Christmas 2005 - The Year of the Car -- Part 1

Our Christmas began and ended with a bang, with lots of wonderful moments in between.

(Dear readers: This will probably be more detail than you're interested in -- I'm writing it mostly for myself and my family, for the memory books... I'll understand if you snooze off here... but come back in a couple of days once I've got this written down...)

We were up and around early. Having heard our little boy awaken around 6, hubby and I went downstairs to "prepare" around 7, figuring he was awake for good. It felt like his first Christmas to us, since he wasn't mobile last year 'til just before New Year's Eve. As my husband tested lighting for the video camera, preparing for our son's grand entrance, I got some fixings ready for breakfast. From the kitchen I saw the most incredible sunrise.

Once we got things ready downstairs, all grew quiet again on the northern front. We had a snoozing toddler. True to form, he did his early morning acrobatics, chatted with his invisible friends, and then went back to sleep. He was awake for good by 8 o'clock, and we were so excited to bring him downstairs and show him all the gifts! My husband and I were in our matching multi-colored flannel pants (made by my sister-in-law for just this occasion), and I got our son into his matching pants (our Christmas photos are very loud this year) and talked up the whole Santa thing  -- not that a 21-month old has a clue, but it was fun for me... 

I took him downstairs where Paparrazi Papa stood waiting with the video camera, with every light in the place on and Christmas music playing. Our son got to the bottom of the stairs and didn't want to go into the living room. Instead, he cried! He was afraid! Here he was, thinking "I'm going to go to the fridge and get my milk like usual," and there's some kind of loud, bright celebration going on in the living room! Poor little guy. I carried him into the living room, and together we looked at the presents and checked out the stockings hanging on the mantle. He picked up a little bear that was under the tree, then, not sure what else to do, he headed to the kitchen for milk.

We gave him his stocking first. And quickly found out that that was more than enough. On separate shopping trips, my husband and I had picked up several little cars and trucks. The stocking was jam-packed with little vehicles, and our son took them out one at a time, stopping to enjoy each one before moving on. "Cars! Cars! Cars!"

After the stockings, we tried to get him to open one of his gifts under the tree, but he was more interested in playing with his cars. So, we took a breakfast break, and the cars and trucks came to breakfast with us.

The munker/aebleskiver came out beautifully. My husband actually used the word "perfect," and I'm writing that here because it is so rare that he uses that word about anything. Much less something I've made to eat. They were actually delicious. Our little boy tried this Danish treat for the first time and gobbled them up, saying "mmmmm!"  So that was 2 thumbs up from my men.

After breakfast, we returned to the presents, where we taught our son to rip off wrapping paper. He really hasn't done this before. He wasn't interested at his 1st birthday, but something tells me he'll be a little more into it when his 2nd rolls around in March.

We've scaled back on Christmas gift-giving in recent years -- and now we're giving just to the children in our families. We had gifts from grandparents, aunts, and cousins, along with the few we bought for our boy. There was plenty of paper-ripping to be done. There were puzzles, Little People, Playmobil sets, books, cool shoes called Crocs from my hip Colorado sister, educational DVDs, alphabet magnets, and on and on. Oh! And there was a CD of music with my son's name in the songs. This was a gift from our neighbors. We played the CD, and our little guy looked a little bewildered by it. He didn't get excited -- I think it was more a "hey, who is that girl singing on the stereo, who knows my name?"  It'll probably grow on him as he gets older. If not, we can always pass it on to another child by the same name!

We finished opening gifts around noon -- bet it won't be anything like that next year!

(to be continued -- I know, you're on the edge of your seat here...)

Comments

[Melody]

Ahh, how lovely. I look forward to your next installment Marie! You kinda sounded like me - I woke up all excited on Christmas morning and I hadn't felt like that for years! Can't wait till next year!

[Elle]

Yay! It sounds like a perfect day. I can't wait to read more, too!

Beautiful sunrise!

[kristi]

Awww... what a cute "first" Christmas story. And congrats on those aebleskivers. They look delicious.

[Arethusa]

I didn't think it was too detailed at all! (When I read that I thought, "Uh oh, loong epistle, I should probably just skim...) I hope that we get to see some of the "very loud" Christmas pictures. lol Your day seemed to be very sweet and exciting, so I've at least shifted a bit further off my seat in anticipation for the next post. ;)

[Marie]

Melody,
It's wonderful having a little one in the family, isn't it?

Elle,
I haven't seen a sunrise like that in so long... fitting for Christmas morning.

Kristi,
yeah, I actually thought for the first time "so this is what all the fuss is about -- these things are good!"

Arethusa,
Maybe a pic via e-mail! I have your address, I believe... ;-)