Christmas 2009

Hands down - this is the best Christmas that I can remember! (outside of having to leave Edmond early and in a rush to beat the snow storm)

John had SO much fun with everything about Christmas. He loved his Little People manager set, the Christmas trees and ornaments, the house lights, "rudos fiing Sant Taus say" (Rudolph flying Santa Clauses sleigh), "els make toys", making cookies for Santa with Nana, leaving cookies, milk and carrots on Christmas Eve, giving "pesents" to everyone, opening presents, the white snow, etc,etc. I could go on forever.

Probably my favorite thing was him telling people Merry Christmas. The way he would draw out 'Merry' and skip the 'r' in Christmas; and always with a grin from ear to ear. It was priceless.

We informed him that Santa only came to visit good boys and not bad boys. Well, he picked up on 'bad boy' and would repeat it several times. Probably because we would laugh every time. :) However, he did respond favorably when we would tell him that he had to be good if he wanted Santa to come.

We also continued the tradition that Carl had in his family of the elves coming to visit the few weeks before Christmas and leaving presents for good boys. Every now and again, we would hide a small toy in the stockings, or hang a candy cane in the tree, etc. and let John find it. Next year we are going to get the book and stuffed elf from "Elf on a Shelf". I feel bad about teaching my kid to only be good if there are presents involved. But whatever works at this age, right? right?

He got a ton of great gifts. I don't think he has decided yet which are his favorites. He keeps jumping from thing to thing. Santa brought him an art easel (chalk board and dry erase board), a Mickey Mouse choo-choo train, a basketball goal and a big remote control dinosaur. He loves them all, well, only the dinosaur if it is turned off. He also got a ton of Diego stuff that we have set up as a little village upstairs, a play kitchen, books, a remote control car (loves to get the dogs toes with this one), a tricycle with pedals, a Thomas the Train set, and a ton of other fun things that we have not taken out of the boxes yet. I was trying to spread out the fun while he still does not remember! :)

A few other memories - He loved being around Maggie at Christmas, he could not get enough! Grammy hand made dinosaur suckers for the boys (too cute, and very labor intensive). He made a snowman with Daddy and Nana, out of the thin layer left on Christmas Day. He was SO upset about leaving it outside that Nana brought it in on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer!?!?! I can ONLY imagine what he would have been like in Edmond after the Blizzard of 2009! He loved to go next door to Frank's house and "pet" the wire reindeer EVERYDAY!

I was worried how we were going to turn Christmas off after the holidays. However, it was not a problem, we waited until he was napping, and packed up everything Christmas. When he got up he looked around with super sad face and said "Merry Christmas" in the saddest little voice EVER. It was pitiful! But then he just sort of forgot.

Next year we have both vowed to go all out on decorations and what not because he loves it so much.