"Santa, come to MY house!"

I can honestly say that this holiday season has been so much fun! When I first met Alex, he was 7 years old I think. Maybe a bit older... He was still very excited about Santa, but he had it down pat. He knew about putting out carrots for Rudolph, cookies for Santa and that he needed to be a good boy. Andrew, on the other hand, is learning this all for the first time. He's been so easily entertained and it's been a blast to watch him get excited about the holidays.

Each morning, Keith and Andrew would mark another day off of our big calendar and then they would count the number of days left until Santa came. About a week before Christmas, Andrew would look up towards the sky and yell "Santa! Come out of the North Pole, please. Come to MY house! (pause, pause and then said in a sing-song voice) Thank you!" It was too, too funny! He sang Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is coming to town each and every day - typically louder and louder each time.

For Christmas Eve, we went to my dad and step-mom's for a whole lot of food and so Alex and Andrew could open their gifts. Since I don't have the video put together yet, I'm going to save that for a totally separate post sometime this weekend. It was absolutely priceless! Let's just say it involved a knock at the door, a little boy saying "Santa, where is your Rudolph?" over and over again, Jingle Bells and 9 adults laughing so hard they had tears streaming down their faces.

After going to my dad's, Keith and I came home and spent the night wrapping. Boy, oh boy... lesson learned - wrap as you go!! We were up until about 1:30 in the morning and were just plumb exhausted. We hit the hay and thankfully our little guy didn't wake up until 8:00!! Wooohoooo!!! I know in years to come he'll be just like my sister and I - up at 4:30 full of excitement! After Andrew came downstairs he walked through the living room like it was any other day. Didn't notice all of the presents from Santa Claus and didn't notice the blue choo-choo train he asked Santa for sitting right on the floor.

Keith got the video recorder ready and we sent Andrew upstairs to wake his "big brudder" up with a big old "Merry Christmas, Alex. Time to get UP!". A quick stomp of the feet and he was back downstairs. Alex and Andrew passed out gifts which I think Andrew got a big kick out of. Alex read the tag and Andrew would put it in the right spot. He refused to stack the gifts - had to have them all laid out in a straight line. We were laughing so hard. With each present he brought over, he would say "Here you go mom/dad/Alex".

Let's see... what did everyone get? Alex got a new cellphone, swim suit and some accessories, a few PS3/computer games, a cool outfit from his hip step-mother :-), gift cards, etc... Andrew got a sit and spin, matchbox track, Mickey and Little Einsteins DVDs, some games, etc... Keith got an ipod, sweats, a watch, gift cards, etc... Becky got a pretty bracelet, a new cellphone and my favorite gift of all - My blog, in a book. Oh boy did I cry when I opened it! I wish I could remember what the dedication page said because that set me over the edge. It has to be my favorite gift of all time because it chronicles our life. It's not just about the blood, sweat and tears to bring Andrew home but it's about Alex losing his mom, his sports, homecoming, our anniversaries and so on.

After presents, I made breakfast and immediately fell into a food coma. Andrew took a 45 min nap and I took a 2 hour nap. I woke up to the sound of Andrew balling his eyes out. I went into the living room and could tell Andrew was in trouble. He threw a puzzle piece at Keith because he was mad about something. Poor kid had reached his peak. He was overstimulated and just bouncing off walls. Two days worth of presents, a party at Grandpa and Nana's, time at Uncle Billy's and then a bunch of people at our house just did him in (not to mention the lack of nap). We tried our hardest to be patient with him the rest of the night, but boy was it hard!!

At night, we read books and he snuggled right up next to me. Part of me was sad the day was over but the other part was just so happy to have things slow down a bit. Alex left for New Zealand this morning with his Uncle Chris (his 16th bday present from his Nanny and Papa). Things should slow down with not having to drive to and from school/swimming and the girlfriends house. Hopefully we'll all recoup and be ready for the New Year!

This has been an amazing year and I'll get more into that in my New Year's Eve post. I think you've had enough of me rattling on and on so it's time to get to some pictures!







I hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful holiday!
Love,
Becky