Christmas 2008!!

Well I finally am getting a chance to blog about Christmas!

First of all I have decided that it should be illegal to be pregnant over Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am already hungry all the time and it is just not right to put a six month pregnant woman in the same room with 10 desserts and every casserole you can imagine. My grandmother is an amazing cook, unfortunately the next time I weigh in you are going to be able to tell it.

We started our Christmas Eve in Fayette at my Grandmothers house. We spent the afternoon playing outside with trucks. Later that night we got ready and went to the Christmas Eve service at my Grandparents church. This is a family tradition that I absolutely adore. I don't think I've ever missed a year, and it is just so special. Noah didn't seem to appreciate it as much as me since he slept through it. (Remember he still had pneumonia.) After the service we went back to my Grandmother's House for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of homemade biscuits and fried ham. YUM! (No I didn't eat the ham...)

After this we let Noah open one gift. His "Cars" sleeping bag, air mattress. The plan was that Noah would sleep in it on the floor beside us that night. Neither one of us thought he would actually do it, but much to our surprise he slept in it all night!

The next morning Greg and I woke Noah up (that is very unusual) around 7:00. We were both so excited because we knew Santa had left an amazing Thomas the Train table downstairs! It took my little two year old several minutes to grasp the situation at hand. He kept rubbing his eyes and looking, then eventually he turned and ran the other way. This was not exactly the reaction I was looking for. I quickly scooped him up and carried him to the table. From that moment on he never left Thomas side! We had another amazing breakfast which Noah did not eat because that would have required him to stop playing. My poor family had shopped diligently for toys they thought Noah would enjoy and he never looked twice at them (except maybe his new garbage truck.) Overall I would say Santa's timing with the Thomas table was impeccable!

About 1:00 we left Fayette and headed to Greg's Grandparents house in Centerpoint. Noah slept through the 2 hour drive. We stayed there and played with his cousins Ryleigh and Kaylee all afternoon. That day did include one of our most special memories of Christmas. Greg's grandfather, (who tends to be a bit hard to please, but quite lovable) gave Noah a very special gift. Now let me just say that no one else got a gift from Grandaddy. He proudly went inside hunted around and came back with a collectors Corvette that he said he had kept for 20 years and he wanted "Noey boy" to have it! Precious!!

We then headed to Mimi and Pops house (Greg's parents) for some Taco Soup and another round of gifts. At this point it had just gotten overwhelming!! Noah, Ryleigh and Kaylee very much enjoyed entertaining us with the new karaoke machine. Noah is quite the dancer and he can sing Jesus loves me with the best of them. (Could a mother be more proud?)

Overall we will always remember this as the Christmas of Pneumonia and Thomas the Train! I guess we'll take the good with the bad!

**By the way on a side note... I've talked about all this tradition, but one tradition was missing from my Christmas. Rob and Kimi were stuck in Texas away from us this year. This is the first year ever I haven't spent at least most of Christmas with my brother and his adorable family. To say they were missed is an understatement! Rob, Kimi, Lake, Thomas and Smith Christmas wasn't the same without you! We love you and we never want to spend another Christmas apart again!!

After observing Noah for a few days I will list his favorite new toys:

1. Thomas Table
2. Garbage Truck
3. New TB's (that's what he calls the new DVD players for my car)
4. Car's book with flashlight

5. Car Carrier Monster Truck

6. Sand Box complete with Bull dozer