Jingle Bells

Christmas has come and gone.  It always takes a bit of getting used to once it is all over and normal life begins again.  I think Nathaniel sums it up pretty nicely when he says 'Daddy took Christmas down'  Apparently daddy gets the blame since Nate liked the tree and lights outside the most and that is what daddy took down.  Every night there was a ritual to turn on the lights and then go outside to look at them.  He probably wonders why the house can't be lit up all year.

Kevin's parents came for a few days before Christmas.  Nathaniel was so excited to be seeing grandma and grandpa.  He really enjoyed helping them pick out a coffee (kcup) in the morning and enjoying all of the extra attention.  We celebrated and opened presents while they were here.  It was fun watching Nate understand (at least a little bit) what getting presents was all about.  At his 2nd birthday he was still only mildly interested in unwrapping anything.  This time he actually opened some stuff and got excited about what was under the paper.  LEGOS from the movie Planes was a winner, but he seemed to play with grandma and grandpa's cheese flavoring for their popcorn the most :)  He really liked that little tin can for some reason.  Luckily, he forgot about it once they packed it away.  I was thinking we may need to ask for the present back  :) As always it was sad to see them go; we had a very festive time.

Playing with his new legos

Helping grandpa open his gift

Christmas Eve arrived.  It was so fun explaining why you leave milk and cookies by the fireplace and also that Santa will leave some presents for you.  Aunt Krista got Nathaniel a special 'The night before Christmas' book that we read about 10 times in a row.  The book is personalized with Nathaniel's name and that we were in Nashville etc.  It was such a special gift.  

Cookies for Santa

Christmas Eve Scene

Then Christmas morning was here.  You could tell right away he was a little shell shocked when he came out of his room.  Once we coaxed him downstairs he was a little shy.  It actually took him all day to open his presents.  We were at about a 1 present every 2 hour rate.  On one hand it was cool that he'd play with his new present before opening a new one, but on the other hand I've never seen a kid take so long to open presents.  I think the whole thing was a little overwhelming.  The magnet blocks (from Santa) and the tricycle (from grandma Johnson) peeked his curisoty the most.  We had a very fun day just hanging around, eating (our traditional mexican food dinner) and playing with new toys.  

When he first saw the presents

Nate's new tricycle

Working hard on unwrapping

Family PJ Christmas morning selfie

Thank you Aunt Krista for my Woofer guitar

Jingle Bells was the Christmas song of choice for this little boy.  He kept singing it and singing it all month long.  It is a catchy tune and easy for a 2 year old to remember.  I wonder what song I'll get to enjoy from him next year.  

Side Note:  We were finding random things in the Christmas tree even as we were taking it down.  Nathaniel loved to hoard things in there.  He thought he was decorating it.  There were flash cards, toys, legos, little plastic animals.  I didn't want to forget that cute memory.