What a wonderful Christmas we have had this year. On Christmas Eve Grammy and Ramps had everyone over for snackies - Chris, Colleen, Joslyn, the Egans and Mommom and Poppop were there too. And best of all, even Santa himself stopped by! Ian must have wanted to save up all his energy for hanging out with his cousin because he slept in until 9:45!!!! It was great to see Ian playing with Joslyn - they get along so well and they are both at an age where they just follow and chase eachother around. Anytime Joslyn got out of his site or when she went to bed he would ask where she was and call out for her. It was too cute!
"of course I've been good ALL year!"
"HORSEY!"
Pat did a great job putting what few toys that assembly was required together so Ian could see them when he woke up and then we hit the sack early ourselves in anticipation of the big day. Ian must have known it was Christmas because he was up at 6:30 and wanted nothing more to do with bed. He hung out with us in our bed for about 10 minutes and helped me unwrap my birthday present from Pat - a beautiful necklace! We had planned all along to get Ian a backyard playground set come the spring so we didn't want to go too nuts on the gifts - but even having said that I think he got a very decent amount of stuff (how can you stop yourself when he's been sucha good boy MOST of the year). His favorite seems to be the drum dad picked up for him and the magnadoodle I picked up for him, but of course he played with everything including the duplo blocks, the motorized police bike (he's still getting the hang of how it works) and the remote control car we got him.
taking a little bit of a yogurt break!
Awesome book of firsts from Auntie Steph
We headed next door after all our pressies were unwrapped so we could do Christmas with the family in town and got the most wonderful news after a excellent breakfast prepared by uncle Chris - THEY PUT THEIR HOUSE ON THE MARKET!!!! They are moving back to New Jersey!!!!! Could Christmas get any better?! I don't think so!
The kids had such a fun time opening presents and playing with the toys - especially the fake food that Ian would dump out and chew on and Joslyn would pick up and touchdown spike on the ground much to Ian's amusement and wild laughter!
The gag gift of the day award goes to Colleen for picking up these fake mustaches for Ramps - we all know how he loved to rock the mustache back in the 70s and early 80s!
Joslyn liked the drum and the bike too
The day after Christmas we went over the Rita's house for some afternoon soup and sandwiches. It was a little overwhelming for our little guy to be surrounded by so many smiling faces and food so he hung close to mommy for most of that visit.
Afterwards we got together with more of Ian's favorite people in the whole world - the McCay clan - for second Christmas! Mommom and Poppop had us over so Ian could open some of the wonderful pressies from them, Uncle Mike and Aunt Tina and from Uncle Larry and Aunt Colleen. As you can see, it was like Christmas day all over again and Ian had a blast! As per the typical McCay gathering, the boys and Ann all laughed about crazy days when the boys were growing up and Colleen and I sat wondering what exactly we had married into - hahaha! It was a great time.
Poppop lends a hand opening a gift - thanks Pop!
"thanks for the bucket mommom and poppop.... OH! there were blocks in there?! SWEET, double score!"
Special thanks to those who thought of our little man on this Christmas. His great Aunt Ellie and her family in Scotland picked Ian out some fun Pat the Postman toys that he is sure to have a good time playing with and Great Auntie Davina and family got him a a funny Christmas t-shirt and The Very Hungry Caterpillar book and stuffed animal. He also got a set of Duplo blocks to add to his new collection from mommy's friends Chad and Christina and he got some adorable clothes including a Big Brother T-shirt and the Naughty shirt he's wearing in all the pics from his Auntie Steph. It was so sweet of them to think of our little guy and know just what he would like!
I also received some other lovely 30th birthday presents. Ann gave me a beautiful sewing machine - I can't wait to learn how to use it!!! Aunt Ellison sent me a lovely bracelet made in Caithness, Scotland - i hope this stay at home mom has a fun excuse to dress up her outfit with it soon! Chris and Colleen got me a beautiful Celtic broach/kilt pin. And my parents got me a generous stash of cash to only be used for a getaway somewhere by wineries with Pat after the baby arrives (I'm sure that will be MUCH needed after those first few months!). Grammy made a Christmas/birthday dinner that couldn't be beat - a bunch of my favorites including her mashed potatoes, cauliflower and cheese and her yummy gravy - and then they came by later that night with ice cream cake for me (YUM, again, one of my favorites)!
I can't imagine a day being better but I have a feeling that Christmases are only going to get more and more exciting and wonderful as the years go on! I can't wait!!!!
