Christmas Day '08

Growing up, stockings were considered "fair game" and we were allowed to open them as soon as we woke up. I remember as a teenager, we'd wake up really early and go downstairs and open our stockings, then go back to bed. Since by that time, my parents were long past the getting up early phase.

This year, Caleb woke up around 9:45, so that's when we got up too. He had his bottle, then took the idea of "fair game" stockings to a whole new level, pulling stuff out of Mommy's and Daddy's stockings. Maybe I should have explained the concept to him a little better.




Because of the head cold that decided Christmas time would be a great time to visit me, we didn't end up with a whole lot of pictures of Christmas. That's okay. Even without the pictures, we still had a great time. (At least, I'm pretty sure we did. Due to the haze that surrounded me at the time, I don't really remember Christmas now.)


Brandon got this reindeer (that poops out candy) in his stocking. Caleb absolutley loved it. To the point that Brandon had to hide it from him, causing much tears in our house.


Our little Santa Baby!


(Who then promptly removed the hat.)

Caleb spent the majority of the morning opening presents with only one hand. Whether it was fruit snacks, or a toy he didn't want to give up, he could only spare one hand to open new presents with.




Taking a break to play with a present. We had a lot of breaks Christmas morning. In fact, the last several presents we had to beg Caleb to open. Caleb got play-doh from my brother's family and once we'd opened that, Caleb refused to open a single other thing unless he had an open container of play-doh in his left hand.


Here he continued with his one handed opening tactics. The things kids are forced to do to appease their parents.



Yertle's been missing in action for a while. He was in desperate need of a bath, and while he was missing Caleb did really good with a different stuffed animal so we didn't bother giving Yertle back. Brandon had the great idea of wrapping Yertle up and giving him to Caleb for Christmas. Caleb was so ecstatic to see Yertle again!

After opening a present that came with this little Elmo doll, we told Caleb to give Elmo a hug. First he had to grab Yertle and hug him, and then he could hug Elmo too. Apparently he missed Yertle.


Caleb playing with his new toy after he got dressed for the day.



After Caleb's nap, we went up to my mom's house for food, fun, and of course, more presents.



And just as a head's up: if you ever hear Caleb say "catch," you'd better watch out because it means he's throwing something at you at that very moment. He loved throwing things off the balcony, but then expected us all to throw the things back up to him.

Traditions New and Old

For as long as I can remember, my family had pizza on Christmas eve. Being married and having my own family, Christmas eve pizza is one of those traditions we've kept going.

As is opening a present on Christmas eve. Since having Caleb, we try to make the Christmas eve present more on the religious side. Last year, he got a book about the Christmas story and this year, a book with pictures of Jesus.



Then we decided this year to start a new tradition, so Daddy's Christmas eve present was a gingerbread house kit. (Yeah, we're not crafty enough to make our own gingerbread.)

Caleb wasn't so sure about the whole idea. He helped a little, but only when I repeatedly insisted that he help.


For the most part, we just let Daddy build the house.

Caleb was mostly just interested in eating the candy.




We had a fun time though and definitely plan on continuing this Christmas eve tradition.

And what was Mommy's present? A Christmas Story on dvd. Only, I've been suffering from a nasty head cold (that hit at six o'clock the night before Christmas eve) and hence fell asleep pretty quickly after the movie started. It's my favorite Christmas movie though, so we might have to watch it again soon, even if Christmas is technically over now.

Here's to Hoping...

...that Santa brought you just what you wanted this year.



Or at least that you knew to ask for coal.

Merry Christmas!

Tada!

I'm addicted to blogging. More than that, I'm addicted to entering blog giveaways. Lately, in an effort to spend more time with my husband, I've been trying to scale back on the number of blogs I read, as well as the number of giveaways I enter. Now I only enter them if it's something I actually want to win, or if it's on one of the two giveaway blogs I read.

Brandon's become more understanding of my addiction since lately, I've actually been winning stuff! We've been wrapping up the things that have come for me and putting them under the tree for Christmas. But the other night, Brandon couldn't find Caleb's beanie, and it just so happened that the one I won had come in the mail just minutes before. Caleb and I were both excited to open the box and try out our new stuff.





I love it! So cute! And did you notice that it's orange? Yeah, I love that too.

Reading Together

Last Friday (12/19), I sat down to take a little break. I picked up a magazine off the coffee table and started to read. Almost instantly, Caleb was beside me, climbing up onto the couch, magazine in hand.

When Brandon saw us, his first reaction was to grab the camera (apparently I'm rubbing off on him).



In all fairness, Caleb started out reading ESPN Magazine, but then when he saw the cute baby girls in my magazine, he insisted we trade.

Another one of my "surprises"

Ornaments hanging on our trees outside!

We've had these for a year or more now and haven't hung them before. This year, they actually made it outside!

Why Do We Buy This Kid Toys?

Brandon asks me that question almost every day. And truthfully, the only answer I can come up with is so that we have something to play with. Because seriously, Caleb doesn't play with toys. Rather he makes toys out of whatever he plays with.

Caleb rarely wears a hat. I think he's so cute when he does though and I always want to take his picture. He loves playing peekaboo with a hat on.

Where's Caleb?

Peekaboo!

Mommy's wallet can provide hours of countless fun.




Especially when there's money in it!

Last year, Caleb's favorite Christmas present was the ribbon attached to the packages. Apparently, it's still fun this year.

And of course, if all else fails, you can always ham it up for the camera!



Who knew your own face could be so much fun?