Our Christmas, December 27th

In the days leading up to Christmas, I wanted to do a few Christmas activities with Henry. We've been singing "Once There Was a Snowman" for the past few weeks (when Henry would tolerate the singing), but in an effort to be even more festive--something that doesn't come naturally to me for any holiday--we made a Santa puppet and a graham cracker Christmas train. I thought we might even start establishing a few family holiday traditions while we were at it, this being our first Christmas with just our little family.

The Santa puppet was a success, after I single-handedly put him together. (Henry isn't one to sit long to do any project.) Henry adored the Santa and was obedient to his every command. If Mom asked Henry to do something and he wouldn't do it, Santa would ask him and all was well. If Mom started singing and Henry didn't want her to, Santa would sing and all was right in the world. I guess Santa was a good friend to the both of us, while he lasted.

Although making the Santa puppet together wasn't a success, I was sure Henry would be interested in making a train from candy. But I single-handedly did that, too. Henry sat there long enough to eat nearly the entire bag of gummy bears along with some handfuls of Smarties, marshmallows, and M&M's, but had no interest in creating a train. He did put a few pieces of candy on the top of our train cars, but only when I threatened to take away his bag of gummy bears. After he filled himself with sugar, he ran off to play while I made the train (and ate loads of frosting with graham crackers). I believe this will become a tradition, although I'm hoping in years to come it will be more of a family activity.

As already mentioned, this was our first Christmas without family. I was excited about staying home and doing our own Christmas, but when December 24th came, Brendon was working and the kids and I didn't have much to do. We did go to see Santa, however. That was an adventure. Poor Henry didn't understand that he wasn't the only child who wanted to sit on Santa's lap and what it means to wait your turn. We battled it out for an hour, he and I, as I tried to explain/reason with a two-year-old. I wasn't successful with helping him understand, but I am still stronger so I held him as he wiggled to try to escape to Santa's lap. When it was our turn, Henry was thrilled. He didn't say a word to Santa, but he was so happy. Maggie was her content self, showing no reaction to jolly St. Nick. (And I have no proof of this because I couldn't get myself to pay for a Santa lap-sitting experience.)

We finished our Christmas Eve with grocery shopping and a casual dinner when Dad got home from work. But in all honesty, I knew in the back of my mind that the Gibson and Holmes families were enjoying time with loved ones and I missed being with them. When Brendon called me after work I said, "It doesn't feel like Christmas Eve." He agreed.

The kids and I made the most of Christmas (although the kids had no idea it was Christmas). We visited some people and went to a children's IMAX movie. It was a good day.

Thankfully, Santa was willing to bring our Christmas a couple days later, when Dad had time off from work. Our Christmas morning was a lot of fun with our little family. We opened presents and played and played and played. My parents came to visit us and arrived on our Christmas Day, which made the day all the better.

We spent over a week loving Grandpa and Grandma's presence in our home. Henry kept hugging my dad when we first walked in from picking them up from the airport. The kid loves his grandparents and rightfully so. He enjoyed every minute with them and kept them busy. He played outside in the freezing cold on his new swing set (or "higher," as Henry calls it) with Grandpa despite any efforts to explain how cold it was (his rebuttal was, "Iss no cold") and he was constantly playing tag with Grandpa and/or Grandma. He got all the "goose" (juice, which is really soda pop) his little heart desired and when we went to Toys R Us to let him pick out whatever toy he wanted, he could have cared less about walking away with anything (so Mom and Grandpa picked out toys we would enjoy playing with him). Mom was out of the picture for the week, as far as Henry was concerned, as he requested Grandpa or Grandma to do everything for him from buckling him into his car seat to playing with him.

Maggie was in heaven, too. She received more attention that she knew was possible. Her favorite activity was walking while holding hands with Grandpa or Grandma. She even took some of her first steps for them. She was held even before she had a chance to cry out for attention and she loved on her grandparents with a lot of warm cuddles and laying on the shoulder (a family favorite--we cherish cuddly babies). She kept up with the adults at our BBQ dinner and grabbed some ribs for herself, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Lubbock offers food, shopping, and a children's museum and we accomplished doing all three. We did an insane amount of eating and a lot of shopping, playing with the kids, card/board games, iPad games, talking, lounging, staying up late, waking up early, and laughing together. We even managed to get some time with just the four adults and went to see Les Miserables and out to eat.

My family was spoiled with gifts, service, and time from my parents. I'm pretty sure they could live with us forever and I would be happy about it. (Pretty sure.) It was a great week and a wonderful Christmas celebration.