Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

Brian was able to take Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and a few days after. We were super excited to be able to have this Christmas with Joshua with him having some comprehension of what was going on. Joshua was already loving the Christmas tree and village. Every morning when he would wake up he would make us turn on the tree lights and the village lights. They had to remain on throughout the entire day. He even learned to say "skaters" to make us turn on the ice skating rink in the village.

Christmas eve Brian still had one more present to buy. He took Joshua with him to the store so that I could relax. Then I took Joshua on a walk (the roads were actually clear) so that Brian could relax. When Joshua took a nap Brian and I cooked Christmas dinner. We had ham, potatoes, green beans and mushrooms, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, and pie. It was delicious.

After dinner we went to a living nativity a local church put on. That was really good. We were greeted by Roman soilders. then we waited in line for about 15 minutes. In line they had some animals to look at, and I walked Joshua around to keep his patience up. Then we went into a barn where the nativity was. They had horses in the barn and the smells of the barn were there. Since I grew up with horses the barn smells don't bother me, but I can't imagine having a baby in a barn. They read scriptures and we sung Christmas carols. Joshua was really good during it. The whole program probably took 10-15 minutes. Afterwards they had cookies for us.

Christmas morning was great. We slept in a little bit because Joshua doesn't know one day from another and didn't wake up super early. We got Joshua up and he went out to tell us to turn on the tree, then he saw the kitchen set that Santa brought him. He was totally enamoured with it. Brian and I showed him how it worked. The stove lights up and makes noise when you press it in. That is Joshua's favorite part. It took him a while to figure out how to do it himself. He has decided that chest bumping it is the best way to turn it on. It cracks me up to watch him do it.

Brian and I started opening our presents while Joshua played. We could hardly pull him away to open any of his presents. After a while we had breakfast: cinnamon rolls, bacon, eggs, and orange juice. Joshua brought a play bowl and spoon to the table and was so busy pretending to eat that he wouldn't eat actual food. We had to feed him ourselves like he was 6 months old to get him to eat. After breakfast Brian and I opened more presents while Joshua played with his kitchen some more. After a while we dressed Joshua up in his snowsuit and pulled him around the neighborhood in the sled. He even got to slide down some snow piles. He thought that was really fun. After lunch and a nap Brian and I finally decided to open the rest of Joshua's presents. The next day Joshua would play with the other toys the next day, but Christmas was the kitchen day. We had a really fun Christmas and enjoyed spending it with Joshua.