Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year with our sweet boy and my family.  Bryan was lucky enough to have Christmas Eve and Day off this year.  We are not sure how he pulled that off since he's an intern, but we're not going to complain!  My parents, brother, niece and nephew spent Christmas in Temple at my parents' house here which is not too far from ours.  It was great to be together and to see Caleb with his cousins.  He is absolutely obsessed with Kai and Issy and is still talking about them!  He thought he was just as big as them and really loved playing with them.  Both Kai and Issy were very patient with Caleb and did a great job keeping him entertained.  Caleb especially loved playing with the train set that was under my parents' Christmas tree and wrestling on Granny & Daddy Bob's king sized bed!   

 

Caleb also thinks everything is a ride-on toy now.  We caught him trying to 'ride' his toy dump truck, and a few days later I found him extremely frustrated because he could not sit on a miniature motorcycle that was in his stocking!

On Christmas Eve we all went to the Children's Mass together at 5pm.  It was packed!  Luckily we were able to sit down in chairs that had been set up on the perimeter.  Caleb's behavior was tolerable considering he was one of many small children at the service.  After Mass we had Christmas Eve dinner at our house.

 

 

After Caleb's bath, Bryan and Caleb read the story of Jesus' birth from Caleb's toddler Bible.  We hope this will become a family tradition for years to come!  Once Caleb was asleep Santa came to deliver all of the presents.  Santa worked hard putting everything together and was so relieved he didn't forget any parts or run out of batteries ;).  Sophie was especially wiped out in her Ho Ho Ho sweater from watching Santa work so hard. 

 

 

 

On Christmas morning Caleb didn't really understand what was going on.  At this age he only knows how to identify Santa and will occasionally tell us that he says Ho Ho Ho, so when he woke up that morning he definitely wasn't expecting to find new toys in the living room!  Santa brought Caleb a climbing toy with a slide, a ride-on tractor with a trailer attachment, a construction digger, the Little People farm and a stocking full of toy animals, M&M's and his favorite tv show character, SuperWhy.  As predicted, Caleb went straight to the construction digger.  The boy is obsessed with anything with wheels at this age!  One thing that really surprised us was that he didn't like M&M's, although we have recently discovered he likes York Peppermint Patties!  Within 20 minutes of receiving his Santa presents, Caleb was already climbing backwards up the slide and discovered that his all time favorite activity is to send any type of vehicle catapulting down the slide while he giggles wildly.  We were fortunate to capture this on video on Christmas morning!  We enjoyed a yummy breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls - a first for me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Christmas day we had lunch at my parents house and opened more presents.  We were all spoiled with presents from Granny & Daddy Bob, but so far Caleb seems to love his new emergency vehicles (an ambulance & life flight helicopter), the Little People parking garage and his toy piano the best.  In the midst of the chaos of opening presents, we discovered that Caleb had snuck over to the dessert table and helped himself to 2 Mexican Wedding cookies.  He hurried around the house to eat them before they were taken away!  Caleb loved playing outside with his cousins and enjoying their new toys while Mom and I finished cooking a yummy meal.  After lunch, Sophie got to open up her present -- a Snuggie!  Doesn't she look thrilled in the picture below???  

 

 

Caleb also has recently started to drink from a big boy cup without a lid or a straw.  We definitely have to help him hold the cup steady at times because he tends to drink way too fast and spill milk on himself.  He's pictured below playing choo choo train with Granny & Daddy Bob... following a wardrobe change due to a milk spilling catastrophe ;)

 

We had a fantastic Christmas and are so grateful for our wonderful, supportive families.  We can't wait to see what blessings and memories we will have in 2010!