Christmas Season

I love Christmas; I really do.  I love the trees, the decor, the lights, the spirit.  Everything.  What is less than fun is cleaning up after Christmas.  Since we put our tree up before Thanksgiving, we were ready to take the tree down earlier than normal.  We still have a few items that still need to be packed away, however.  With school gearing up to the end of the semester, it just hasn't happened.  It will soon.  But I thought the Christmas Blog Post should come first!  :-)

We were privileged to be the Advent family at the service early Christmas Eve night.  The service was really special, and we enjoyed our traditional ride around to enjoy Christmas lights on the way home.  The annual Christmas Eve luminaries in our neighborhood take my breath away every year.  Here is Will with his friend, Marc, at church:

Now for Christmas morning - here's a quick photo of the scene that Santa left before Will came downstairs:

We hope to begin a tradition of taking a picture of Will coming down the stairs every Christmas morning:

Will had SO much fun playing with his new toys and opening presents on Christmas morning.  He even called Santa (see phone photo below; this was completely his idea!) to say THANK YOU.  :-)

Meme and Pawpaw came over a little later in the morning.  They delivered an awesome present - Will's "Froggy Chair"!  Check out his expression... priceless!

Will seemed to be so overwhelmed by the gifts Santa brought him - pictured below are the gifts FOR HIM that he wasn't interested in opening all day (and night) on Christmas!  Can you believe it?!  It was as if he was saying he didn't need anything beyond what he was currently playing with!  (We finally DID get him to open these presents the night after Christmas when Memaw and Pepaw arrived.)

A little Barney-watching in his new Froggy Chair:

We went to church on Christmas morning - there was only an 11am service - and joined the handful of folks who came out to sing Christmas carols.  Will did a great job in the sanctuary and participated in Children's Time with Pastor Jan (he is on the far right):

Uncle Matt came over after Will's nap so he could open the gifts from Bernice and him.

That evening, we went to Meme and Pawpaw's house and had a fun "appetizer" Christmas dinner, a few more presents, and some Barney/coloring time with Pawpaw.

Around the House

Things heard and seen around our house lately:

1.  Will has been enjoying singing some new songs lately.  He has learned "Jingle Bells," "Jesus Loves Me," "This Little Light of Mine," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "The B-i-b-l-e," and even a song that Daddy made up called "Tomato Soup."

2.  He has been wearing Daddy out with running, jumping, and treating him like a jungle gym.  He likes to race from the living room to the laundry room and back; he starts each race with "Se----t AND GO!!"

3.  "It's Barney time" OR "I watch Barney." - Let's just say that Mark and I have a love/not-love relationship with Barney. Will LOVES to watch Barney.  Over and over.  He is, however, mesmerized by the show, and we can get a few things done while it is on.

4.  "I make coffee." - Mark and I bought a Keurig coffeemaker as an early Christmas present to each other.  Will prides himself in "making coffee," which means inserting the K-cup and pushing the button.  He squeals with glee when it brews, saying, "Here comes coffee!!!!!!

5.  "You like it??" - After making the aforementioned coffee, he encourages us to drink it, then wants to know if we like it.

6.  "Turn Christmas on!" - Will is enjoying all the Christmas lights, both on his Christmas tree and around the neighborhood.  I love it when he gasps and says the lights are "beautiful"!!

7.  "You want a haircut??" - Last weekend, we took Will for a much-needed haircut.  We have had such a good experience at this salon for kids; he knows haircuts mean lollipops and hand stamps!  Ever since that time, he offers "haircuts" to us, using the Wii joysticks as clippers and hair dryer.  The best part is that we get imaginary lollipops and hand stamps after the "haircut."

8.  "Good job" - Will likes to raise our self esteem by telling us "Good job" when we've done something.  He has done this for a while now, but has added a "thumbs-up" sign to his routine.  As you can tell from the picture, he's also ready to hitchhike whenever necessary.  :-)  We asked him to try a two-thumbs-up sign, and he loved it!!

9.  "Thisaway" or "Thataway" - Will is very knowledgeable about the Chester area and loves to tell us whether to go "this way" or "that way" in the car.  If we ever suffer from early onset dementia, he will enable his human GPS and definitely be able to direct us to all the important places - Meme and Pawpaw's house, Target, Don Pepe, Kohl's, Martins, church, and Food Lion.

Wordless Wednesday

watching Barney