Christmas

Even though we were away from home, this was a special Christmas for us. It was the first Christmas for the four of us and it was the first year Ian has really been into Christmas and Santa. He loves talking about Santa and all the toys he brings for the good girls and boys. However, when we took him to the mall to see Santa, he was happy to just wave at him from afar. He wanted nothing to do with sitting in Santa's lap...........maybe next year.


Leading up to Christmas we had 2 big snow storms. I didn't see the official tally, but I think we had about 24 inches of snow. It was beautiful. I have never seen that much snow in my life. Ian only got to play in the snow a little bit since he had been sick, but he loved it when he was out there. Jim even made an igloo for him. Shadow and Sheba enjoyed jumping through the snow, but it was so deep it didn't take them long to tire out. I'm sure we will have many more opportunities to play in the snow this winter.


The snow set the perfect tone for Christmas. We did all of the traditional Christmas activities. We made iced sugar cookies for Santa and listened to Christmas music. (I think Ian ate more frosting than he put on his cookies.) He picked out 2 cookies for Santa and left them by the tree before he went to bed. We didn't tell him that Shadow ate the cookies while we were upstairs tucking him in. We also watched all of our Christmas "classics" like Christmas Vacation, Elf, Christmas Story, Charlie Brown, Rudolph and Frosty.


Ian was so excited Christmas morning. He came down the steps saying "yea, yea, yea." It was so cute. Santa brought him a Thomas train set and had it set up on the living room floor. There was barely room to walk. We quickly figured out that we need to invest in a train table if he is going to get any enjoyment out of the trains. It doesn't take a 2 year old long to disassemble a train track on the floor.
We did miss being with our family over Christmas, after all, that is the heart of the season. But it was a nice quiet Christmas for the four us. I want to say thanks again for all of the gifts everyone sent. We are so lucky to have such a loving family. I have to say with Ian's birthday and Christmas being so close together, he now thinks that the UPS guy and mailman are all about presents!