Merry Christmas!

It is 10:30 pm and I could probably just fall asleep on the couch here. Water is boiling in the background to make tea for Jason and myself in a little while. I think this Christmas has to rank up there with best Christmases ever. It has been fantastic. Not for one major thing that we have received but for all the little magical moments. Joshua at age 2 understands so much more about what is going on and is excited about it.

Yesterday, we had a fun day of preparations. We colored Santa pictures and cut out shapes to glue on them. Jason and I wrapped presents. Jason did a bit of food shoping with Josh and ran another errand or two. In the evening, we sat down for a nice family dinner. We read the story of Jesus' birth in the Bible. Jason toasted to our family and we ate. After dinner, we chatted with Josh, Trina, Kirra and Cathi on the video chat. Josh was 'showing' toys and books to the camera. Kirra was talking and wiggling around. It is so fun to see her growing! After our chat, we watched Rudolph until it was Joshie's bedtime and then he prepared cookies, milk and a note for Santa. He asked for Santa to bring him cookies. Then it was off to bed for Joshie. But we did get a bunch of really cute pictures of Joshua writing his letter and putting out the goodies. Then Jason and I set to work preparing last minute items for Christmas morning. Jason baked his mom's banana bread while I worked on a project on the couch. When he was done, he assembled Joshua's gift from Grandma and Papa so it would be ready in the morning. We put out our presents and then headed off to bed so Santa could come.



In the morning, I went downstairs first so that I could get Joshua's reaction to Santa's arrival in the night as it happened. Jason brought Joshie down and the first thing he said was, 'Santa ate the cookies! Santa drank it all [the milk]'. We found a note that Santa left for Joshua thanking him for the cookies and crumbs that were left from the cookies. Joshua was excited to see his stocking filled and grabbed out matchbox cars from it. He opened one present, track for his Thomas trains, and we opened our stockings then we had breakfast. Jason cooked up eggs and bacon which we enjoyed along with the banana bread. Joshua was so good and ate breakfast while playing with items out of his stocking. He had already had two pieces of chocolate from Jason's stocking. He swiped them and hid behind me while he ate them. But his expression was so adorable as he gobbled up the chocolate. He knew he wasn't supposed to have it and had the most mischevous grin on his face!

After breakfast we broke into the presents. Grandma and Papa watched from the video chat.

I'll have to continue tomorrow... the sleep monster beckons!