christmas recap 09

It certainly has taken me long enough to get this written! We had a wonderful but very busy Christmas this year, and though all of the decorations are back in storage, new gifts put away, I'm still a little worn out from everything!

We started things off Christmas Eve with Jimmy's mom and her boyfriend as is tradition, but we hosted them this year. After stuffing ourselves, Noah tore into the gifts:)

He loved it all, but the Little People train was his favorite...go figure with a train being his favorite:)

We ended the evening playing Wii....and I'll keep those pictures to save embarrassment! ha! I'll just say that Jimmy's mom and myself are NOT skilled gamers!

---------------------

On to Christmas morning...Noah was not happy about a 7:30 wake up call! Remember...Noah usually sleeps to at least 9:00 most days. And please excuse the kitchen mess...Jimmy's mom stayed late.

After some milk, he was a much happier, albeit sleepy boy:)

He took some persuading to get into the living room, and then it still took him a bit to take it all in..

But when he saw his new Elmo's Restaurant, he instantly perked up!

His new tricycle was also a big hit...until he slid off sideways! He still has lots of time to learn:)

After a bit of play time with the kitchen and trike, Noah was ready to rip some paper:)

Of course, after each gift was opened he wanted to play with it for 15 minutes...

The Band in a Box set was probably the favorite toy he actually unwrapped...he has already played with it for hours!

A quick recap of his gifts from us (just for my own record): Elmo's Restaurant, tricycle, playdough, books (new copy of Brown Bear Brown Bear, and Polar Bear Polar Bear), movies (Up, Preschool Prep Meet the Colors, Preschool Prep Meet the Shapes), Melissa & Doug lacing beads, M&D Band in a Box, M&D nesting & stacking blocks, 2 M&D chunky puzzles, MegaBloks fire truck, Thomas trains (Culdee & the Apple Orchard cars, 5 piece set with Toby), new sweatshirt

---------------------

After finishing things up, we headed to my mom's house for our traditional Christmas morning activities - gifts and breakfast in our jammies:) Noah has lots more things to unwrap!

Probably his favorite thing from this stop was his Christmas Mickey from my brother Shannan. They weren't able to come down from Michigan for Christmas this year:( He is a very high-up business man in the automotive industry and had important business that week to tend to; also my sister-in-law's father isn't doing well, so they opted to stay home. We mailed our gifts to one another though, and Noah LOVED his:)

I won't even try to remember all he got at my mom's...we'll just say that Noah is a little spoiled:)

---------------------

After breakfast, we headed to Jimmy's step-mom's for another breakfast. We usually do an early Christmas Eve with them, but Jimmy had to work on Christmas Eve. I didn't take many pictures there because 1)we didn't stay long (we were still in our jammies!) and 2)Noah was ready for a nap.

But Noah did enjoy snuggling with his cousin Caleb:)

After a little more food and some more gifts, we finally headed home for showers and a little break!

While Jimmy and I got ready, Noah enjoyed one Daddy's gifts (a new video game rocker) while watching a video:)

From here, Jimmy had to head to the store to check on it (the joys of management!). Luckily, Noah fell asleep on the drive and took a much needed 3 1/2 hour nap! I took a short snooze too while Jimmy played a video game.

We opted out of my Dad's family's celebration this year. We aren't close with them at all, plus there was no way I was interrupting that gloriously long nap Noah enjoyed:)

---------------------

Once Noah woke up, we headed back to my mom's for her family's big celebration. With a house full, Noah was in all out ham-it-up mode! A new gift from Mimi didn't hurt either:)

He danced and danced and danced with these new Elmo tickle gloves (funny how he's never even seen Sesame Street!).

We stayed late at my mom's so I could help her clean up everything, but amazingly Noah didn't go to sleep that night until late. Must have been the nap!

---------------------

All in all, Noah's second Christmas was filled with fun, laughter, memories, FOOD, and LOTS of wrapping paper:) I'm already excited for next year!