Christmas Play-by-play

Whew! What a month! It certainly has been a whirlwind couple of weeks, but OH SO MUCH FUN!
McKinley and his Mommy & Daddy had a really wonderful Christmas, and boy did our boy score with Santa. Clearly, he was a very good boy. hee hee hee He got cool puzzles, his very first computer, a train set, a dump truck, a rocking horse, some great games for his LEAPad learning system, a Little People barn and nativity, a Lil' Kawasaki Power Wheels ATV and a bunch of other cool stuff. McKinley truly had a ball opening all of the gifts, he got the hang of it very quickly and liked handing the torn papers to us so he could keep on ripping!

As we all know, the season is about much more than toys and presents and Santa and stockings. Mom, McKinley, Cousin Judie and I had a great time baking together on what will hopefully become a new family tradition. Cary and I had a blast shopping for some special things for McKinley and the rest of our family too. Our family had a wonderful time attending Christmas Eve mass and taking in the sights of the season, like Christmas in the Park (many local organizations compete each year with bigger and better lights and themes through our largest park in the city, it's always been so beautiful!). In the evening on Christmas Eve, we had our second annual reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. This year Valentine joined in (she loves to listen to us read to McKinley) and McKinley was much more enthralled with the story and all the little things to do in the book. It was very sweet. And on Christmas Day, Mom came along with the three of us to join the entire Vernon crowd for the annual Italian-style Christmas Dinner. It was a really BIG event with so many people, we all had a ball. Grandma V's homemade lasagna was just as delicious as always. Mmmmm! McKinley's favorite thing to do that day was climbing up and down the stairs with lots of his big cousins.
My only complaint is with myself...I am so disappointed in the LACK of pictures I took. Me...who takes THOUSANDS of pictures every year - literally. I think I was such an emotional ball of stress due to McKinley injury and my neck pain coming back yet again that it just didn't get done. I don't know. There are NO pictures from Christmas with my Mom or my inlaws, very few of us opening gifts Christmas morning, none of all the baking we did - nothing. Whhhaaaaa????? Ugh. Next year I promise myself to take TOO many!

The whole month was very hectic, but it was so wonderful. It is so comforting and heart warming to see our son enjoying himself and loving being with many of his family members.