Chrismas Day in Boston

This year has started with a bang so I've yet to blog about the rest of our Christmas story. So, let's wrap up that holiday...we've got a new year to start on!

After a tearful goodbye to my parents at the airport, we went through security and grabbed some lunch. We were in a brand spanking new terminal that was a large, wide open space with a enclosed glass walkway running above all the gates. While we were waiting to board our flight on Christmas Eve, we heard cheering to our left. We look towards the noise and realize that folks are looking up towards the glass walkway while clapping, yelling and waving. We look up and see folks dressed in desert camouflage filling the walkway - troops coming home! It was such an honor to be able to join in with the welcome. Since we were the last group to board, we got to clap and wave as the entire plane of troops deboarded. My emotions were running high after leaving my parents and it was so awesome to see these proud Americans coming home to their families just in time for Christmas....I have to admit it was overwhelming to me in a good way. Pretty cool! Oh, AND we got an extra seat for the 3 of us which made our flight that much more comfortable. Score!

So, with a smooth travel day behind us, we arrived home at 8:30 pm, put Dylan to bed and did our Santa duties before kicking back and taking a breath. We were SO excited to see what Christmas would mean to our baby this year!

We'd done our best to help Dylan understand that Santa would be coming and I'm sure he didn't quite get it. Nevertheless, he was pretty excited to see the Santa loot on Christmas morning.

Santa's Been Here

We had as much (and maybe more) fun then Dylan did exploring the toys Santa brought, emptying the filled stocking and then attacking all the wrapped gifts that were under the tree. Although we had the best of intentions to not go overboard with gifts to our little guy, we failed and spoiled him rotten. He had so many gifts we had to work hard to keep him interested in the last ones to be opened.

ELMO!

Books and Candy in the Stocking

Snowman! (Now Lives in Dylan's Crib for Night Time Snuggles)

Figuring out the Ramp on His Garage (Sippy Cups Zip Down it too)

After playing for a bit and enjoying a good breakfast, we got ready and headed over to Mike's parents. Unfortunately, we left our photo memory card in the laptop at home so were unable to take any pictures of the rest of the day. I'm hoping my lovely sister in laws will provide me with some of the ones they took so we can add them to our family memories.

As usual, Dylan had a great time with his Nana and Bumpa as well as his cousins, Corwin and Jacob. We exchanged gifts and hung out for a while before heading to Mike's sister's house for her annual Christmas Day bash. In addition to Mike's immediate family, she has her husbands family over as well so the house was filled with lots of merry adults, excited kids and tons of food to feed us all. It was a fun and full day. When Dylan was completely pooped out, we took Mike's mother home and made the trip home. 

It's really amazing to me how much more fun holidays are with a kid. I've always loved Christmastime but seeing Dylan experience these special days for the *first time is like having the child like excitement for myself again. Really, really cool.

(* I realize it's technically his 2nd Christmas but this is the first year he's aware, even on  a very basic level, some of the concepts associated with all the traditions.)

After a fun day for all, it ended with an unfortunate event. A while after we dropped Mike's mother off at her house, she fell and broke her wrist! Yikes! So, in addition to all of her Christmas gifts, she got a pretty pink cast to wear. We saw her over the weekend and she's being a real trooper about it. Here's hoping to a speedy recovery for her!