Christmas (A Week Late)

J-Birds 1st Christmas was a busy but memorable one. We started out the holiday weekend with a trip to great-grandma's. Later on, Joshua had his first church ministry experience when he helped Mommy and Daddy welcome people to the 3:30 Christmas Eve service. That was followed up by attending the 5 PM service with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Maple, and Auntie Andrea. We couldn't have asked for a better behaved child. He sat quietly in his stroller while we greeted, fell asleep as soon as the 5 PM service started, woke up with about 5-10 minutes left and played quietly on Mommy's lap. After church we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Maple's to open presents and have dinner. Joshua did a fantastic job opening his presents, and was happy to see all of his other relatives as well. Once we got home, Joshua opened his first ornament from Mommy and Daddy. We have a tradition that we buy each other one ornament every year, and it has to somehow relate to something that happened during the past year. It makes decorating the tree much more fun.

Joshua slept great that night, and we opened our presents when we woke up on Christmas morning. Santa brought Joshua's favorite present, a LeapFrog Learning Table that keeps him entertained for extended periods of time (it's our favorite toy too!). After opening all of our presents, we drove out to Grandma and Grandpa B's house for breakfast and presents and a fun time with the Grandparents, Aunt Kerri, Uncle Paul, Great Grandma Eleanor, Auntie April, and Uncle Dan. Joshua got a ton of presents, including what seems like half of the VeggieTales DVD library. All the gift unwrapping must have worn him out, because he took a hardcore nap afterwards.

Christmas Day ended with a visit from Grandma and Granddad Duncan, Auntie Lori, Uncle Dom, and Cousin Jacob. We had a great Christmas dinner (free Honeybaked Ham is the best kind!), and opened a bunch more great presents. Afterwards, we all piled in our cars and went to see Christmas lights in 2 different neighborhoods (another Christmas tradition). One of the houses even has a walk-through version of Bethlehem in their backyard!

It was great first Christmas, and Joshua was so amazing throughout the whole thing. He didn't get too fussy, despite all of the travelling around, did a great job unwrapping his gifts, and got to see all of his family. Hope everyone else had as merry a Christmas as we did!