And Then There Was Christmas

So, Christmas came again this year.  Yep, I’m finally writing about it.  Over a month later.  Let’s all just accept the fact that until blogging is my full-time job, I’m likely going to write about things late.  Really late.  Glad we’re all on the same page now.

So, here’s how it all went down –

Friday night, the 23^rd, we had Christmas with the Cessna’s.  We left there with a cake pop maker, a popcorn maker, a rocking horse and a bottle of wine.  Keller’s already downed the bottle of wine and Dustin rides the shit out of that rocking horse, so clearly, we were off to a great start. 

Saturday, the 24^th, Keller and I spent the day in Olney with my mom.  B-Pa (the name we have affectionately dubbed for Brad) took us out to breakfast.  We went to Christmas Eve mass with Dustin’s family (even though Grandma Winka informed me more than once that it was our year to go to mass in Flora) and then out for some delicious Southern Illinois pizza that night.  Not to get off topic, but living in St. Louis, we have yet to find a pizza place that beats Joe’s, Monical’s or Bobe’s.  There’s nothing even close.  These St. Louis folk are deprived.

Christmas morning we got up and amazingly, Santa managed to find us all the way in Illinois.  This was more exciting for Dustin than anybody else.  For those of you who don’t know him, he’s like a 5 year old when it comes to Christmas.  He snoops for his gifts so they have to be well-hidden.  He’s too excited to sleep on Christmas Eve and wakes up early on Christmas morning (the only day of the year he wakes up early) and he LOVES opening gifts.  So, imagine his excitement in getting to open his AND Keller’s gifts this year!  He actually told me he was excited because he would get to open Keller’s gifts for the next few years and I had to burst his bubble that he was probably only going to get this year, so he better enjoy it while he could.

So, much to Dustin’s excitement, Keller (and by Keller, I mean Dustin) had lots of gifts to open.  Keller did help with the bags.  He pulled the tissue paper out, which went straight to his mouth.  He tried pulling the tissue paper out of one of Dustin’s gifts and Dustin smacked his hand and told him to get his own gifts.  Okay, that’s a lie.  Dana knows not to put Dustin’s gifts in bags.

We made our way to the Andrews family for lunch and then stopped in Olney at the Keller’s, where Keller met his cousin Ava, who is exactly one month younger than him.  And then it was on to the Winka’s for dinner.  Whew!  Talk about a long day!  And the next morning we woke up and started all over again with Christmas at my mom’s. 

Keller made quite the haul on his First Christmas…so much so that we weren’t able to bring it all back home in one load.  He got toys and toys and more toys and books and clothes and movies.  He got pj’s and sleepsacks and stuffed animals.  He got baby Tom’s & baby Sperry’s.  He got a rocking horse and a rocking frog.
 

But his favorite gift of all…the iPad.  I seriously cannot even use it if he’s within arms reach without him putting his grubby little paws on it.  I try to use it while he’s eating, thinking eating is way more important, so I’ll be able to get in some quality Facebook or Pinterest time.  Wrong.  Even with it behind his back, and a boob in his mouth, he stops eating and turns around, swiping his hand across it like he’s been using it all his life.  Same goes for my iPhone.  I bought him a Fisher Price cell phone for Christmas, but it’s push button, not touch screen, so he won’t have anything to do with it.  “Geez, Mom, push button is sooo last year.  And I can’t even get Angry Birds on this.  Seriously, it looks like a Zach Morris phone.  I’d get your money back.”  He’s a techie snob already.

Merry Christmas in February!