Christmas: Round 1

Merry Christmas! In all of the past years since Andy and I have been married, we've always switched off going to his mom's or my parents' for Christmas. So this year I kind of wished to see what a Christmas Eve service at our own church was like, and then wake up in my own bed, and have AJ open a stocking at his house while we sipped coffee on the couch in our robes...

OK, so I agree that was a little idealistic, but I pitched the idea to all the grandparents, inviting them to come over to our place for Christmas Day, and they were generally on board. 

However, my sister and mom decided it would be too much to bring all their gifts to exchange to our house, and then bring all the opened presents home (hmmm, haven't I been doing that every year so far??)...so we had an "early" Christmas at my mom & dad's house a week before. (I agreed to this idea because it really would cut down on the chaos at my home on the actual day.) 

A little bit before "Christmas: Round 1", we had started putting up a few decorations and had also visited some decorated friends' homes. I had been working with AJ on how to treat decorations and how they were different from toys.  

What a hard thing to differentiate! AJ did a pretty good job, but needed a lot of supervision, since all those cool small, sparkly, new things are all off limits. Here's a little video of AJ and his cousin Kyra checking out my mom's little table-top nativity. They did pretty well at not being too rough, and they both generally followed the rules. What cutie pies!

AJ thought Omi's decorated tree was awesome and he especially liked all the presents underneath! If we didn't corral him shortly after this shot was taken, who knows what would have happened? After we ate supper, we finally allowed the kids to rip into their presents. AJ took a few gifts to get the hang of it, but he started to realize they were all things that he liked, and then he had a little more desire to see what each bag or box contained.  He got some cool art supplies, a train track/set which he is still holding while trying to get the bow off the next gift, and a hammering toy which needed no explanation!

He opened a couple, played, opened a few more and played again.
Here Andy is helping AJ open a gift. Such a cool moment! AJ got a sleeve of matchbox cars from Aunt Kim, Uncle Brandon and his cousins, and he loved them immediately. Here he is playing with one on a chair. At this stage, AJ loves anything transportation/construction-related. He loves cars, trains, trucks, bulldozers, etc. He loves them in books, toys, and the real thing!  When we go grocery shopping at Trader Joe's on Clybourn, I usually make a pit-stop so he can watch the recycling machines grab and move all the piles of metal scrap. Luckily, I find this interesting as well and we usually sit in the car for a few minutes with the hazards on so we can watch and talk about these "Huge Machines" as AJ refers to them. If I knew where to get one of THOSE in toy-form, I'm sure Santa would have delivered one to AJ's stocking this year! ;)

Who knew we'd need to wear a bib to eat Christmas cookies? Yum!  AJ wondered if he had to heat the cookie after eating all the chocolate off the top of Omi's cookie bars...
Here's another action-shot of the Hammerer in working mode. Break out the nails, Andy! AJ's ready for a job in construction!  Maybe he can help with his new room's renovation?