Christmas Day

Well, Christmas Day has come and gone. With all the fun things we did leading up to it, I'm a little sad to have to tell Dylan that things that he's become used to daily (finding Overton our Elf and opening a day on our Santa advent calendar) aren't going to be done anymore since Christmas is over. It's a good thing all of his new toys easily distract him from that sadness.

As Dylan had quite a few presents to open from family near and far, we made the decision to start on them a couple of days early. If it was going to be anything like his birthday, he would get tired after opening 2 of them. On the evening of the 23rd, we let him open gifts from his Uncle Jody's family and his Aunt Pam and Uncle Kerryn. He loved it and immediately wanted to put on some of his new jammies, read some of his new books and take his new stuffed animal to bed with him. He also wanted to open up more presents. I guess we didn't have to worry too much about him getting present overload!

Christmas Eve was busy. We dropped by our friends' Hanukkah party for just a bit but took off early to have our family Eve events. Dylan got a couple more gifts...some of the smaller ones we had to give him. Mike really wanted to give him all the new movies so that he could enjoy one that night. After opening what we gave him, he only wanted to watch an old favorite - Harry Potter. However, that was due to the fact that he'd just gotten a skeleton Lego man and the beginning of the Deathly Hallows Part II has a clip of Lego Voldomort making silly faces in a mirror that Dylan loves to watch. So, after decorating some of the gingerbread cookies we had made to be left out for Santa and having a nice family dinner, that was our Christmas Eve family night movie.

After Dylan went to bed, the elves (us) got to work. Santa presents were laid out and I furiously tried to finish a very special gift I was making for Dylan. As the clock ticked closer to 11, I finally resigned to the fact that I wouldn't finish and would give it to him as a post Christmas Day present. After another hour of set up and stocking stuffing, the tired elves headed to bed.

Cookies and Milk for Santa

The next morning when Dylan woke up, we made a big hoopla about it being Christmas Day and we needed to go see what Santa had left. To capture the excitement of Dylan's reaction, I had Mike take a video of Dylan and I walking downstairs, seeing our Elf on the tree and continuing around the corner to see the plate of eaten cookies nearby where Santa had left the pile of presents. Even though no one else was around, Dylan got a little shy\overwhelmed by it all and reacted by hiding behind my leg a little bit. While we could tell he was happy about checking out his presents, it took him a while to loosen up and act that way externally.

The Presents Await!

Santa's Been Here

His BIG present from Santa was a big boy bed! We'd talked to him just a few times in passing about how you get to sleep in a big boy bed when you get old enough. Well, when Santa brought him one, we made a HUGE deal about how Santa must think he's a really big boy to have brought him that! That made him pretty happy and excited about it. While Mike made us waffles for breakfast (with one of my Christmas Eve gifts, a Belgium waffle maker), Dylan got cozy in his new bed, at least as cozy as you can without a mattress, and read his new books and played with his new toys.

After breakfast, we moved all the gifts from under the tree into the living room so we could open them in a comfortable setting. Sitting on the couch with pillows situated just right is about the only way I'm comfortable these days. Pretty quickly, Dylan dashed back to the other room to hang out in the bed. The only way he joined us was Mike moving his new bed into the living room for the fun. We were overjoyed that he liked it that much!

As Christmas is obviously not really about what we got, I won't be petty and list all the material things we exchanged. Though, I will say that Mike did a great job of being thoughtful with my gifts and I think (hope) he felt the same about what I chose for him.

The kitties gave Dylan a stuffed shark.

We needed to head to Mike's sister's house for the afternoon so we wanted Dylan to go down for a nap earlier than usual. In what was likely a horrible parental plan, we put Dylan down for a nap 30 minutes early, in a new big boy bed after a very exciting morning that hadn't lost momentum. Sometimes you can't plan or worry too much about these things and just have to go for it and see how it plays out.

Getting Ready for His First Nap in His Big Boy Bed
(He's the thing in the middle. At least there's the extra shelf at
the end of the bed where we can put some of the stuffed animals.
If you think this is crowded, you should have seen his crib!)

Children will very often amaze and surprise you. Yes this can happen in both good and bad ways but somehow the good ways floor you more and will be the ones you remember most. Well, Christmas Day 2011 is one of the days that Dylan just impressed the hell out of me. After lying in bed for just 30 minutes (not completely unusual for a "normal" nap day), he very successfully took a nap in his new big boy bed! Wow! And, I'm happy to report that he hasn't looked back. He still loves his bed and has been doing absolutely wonderfully in it since. (I hope I haven't just jinxed myself.) The crib is sitting empty in his room and will soon be moved to the baby's room.

Once the big boy woke up, we all got ready (in about record time I think) and headed to Mike's sister's house where the true chaos would begin. Mike's family is great. I love them dearly. But, as they are very much are aware of, the craziness that happens when they all get together is something to get used to. It's a very different pace and volume than I'm used to with my family. After years of family gatherings with them, I'm mostly used to it. However, throw in a couple of crazy (but also very lovable) dogs and a whole 'nother family (my sister-in-law's in-laws), you get a very loud, nutty afternoon!

We ate, we talked, we played with the dogs, the kids played together, new toys were shown and shared and general merriment was had by all. After we were all full from food and the kids were getting restless in anticipation, more presents were passed out. The next block of time was a complete blur! Kids were ripping gifts open left and right, wrapping paper seemed to be flying about and I couldn't even keep up with having Dylan open what was handed our way. Then, things settled a bit and kids scattered to enjoy even more new stuff.

Dylan Checking Out His New Computer

Bumpa (Mike's Dad), Uncle Jim and Cousins Jacob and Corwin

Dylan, a Very Tired Me and Jacob

Then, Dylan and I were pooped. It was time for us to gather our things, say our goodbyes and head home. What a big day! Everyone was too generous, kids were mostly behaved and no major drama went down. Now that's a great Christmas Day.