The most wonderful time of the year

We had our best Christmas ever this year celebrating for the first time with Calvin.  He absolutely loved pulling apart the wrapping paper and playing with all of the tissue paper on the inside. We went traveling up north to see the rest of the family, so we had our own little Christmas the night before we left.  Calvin managed to find his present fairly quickly, unwrap it and then bang it on the ground!  Perhaps a ceramic globe piggy bank wasn't the most bang-on-the-floor friendly, but we learned.  Since it didn't fit in his mouth easily, he lost interest and moved onto the tissue paper.

Our trip up to Cumberland/Cape Cod/Albany/Boston went very smoothly.  Calvin and I were upgraded to first class on both legs so we had a great time schmoozing with the other travelers and proving that not all babies cry on planes.  Calvin is a seasoned traveler but it's always a little nerve wracking.  You never know if your flight will be delayed, canceled, re-routed, etc.

We had a chance to visit with everyone and spend some good relaxing quality time.  We really wanted to "do nothing" as we won't have much time to relax in Atlanta before the big relocation.  It was so great to have days where we didn't change out of our pajamas.

Christmas is my favorite holiday season and I can't wait until we can start our own family traditions. We just need to define them first! My parents instituted a rule for Christmas morning that we could not look at the tree until after 7:30am.  This was after we tried to get the morning started at 5am one year.  We had to wait until 7:30, then go downstairs and get them first. THEN, and only then, could Christmas begin.

I remember waking up on Christmas morning and crawling into bed with my brother.  We would just sit and giggle with anticipation wondering what Santa brought and we would watch the minutes tick by on my Minnie Mouse clock.  I can't wait until Calvin has that same anticipation and excitement in the morning.

Calvin was absolutely adorable and was generously showered with gifts from everyone.  We'll be packing up soon so he'll get to experience them all over again in a few months when the big toys come out of storage. What a lucky guy!