Christmas Through a Child's Eyes

        Right after Halloween, the first Christmas commercial came on TV and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Christmas. Christmas with a child. It's been 5 Christmas's since we thought it would be our LAST Christmas without a little one. And finally, the joy that we had been waiting for came our way.

Decorating and adding the star to the tree at Mimi and Papa's

         Wow, we knew we were missing a lot of fun, but we really had no idea of how magical Christmas could really be.  Our holiday celebration started with the annual Homoelle tradition of decorating at Mimi and Papa's house. Each year we rotate who gets to put the star on the tree. Last year, we thought we would have Nathan by Christmas, and so there was still some sadness that he wasn't with us. This year though... he was the STAR!

"Choo choo, choo choo, choo choo!!!"

        December was full of holiday fun.  We may have gone a little overboard with the holiday hoopla. Nathan became obsessed with choo choos, and so we made trips to Entertrainment Junction and the Duke Train Display. Santa knew exactly what Nathan needed for Christmas-a train table.  For the entire month of December Nathan chased a motorized train around the house, with lips pursed saying "choo choo".

Having fun at MND's Santa's Breakfast

       Unfortunately, Nathan did not like Santa as much as he likes choo choos. We tried to see him on several occasions, and no matter what, he wasn't going to sit on Santa's lap and like it! While he had a great time at Mount Notre Dame's Santa Breakfast with his cousins, we didn't get a good reaction from "Ho Ho".  At Entertrainment Junction, the sugar cookies were better than the Santa experience, and at the Duke train display, we paid 27.00 to get the snapshot of Nathan looking up at Santa as if saying "Who the heck are you?"  

A family picture with Santa at Entertrainment Junction

      Nathan did enjoy all the lights, treats, and fun with family and friends. Daddy became Clark Griswald for a period of time. He rented a 40 foot ladder and decorated our house in lights for the first time in years.  Mommy became a little bit of  Martha-although way more sleep deprived at wired all a the same time. We made a gingerbread train with Colby, and decorated Mommy's homemade sugar cookies.   Shopping became strategic-one of us would take turns going in while Nathan napped.  And while our Christmas cards were not the ones I had envisioned, we went with the JCP portrait option and realized that an 18month old may not be able to smile on command (despite my practicing at home!) By Christmas Eve, all the baking, buying, cleaning, sending, wrapping, and recleaning was finished and we were reading.

This toy earns two thumbs up and one loud squeal of approval.

     
       Here come the Ritter's. My family always celebrates Christmas together on Christmas Eve, and after we moved into the house we're at now, we started having it here. While it's not a ton of people, they are so special! My three brothers and their families always attend. This year it meant three boys -Colby, 11, Jonathan, 3 1/2, and Nathan. We couldn't wait. Uncle Mike and Uncle Tony bought Nathan a Step2 rolleroaster. We quickly put it in the kitchen and the kids had a blast. There were squeals of delight-but they were often drowned out by the electric guitar that Colby was playing in the background. It was the loudest Christmas Eve the Ritter's have had in a while!

Santa left the perfect gift.

      Christmas morning with Nathan was magical. Santa left his train table in the living room under a blanket. When we brought him downstairs and lifted the cover, he knew immediately that it ws a "Choo Choo", and started playing with such concentration. Greg and I didn't even open our presents to each other.  It was no longer about us.

Opening lots of presents at Mimi and Papas

        Christmas Day was spent with the Homoelle's at Greg's parents house. Nathan was so spoiled by Mimi and Papa and his aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was so fun to see Nathan right in the middle of Rose, David, Michael and Sam opening all his presents. Later, the extended family joined us for a big gift exchange. Nathan sat on the floor again, the youngest of them all.  Our hearts overflowed with joy. As he ran around the big living room, we didn't have that empty feeling that struck us every year when we would watch all the cousins and we would be the only ones without kids. It felt so normal to have him there, and he had so much fun.
      Nathan was certainly our gift this year. We feel so blessed to get to see what Christmas is like through a child's eyes-our child's eyes.