Our tree on Christmas Eve

Christmas was so much fun this year. The best yet, I have to say!

Once you have a child, it brings a whole new meaning to Christmas.  I’ve always loved spending time with family (giving gifts, too, but mostly about the family!), but it becomes so much more when you have your own little ones. And FUN, too! In 2008, Jack was about 8 months old—far too young to enjoy Christmas, open any presents, play with many toys or even eat any of our food. It was wonderful in its own way—baby’s 1st Christmas and all that—but this year was so much more fun. It’s so great having a little toddler whose eyes light up when he sees a toy he really likes!

As usual, I bought way too many gifts. I should have just bought 2-3, but I… errrm… I filled the tree. Was there ever any doubt that I would do that? I mean, I used to do that everyone else, so no WAY I’m slowing down for Jack! However, I really should have. Because once he opened a toy, he wanted to play with it for HOURS. I mean, he REALLY loved them. Which was fantastic! But it made me feel like an ass for buying him too many things. What we ended up doing was opening up one toy every couple hours for a couple days so he wouldn’t get overwhelmed.

I had to hang Cheeto's stocking, anyway

For the second year in a row, it was just the three of us*, and I loved that, too. Last year was great, too, but because of all the unexpected family drama with my mom, it was kind of bittersweet. This year, the only note of sadness was that Cheeto wasn’t here to enjoy it with us. I must admit that I hung his stocking anyway, and the sight of it hanging there every day brought me to tears on more than one occasion.

I also bought the most perfect little hand-painted ornament from Etsy. I buy a new one to commemorate the biggest thing that happened that year. (2001 we were married, 2005 we bought the house, 2008 we had Jack, etc.)

I forgot to get a picture before I packed it away, but the 2009 ornament looks like this. Isn’t it adorable with the mommy and daddy and baby birds on there with the first letter of our names on their chests? She also put two cat prints and yes, two dog prints on there. I emailed her and asked her if she could paint a halo over the Cheeto paw print. She did. And when I got that in the mail, I thought my heart was going to implode, too. But that is just one of the many ways I continue to include and honor him. But I’m not going to dwell on that, because overall, it was a happy holiday.

Moving on..

In looking at this picture, it’s clear that I need to learn how to make my own stockings. The two heart ones on the left were made by either my grandma or my mom (not sure which, but probably my grandma). They’re great and all, and used to hold sentimental value, but now they just make me sad. So they need to go.

Plus, I need to make one for Jack. I don’t want to keep buying a new set in a certain “theme” every year when we have a new addition, like Oliver. I’m sure it’s easy enough… just need to find a pattern and some fabric I like. Oh, yeah. And buy a sewing machine. Heh heh. That should be interesting. (Sidenote: I think I received a B in Home-Ec class in 7th grade. Wasn’t all that into the sewing. Still not for clothes and the like. But certain things need to be done, and I need to know how to do them, dammit! If I can learn how to cook—and be so great at it!—I can learn how to sew!)

I made our on-its-way-to-becoming-a-traditional-Christmas-dinner: beef tenderloin. That is one helluva cut of meat, I have to tell you. It costs about $70 for a 3-lbs., but oh.my.god, it is SOOOOOOO GOOD. I smear it with dijon mustard and some rosemary and thyme and it’s just to die for.  I also made mashed potatoes and gravy, Hawaiian sweet potato casserole, brown and serve rolls, and a couple other things as well. Christmas is probably the best meal at our house all year, and I love it that it’s so much less work than Thanksgiving! What’s your favorite dish or side dish for Christmas?

It was a wonderful, relaxing, happy day. We were lucky enough for it to be a white Christmas, too!

Jack’s favorite toy was the lawn mower. Here’s some video of him pushing it around on Christmas morning.

* My sister came over for a couple hours on Christmas Eve morning, same as last year. (My dad was going to come, too, but the weather in both Iowa and Kansas was… and still is… pretty yucky.) I bought my nephews tons of gifts this year, too. Here are a few photos from Christmas Eve:

My nephew Arden opening up his video games

My youngest nephew Andrew playing with Flarp!

Oooh, Yo Gabba Gabba stuff!