Christmas!

This has been a very special Christmas for us. We are all together, finally settled in a location we will hopefully be in for more than 6 months. Jake is at such a fun age. He is exploring & starting to figure things out. Jake understands parts of Christmas, but not all. His school focused on the birth of Jesus instead of Santa Clause. They didn't "outlaw" Santa, they just didn't talk about him or make him the focus. We don't really have any Santa decorations, so while Jake knows who Santa is, he really doesn't understand that Santa comes & brings gifts. And that is fine with me. I know in the next few years, Santa will become a bigger deal to him. But right now, I'll take & cherish the fact that he could care less if Santa visited him or not and was more excited to talk about baby Jesus. I thought maybe after Christmas morning, when he saw the presents Santa brought, he would get it. He didn't. We asked him what Santa brought him & he said "nothing". We asked him who brought him those presents & he started naming his grandparents.  

Santa brought Jake 2 big gifts - a V Tech tablet (basically an iPad for toddlers) and a train table & track. We wanted a table that could grow with Jake & be used for things other than trains. My husband (a person after my own heart) couldn't find one in a store he liked, so he decided to make it. We finally fell into bed around 2:00 AM Christmas  morning. We really did feel like Christmas elves. We were not just putting together a child's toy, we were making it. (And when I say "we", I actually mean just Robbie. I was no help. I was up working on my own projects.)

There are actually lots of trains & a little city that goes with the train track, but Santa knew since we would be moving it to Jake's room after Christmas morning, he left those in the box.

Christmas Morning!

Jake Christmas Morning - I was sooooo excited to see what Jake thought when he saw all of his toys. He just kept standing in front of them looking at them, saying he liked it. Then he turned around & saw his old toys in a basket in the back of the room & proclaimed "oh my toys, I want to play with them!" and ran to them. We had to tell him he had to play with his new toys today. Once we got things out from under the tree, he started to slowly start playing with them. I guess it was a little overwhelming for him.

He is better than me on the tablet. I was having trouble just getting it to come on.

I actually made a breakfast dish for Christmas morning. It was my first time to bake from scratch. I'm not going to lie. I cannot taste the difference. Definitely going with the mix next time. 

The Bush's came over & saw Jake's gifts that Santa brought him. Then we headed down to Prattville to celebrate Christmas with my family.

Our family

Can you tell they were excited?

After the tornado went through

Nana & Gran's big gift to the grand kids was this McDonald's restaurant set. The kids were about as efficient and organized as most fast food restaurants are. 

My grandmother's sister, Aunt Virgina, gave the granddaughters some of her old wigs to play with. They reminded me of the Golden Girls.

The Hollon Family (can you tell a little boy who is over-stimulated?)

Some of Jake's favorite gifts....

He got a camera from Mimi & Granddad

My sister got Jake the cute pajamas that he is wearing in these pictures (which I love!). Her husband told her there was no way they were going to be the aunt & uncle that just bought their nieces/nephews clothes. So they ventured out to Target to purchase "fun" gifts. Well they succeeded. They got Jake a car that lights up, makes noises & drives off. It also has no on/off switch or volume control. I'll make sure he brings it to their house the next time he stays with them.

Cousin Jackson got Jake the Diesel's Thomas movie for his birthday. We've only watched it 100 times so far. A little 2 page flyer came with the DVD. Jake loves it & "reads" it all the time. He is so funny with it.

He got lots of cars for Christmas

I love to find the random places he will have them all lined up

My parents got him for his birthday the garbage truck from Toy Story 3 with a talking Lotso on the front. Love a gift that combines 2 joys... Garbage Trucks & Toy Story

For his birthday, Aunt Lindsey & Uncle Brooks got Jake a sword fighting costume. I was taking these pictures while sword fighting with him. (He only has 1 sword, which he always gets & whoever is fighting him, has to just fight with the sword holder.)

Mimi & Granddad got him a talking globe & karaoke machine

My parents got him a boxing Sponge Bob air bag & blowup gloves. It's hilarious to watch him box.

Jackson got Jake a paper foldup train track with miniture Thomas trains. Jake loves it.

My parents big gift to Jake was a grill. He is so excited about it, but it has been too cold & rainy to put it together & out by Dad's grill. Every time he sees it, he asks me if he can "cook it".

Another combination love of 2 things - Scooby Doo & Pirates

Jake still has some gifts that we are trying to space out & give him. I want him to be able to enjoy his gifts & not feel overwhelmed by too many at once. But he keeps finding them & insisting on opening them. So we do. He is a very lucky little boy to have so many people spoil him rotten.

Through all of the busy craziness of Christmas, we tried to stay true & focused on the reason we celebrate Christmas. How very lucky we are, that God gave his most precious gift, his son, a perfect being, to be born into a world full of sin, so that he could save us and give us eternal life.

How very lucky we are.