25 December 2010

Merry Christmas 2010

There is nothing like a child to rekindle the joy and excitement of Christmas.

This morning hubby and I woke up, had our traditional Mimosas, brewed some coffee and got set to “play up” Santa’s big visit. Even though Drew has no real concept of Christmas, we figured we would indoctrinate him early by going through all the habitual motions that we remember from our own childhood. Last night we made a rather large fuss over leaving milk and cookies by the fireplace while Andrew looked at us as though we were off our rockers. This morning we made a big show of the fact that Santa had enjoyed his little snack – Santa even left a small dribble of milk and a few cookie crumbs to add further punch to our story. I know it seems a bit excessive for a 1-year old but we want to sow the seed as early as possible.

Sadly, Andrew derived little joy from opening presents due the fact that he suddenly adopted a large fear of wrapping paper. Instead, hubby and I had to open gifts for him while he cowered behind us. Thankfully, we went a little lean of presents this year, knowing full-well that he wouldn’t really “get it.” Despite the cool things that Santa left for him, he had more fun running around the house shaking a bucket of gum that his mother got in her stocking. It went something like this…

Reading chair – meh.
Penguin punching bag – meh
Thomas the Train reading book – meh
Thomas DVD and Zoo DVD – meh and meh
Bucket of gum – OH MY GOD, BEST THING EVER!

Truth be told, gift opening was a bit of a gong show. It was much more difficult than last year, when we could simply strap Drew into a bouncy chair and not have to chase him around the house, trying to pry the gum bucket from his hands as well as a pair of metal BBQ tongs that he managed to snag from the kitchen. Exhausting as it was, we wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Feeling a bit worse for wear (Mimosas don’t help at 7 AM), we put Drew down for a blissful three-hour nap and managed to have some downtime in front of the TV during the afternoon. Our evening was spent at my parents’ house for the big turkey dinner. Rinse and repeat the same gift opening scenario as the morning. Hubby held down a bucking, howling child as I tore through the gifts with reckless abandon. It was truly magical.

Replete with turkey, sugar and holiday cheer, our little family of three is ready for bed! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

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