Hello, well we had another first Christmas this year. It was obviously Abby's first Christmas and it's hard to believe that Matthew experienced his first Christmas last year! Seems like we've had them both much longer. We had a lot of gift opening, eating, playing and other festivities to keep us busy over the past few days. On Christmas eve morning we had our family Christmas. I had put together little gift boxes of candy and toys for the kids from Santa and when I went downstairs with Matthew (at 6:15ish) the first thing he said was "Big Bird!" and pointed to the Sesame Street coloring book by his Santa box. Sam came down later and didn't notice anything for awhile. We started breakfast, then he looked around and saw the Santa boxes, "Train boxes! Mommy what are those for?" Jason and I looked at each other...are we going to tell them it's from Santa or from us? Do we want our kids to believe in Santa or not? After a few moments, Jason said, "Santa came!"
Sam ran over to his box and was excited to find some Thomas underwear. The excitement of underwear quickly wore off when he saw...candy canes! "Candy canes, candy canes!" he shouted excitedly. "Santa brought candy canes!" We had been reading a book about candy canes and he was obviously excited to try the real thing. We opened one for him and he tasted it and said, "It tastes so much better than my toothpaste!" Yes, Sam, they are similar, but I think candy canes are better too. Sam ripped open his gifts, but Matthew opened a gift then was done. He took some convincing to continue opening presents. I'm sure next year will be much different for Matthew, but this year when he got a new toy or book, he wanted to look through it, not tear paper off of boxes. The highlight of the boys' gifts was a train set which they have played with extensively. Abby got some clothes, books and a few soft toys which she seems to be enjoying too. Enjoying for a two-month old baby means that when you hold a toy in front of her she stares at it and might smile.
We went to church on Christmas Eve with Grammy and Papa and Uncle Brian's family. Matthew was giving us a workout as he did not want to sit for and hour and a half. Eventually he was taken out with Jason and I held Abby, who had slept through most of the service, but decided she'd had enough by the time we sang Silent Night and she screamed through Silent Night as I was stuck in the middle of the pew with people holding candles on both sides. Oh well. Sam was pretty good and was being entertained by his cousins for a good portion of the service. We opened more gifts and ate more good food at Grammy and Papa's and the kids were all overwhelmed by toys and clothes which have been played with a lot too. Abby cried a good portion of the evening and the boys were unusually loud too. I guess that's how they were handling the excitement of Christmas.
Christmas day we went to IA and had the Reese Christmas with Grandpa Duane and Grandma Verna and the rest of the Reese crew. Abby was, well, a little crabby, but had a few smiles for people when she wasn't crying or trying to sleep. The boys enjoyed playing with Grandpa and Grandma's trains and tractors and had races throughout the house. We ate a lot of food and after a wonderful dinner, the boys filled up on cookies for snack/supper. Between the two boys they probably at at least 10 cookies, if not more.
Christmas night we stayed with Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue. Abby and I slept in one bedroom and she had a pretty good night, waking at 4:15AM for a snack, then back to bed for a few more hours. Jason and the boys slept in the other guest room. Well, Matthew slept in the walk-in closet, which is an upgrade from his previous lodgings (the laundry room). We forgot Matthew's blankie in MN but convinced him that it was fun to sleep with a special blanket that Grandma Sue had for him. He was ok with that, but definitely missed Blankie. Sam was supposed to experience his first time sleeping on the air mattress on the floor and Jason was going to sleep in the bed, but after Jason put Sam to bed on the floor (around 8PM), Sam tucked himself into the middle of the bed and fell fast asleep. So when Jason went to bed (around 10PM) he ended up on the air mattress on the floor. Enjoy this now, Sam, because when you get older, I have a feeling you will be booted from your coziness and end up on the floor.
We opened more gifts with Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue and Uncle David's family Monday morning and Jason, Abby and I visited Jason's aunt Norie too. The boys got some Cars and tractor gifts which are favorites at this time and have also been extensively enjoyed along with their other gifts. We arrived home yesterday afternoon to a house full of new toys and new clothes. It was a wonderful Christmas! I will post pictures soon, but the camera is missing from being packed up...somewhere...Such as it is these days!
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