Christmas morning!

Christmas morning with Holden was how I had always pictured having a small child at Christmas would be. While he was such a precious baby last year, this year was SO fun as he really "got it!" I'm not sure if he still comprehends the whole Santa deal, although he does talk about him and refer to him as "Ho-ho." But he definitely understands what presents are now! The joy and excitement on his face that morning was priceless.

Jay had to work this year, so we got Holden up early so that Daddy wouldn't miss him opening his gifts. He was very tired and crabby when I carried him down the stairs, blankie in hand and rubbing his eyes. Then he caught a glimpse of the tree, or more importantly, what was under the tree. His eyes were wide as saucers, he got a huge grin, and almost bounced out of my arms as he yelled, "A GRILL! A GRILL!!" We didn't even know that he could say that word. This summer he loved to "help" Jay when he cooked out. Apparently he hadn't forgotten! His two big items under the tree were the grill and a Home Depot tool center. He was delighted with both. We had to really coax him to go downstairs to our lower family room, where the train table was, as he didn't want to leave his new toys. When we finally convinced him, he took one look and started screaming, "CHOO CHOO!!!!!" In the top left picture of the collage you can see his lips forming that phrase, which we heard a million times throughout the day. Right after he saw it, he ran over and gave Jay a big kiss! It was so sweet. There are some tiny pictures on the collage, so make sure you click to enlarge it. I love the one of his with his Home Depot goggles, using a hammer at the grill. He combined the two toys to make his own little cooking/pounding center.

Later in the morning, Paul, Tami, and Allison braved the icy street to walk down to our house. We were getting together with them later that night, but Allison couldn't wait to give Holden her gift. He loved his new Magna Doodle! He plays with it every day now and will announce, "Color!" and tell us what he is drawing. It cracks me up that the scribbles are, in his mind, different things. He informed my brother that he had made a choo choo. Later, Eric drew a train for him. Holden frowned at it, took the triangle stamp that goes with it, stamped it on the top, scribbled a little, and said, "choo choo," looking very satisfied. I guess Eric needs to learn a thing or two about how to make a train correctly! ;o) My parents and Eric came by for breakfast, and Jay and his intern were also able to stop in to eat and see Holden with all of his new toys.

Tami is going to kill me for this picture of her in her pj's, but I love this series of her and Holden on the stairs. He loves to sit in Memaw's lap and slide down, and on Christmas he decided he was big enough to do it on his own. (After making her do it with him about 10 times; each time he'd beg she'd say, "Okay, just one more." Yeah, right!)

A few pictures of him with his grill. It was the first present he went to, and it's just a little cheapo plastic thing, but he just loves it! There's also one of Eric with the helicopter he got him. It flies up to 80 feet in the air! Just what we need in our house. That's what uncles are for; buying you things your parents never would. Unfortunately, part of the wing broke on one of its many airborne excursions (which I captured on video but not in a picture) so my dad is planning to work on it with some Superglue the next time he's here. =o)