age right now. He is so into everything. He is curious about everything and in awe of everything awesome. Christmas was pretty magical for him his year.
It started around the end of November. We put up the tree and decorations and he was so excited about the 'kissmas yights.' Then he started seeing things about Santa Claus on tv. We hadn't actually decided what we would tell B about Santa Claus so we've just kind of let him figure it out on his own (great plan, I know) and he's pretty sure Santa is the coolest guy ever.
Leading up to Christmas, we did an Advent for the first time ever. Made some Christmas crafts. Watched some Christmas movies. Worked on the Christmas checklist.
Christmas celebrations with family:
Kansas City Christmas. This one was SO fun. Maybe the best Christmas ever. We met family from Iowa, Oklahoma and Florida in KC. We stayed at a hotel (which was super fun for the kids in itself). The kids got to hang out the entire time (including a slumber party for the older boys). We ate a big family dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We all took an open sleigh ride to look at the Christmas Lights on the Plaza (so fun!). We did lots of fun stuff for the kids (T-Rex Cafe, Legoland, Fritzs, Crown Center) and a tiny bit of shopping for the rest of us (hello, H&M). My little family left thinking this was the most fun family Christmas and definitely worth a redo!
Water park Christmas. The last few years we've met R's family at the cabins for Christmas but this year we mixed it up and met at a water park instead. B absolutely loves the water so this was right up his alley. He also got to spend a whole bunch of quarters in the arcade and he thought that was pretty awesome too. This was his second weekend in a row staying in a hotel and he was pretty much loving it. He's got the elevator button thing all figured out and is probably wondering why we don't have one of those things in our house. He got a super fun train to put around the bottom of his Christmas tree and he has played with it every day since. He loves it. The morning we were packing to come home, B asked if he could go open more presents. Oye.
Christmas in Boone. We missed this one last year with a bunch of sickness hitting our house so it was fun to get to go this year. B of course loves playing with his cousins and had so much fun with all the toys. His grandpa built him a super cool clothes rack for his room. A bunch of us played games and we got the pleasure of watching 'how to' basketball videos by R. I'll try to get those uploaded to youtube for your viewing pleasure.
Christmas Eve Service. This was the first year we did Christmas Eve service at home (usually we are at mom's for it). I missed all the candles. And I was totally caught off guard by lyrics I had never really paid much attention to at Christmas before ('bless all the dear children in thy tender care'). And I cried a whole lot. But it was beautiful and I'm glad we went. After the service, I ran into one of my sweet friends. She lost her husband in an accident and we shared a long hug and talked about grief and loss and blessings. It sounds strange to say but it was just what I needed.
Christmas Morning. We had told B on Christmas Eve that he needed to go to bed and when he woke up we could see if Santa had come. He was standing up in his crib at 2:30 am asking about Santa (he typically sleeps till about 9 am). He maybe slept another hour before we all got up and had the most magical Christmas together. He came around the corner to see his tool bench set sitting under the tree and was SO excited about it. He played with it for quite awhile before we went through our stockings. He loved every single little treasure in his stocking but his favorite was a sucker that I had stuck in there to hide from him one day and had totally forgotten about. I found a surprise in mine too. Several weeks ago, a little necklace with two birds arrived in our mailbox. I had ordered it not long after finding out we were expecting baby #2. I stuck it in my stocking and had totally forgotten about it. I laid it to the side after finding it and B found it soon after and wanted to put it on me. I let him and it was a sweet reminder. Next we told him he could open his presents. He saw there were three boxes under the tree so he handed one to daddy and one to mommy and kept one for himself. It was seriously the sweetest thing that he thought we each had one present under the tree and he couldn't believe it when I told him all three presents were actually for him! He was super impressed to be getting 'all those' presents. I love that. He got a backpack, a vacuum and a shaving kit. Again, he played with each one for several minutes before moving on to the next one. Even though we only had a few presents under the tree, we savored the gift opening and let it last as long as he wanted. It was perfect.
Leon Christmas. B took a nap in the car (thankgoodness) and we headed to Leon for the rest of Christmas day. We had lunch with our family and B got way too many gifts. His favorite were his snow shovel and a train set. He also got some new cars that he's been packing ALL over in his new backpack and even more tools for his new tool bench. He's been playing non-stop with all of his new toys since he got them. We had a snowman building contest (making toilet paper snowmen, not with real snow) and Mo & I won. We were also teammates for Cranium and we won pretty big there too. :)
Other favorite Christmas moments:
B was SO excited about Santa coming (we aren't sure where he figured that out but most likely tv? again with the great parenting I know...). One day while we were downstairs playing, we heard daddy coming in the door. He got SO excited and said, 'Santa Claus??!!' He ran up the stairs to see Santa. When he realized it was daddy he laid his head down on the floor and started crying, 'Oh no, it's not Santa.' I felt pretty bad for R but it was so funny.
On Christmas day, B climbed up in the chair next to my mom and asked her, 'Did YOU see Santa Claus???' He has the sweetest little voice and it was the cutest thing.
When we went to visit Santa at Bass Pro and it was B's turn in line, I asked him if he wanted to go see Santa. He said, "Sure!" and ran right up to Santa and gave him a big hug. Everyone in line (and all of Santa's elves) said a collective, 'awwww' (and B's mommy thought it was pretty sweet too). Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he whispered, 'train tracks!' Unfortunately, Santa's helpers had already found the tool bench and didn't get the trains. B did get that train from his grandma though and he and his daddy (and mommy and whoever else he can talk into it) spend a lot of time sitting at the tree watching the train.
B loved Jolly Holiday Lights. We finally turned him forward facing in the car (he'd been rear until this night) and it was the most magical thing ever. He loved seeing all the 'yights' and told us what everything was. He may have a career as a sports announcer someday cause his play by play action calling is pretty great.
On Christmas evening, B was having a hard time going to sleep at grandma's house so R & I laid in bed with him. In the night, I was dry heaving from all the pain I was in. B leaned over to rub my back and whispered, 'It's okay mama, don't be scared.' Then a little bit later he said, 'I'll go get daddy.' (Daddy had bailed on the family bed and went to sleep on the couch.) It was the sweetest thing ever and such a sweet reminder of how blessed we are.
B was not interested in the handprint ornaments that I super love but I did convince him to make some cinnamon/applesauce ornaments. I tried to get him to use some 'Christmasy' ornaments but he insisted on using only the cross. Have you heard the song, 'It's About The Cross?' Maybe B has. And I love our cross ornament he made for me.
B picked out two ornaments this year for his tree. One was a train (his newest obsession since visiting Santa) and another a Buzz Lightyear. Unfortunately, Buzz's arm busted off right after getting him out of the box so we decided he would be a Toy Story 1 Buzz. Then we got home and realized he was a Spanish speaking Buzz making him from Toy Story 3 instead. Oops...
B super loved Advent because he got to open a gift each day. They were tiny gifts (like suckers, stickers, and other random things from around the house) but he loved it. Then today he asked if he could open a present and wanted to know where all the presents were (I swear we only gave him THREE for Christmas but he obviously got super spoiled this month). He helped me wrap up a little thing of play doh and was so excited to open it. Silly boy.
And because no Christmas post is good without an Ugly Sweater... Ugly Sweater Bunco.... You may or may not of noticed no ugly sweaters were harmed in the making of this year's Christmas card. I say 'may not of' because for the second year in a row I did a really bad job of getting all of our cards out. I still have some on my desk if you'd like one. ;)
Merry Christmas!
