Christmas 2008

I think this was the oddest Christmas ever for me. With the house in complete chaos, I couldn't decorate like I normally would. Then came the sickness that has plagued our family for weeks. And maybe the lack of a nice Christmas budget affected it as well. I am use to having Christmas done before Christmas and certainly never shopping on Christmas eve or the the day prior. BUT it ended up nice! I learned this year that maybe it is better that the tree can be walked around even after the gifts are displayed underneath. And that it is definitely okay for Toys R Us not to be taking up residence under there. We whittled down this year and it was more than enough. Lesson learned. Now, I know that adding a little girl to the mix next year will bring more gifts but I think I will stick with the same plan: more quality gifts and less filler. Anyway, we started out Christmas Eve at church. This was the first year our church was able to do a Christmas Eve service. It was really nice to be with the people we love (eventhough none of it was family) on a night so special.
When we got home, with Carabbas in tow, we opened up our Hallmark ornaments.


Finally after eating dinner, we were able to get Ryan to sleep because Santa was coming close to Florida. The cookies were laid out for the man in red.

And then Allen and I went to sleep;-)

The next morning, what to our surprise, the tree had gifts under it!

And the cookies had been eaten! Well almost eaten. Apparently Santa likes my normal selection better. To be honest, Santa, you are lucky we had any left in the house. If you have a pregnant lady and a 3 year old in the house with a batch of nice, warm cookies, it's each to his own. You almost lost. Sorry about the slice and bakes.

I heard Ryan stirring and Simba and I laid in waiting for Ryan to come out.

Ryan notices the cookies and milk were eaten. Well, he did notice that half a cookie was left and gave it to mommy.

Then, he started to survey the gifts.

He found what Santa left him: a Smart Cycle

On to stockings....

The hershey kiss candy cane was the first stop.

And who can resist eating one or two, maybe even three.

On to the gifts! Grandma's rocket!

A Superman stool I painted for him.

After a potty break, Ryan ended up back on the Smart Cycle

Then, he opened his Superman blanket

A race car track (which I have labeled the demon considered my pregnanet self has to reset the track after every run. Not an easy task while smuggling a bowling ball in the belly)

And the gift he had been hounding us for...GeoAir.


He also opened clothes, a camera (which now has lots of up close and personal pics on it)and a doctor kit.
Then, Ryan danced to the Beatles Christmas song.

After playing a bit, we got ready and went to Grandma's for Christmas in Kissimmee.
Ryan started everyone in on opening gifts. He's the youngest and had been casing the tree since we got there. It's hard for a 3 year to contain himself in the midst of that much wrapping paper. A note on wrapping paper and gifts with Ryan: I have never seen anything quite like it. Ryan turned into this raging un-wrapper. He was clawing at the paper to rip it in shreds as fast as possible. It gave us lots of laughs.



And what he ended up playing with most of the day. Thank goodness I asked Allen to bring it with us. And notice the wardrobe change. Aunt Sandy found a flashing Superman t-shirt. A HUGE hit.


The day was busy but nice. It was nice to spend some quiet time as a family of 3. And then it was fun being with a huge family to finish out the day.

(and of note, spell check is down, so I apologize in advance)