White Christmas

Benjamin with Grandad's hat. On the left is the tent they rigged up for Benjamin to sleep in until he's big enough for the Mayflower bed.  Maybe next time.  

 I wish we had gotten some pictures of our white Christmas in Texas, but by the time I got the camera out, Benjamin had realized how COLD the snow is and we were done.  Getting snow down your sleeve induces a very particular kind of whining that I had not yet heard from him and probably won't again any time soon.  Not that I blame him--I whine when I get snow down my sleeve too.

So the somewhat unexpected snow kept us from our Christmas dinner with JB's extended family in Dallas, but it didn't keep us from having a nice time with the more immediate family in SS.  It was a relaxing 4 days--we didn't have too much planned, but that is sometimes the best.  We ate well, got to hear and play good music, JB got to see some old friends, and we all spent time with Midge.  Benjamin got to find eggs in the chicken house every day and play drums with granddad.

We woke up Christmas morning to a power outage, so we huddled around the gas heaters and lit candles, and were generally thankful for having a gas stove for making coffee.  When we got around to opening gifts, Benjamin opened one gift and was ready to play with that for the rest of the day.  I felt like I was going against everything I valued by encouraging Benjamin to open more, more more!  How wonderful to live with absolutely no expectations for Christmas day at all.  The tree, the egg nog, the presents--all a bonus on what was already going to be a pretty good day because you are a toddler at your grandparents house.  I think the only way to maintain this sense of wonder at Christmas over the years will be to help him have fun giving gifts.  It was great fun this year helping him understand the idea of giving a gift--he helped wrap presents and would repeat over and over again what we were sending to baby Jack in NY.    I wonder what Christmas is like next year with a three year old?

 

I made a Christmas pudding this year.  Thanks to Aunt Mary for letting me borrow her pudding mold.  Here's the pudding up in flames.  

We got to have second Christmas when we finally made it back home through the snow and ice to our own (poor dried-out) Christmas tree.  Grammy and Grandpa in NY gave Ben and Jack both these great chairs for Christmas this year.

 Aunt Mary made the sock monkey perched there by the B, and Auntie Karen made the memory game in the bottom picture from her own wood.  So creative, huh?  Right now B likes to just find the matching pictures and give them all out as cookies (or whoopie pies) to whoever he sees.

We sure missed going to NY this year.  By not going, however, we got to have an appointment with Christy the day after Christmas, and we found out that we are going to have a daughter!  We couldn't be happier.  She is becoming more real to us every day as she kicks away inside of me and Benjamin learns to talk about having a sister.