The two and a half weeks leading up to to the holiday were filled with all things Christmas including good food, lots of toys and, the most important thing, time with family.
We kicked off our Christmas marathon with a ride on the
Orange Blossom Canonball's Christmas themed train ride. We boarded this vintage steam train for some good ole' fashioned cookie eating, hot chocolate drinking, and Christmas carol singing. We even got to visit with Santa and his elves!
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| "All aboard!" |
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| Santa's elves are very funny! |
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| Hi Santa! HO HO HO! |
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| Trying on the conductor's hat... there's room to grow into it |
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| The Orange Blossom Cannonball |
Grandma Ewen and Papa Mark came over for an early Christmas celebration. We had a great time sharing gifts and spending time together. Sam's favorite gift of the night was the Mater's Tall Tales DVD and matching book.
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As tradition dictates, we spent Christmas Eve at Grandpa Ewen's house. We were joined by Heather's sister and her family. We gathered round the table for a delicious meal together, followed by tearing into a heap of presents. Sam received a Disney Planes book with 12 miniature planes from the movie. He LOVED these planes so much that any time you tried to pick one up, he would let out a shrill scream right in your face that seemed to suggest he didn't want you touching his planes. Luckily, after a week or so, he's more willing to share those planes.
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| The Mitchell's, The Ewen's and the Kramer's |
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| The coveted planes |
Christmas Day was such a treat for us. Sam is more aware of Santa Clause now and very into presents. It was a bit more challenging to get him to sit still for photos this year than last, but we still managed a cute stocking shot.
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| Loving his new fire truck |
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| Santa brought me a tricycle!!! |
Luckily, after he opened a toy, he wanted to sit and play with it for a while instead of moving on to the next gift. So we had a nice, leisurely morning. We took our time getting through his gifts, had a good family breakfast, and continued on with the day's traditions.
The big gift of the day was his new train table. We had seen him go crazy over the train table set up at Toys R Us, so we had hoped he would be excited to have one of his own. And he didn't disappoint. We had set it up the night before in the play room and covered it with a big sheet. We were both impressed that nearly the entire morning had gone by without him even noticing it. Of course, he had lots of new things to play with so he didn't need to look to the playroom for toys. So we set up the camera and called him over for the big reveal. Heather was carrying him toward the room and as soon as he saw it, he wanted out of her arms and ran right over to start playing.
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| Daddy loves it as much as Sam does |
That night, we were joined by Heather's sister and her family. After dinner, we continued the tradition of offering Mary a rose and singing Baby Jesus Happy Birthday over his cake. His cousin Olivia even helped blow out the candles.
Just like last year, it was an incredibly magical day that leaves us wanting to do it again every day. Till next year, we're enjoying these precious memories (and all of Sam's new toys)!
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