A Holiday Recap

(No, he isn't stoned. He's in the middle of a spirited, "Ho! Ho! Ho!")
Frame by Kelley Mickus


Our holidays were, in a word, fabulous! We got some amazing photos with Santa Claus. We ended up taking Nathan to see him three times. The first time he didn't want to sit on Santa's lap at all, but by the third time he was tugging on Mom's arm trying to get his turn. He had an adorable little suit on and he smiled his gorgeous dimple-ridden smile. It was totally worth the extra trips. You can see the photos here.

After we put him down to sleep on Christmas Eve, I started setting out all of the packages around our little tree. Just before I headed off to bed, I was sitting in the recliner next to the play pen where Nathan sleeps, and I swear on my life, he said, "HO HO HO!" in his sleep. It was the cutest thing I've ever heard. It was one of those moments that make me wish I could outfit the house Big Brother style so every adorable little thing he does can be caught on tape. Of course, I'd have to edit out all of the nose-picking, and some of the stuff Nathan does, too.

On Christmas morning Daddy and I both woke up before Nathan did. I know that won't probably happen again until he's a teenager, when getting 22 hours of sleep a day is more important than presents. We were so anxious we had to restrain ourselves from waking him.

Nathan is at that perfect age for Christmas. He's old enough to get all kinds of excited about opening presents, but young enough you could wrap up a big ol' mound of used chewing gum and he'd still be thrilled to death as long as there's paper to tear and bows to throw over his shoulder.

He was so adorable! As soon as he started to tear off the paper (in widdle biddy pieces), and before he could even see what was inside, he'd let out this huge excited gasp as if he'd just been handed the keys to the biggest ice cream and breakfast sausage vault in the world. (I know that sounds wierd, but those are his two favorite foods. At our weekly Saturday morning Sirloin Stockade breakfast with my parents, he could easily consume more sausage links than the rest of us combined. And of course, ice cream is self-explanitory.)

He got good and spoiled, just like last year. That is to say, the Grandmas did their job right. Of course, we are just as guilty. Some of the coolest things were a workbench that Grandma Helen and Grandpa Bill got. It came with all sorts of tools and the back of it is plastic "pegboard." It even has a battery powered drill, which Nathan likes to run nonstop the whole time he's there. I think I heard Grandma Helen say something about losing those batteries or something like that.

Grandma Doni and Grandpa Chuck got him this awesome play tent from Imagine That Toys.



He loves having his own little house to play in. He stuffs it full with as many of his toys as he can fit, or he uses it as a garage to store his walk-n-ride lion.

So Christmas was awesome, and our New Year's was just as cool. I learned that Teri's boyfriend, Shawn, looks mighty good in a pink tutu, and that shooting pool in a welding helmet is really hard but fun to watch. But those are stories for another blog post. I'll sign off for now.

Here's to another awesome year to come!