After we got home from J & J's house on Christmas Eve, we packed little man off to bed, freshly showered, and in his new Christmas PJs.
Shortly thereafter, Santa was able to magically pull all these wonderful packages out for our well behaved little believer.
Zach and I love Santa- we believe in enjoying Santa and loving Santa as much as possible. We're not so much a fan of the "discipline" part of the idea (you better be good, Santa's watching) but we love the
SPIRIT of Santa Claus. After all, it's a great way of teaching children about the selflessness of the gift God gave us, on a level they can understand. AND, as a parent, it also teaches us to be humble too. After all, we all KNOW how much we put into Santa, but when credit goes to Santa and not you, it's humbling. But in the end,
as long as my child has a smile on his face, love in his heart and joy throughout the season, I don't care who gets the credit- my(our) work will have been worth it.
Besides, Santa Claus is, in my mind, the embodiment of the magic of the season (not the REASON, thank you- I don't need a lecture) and I love it. I believed wholeheartedly in Santa for a very long time, and I believe my childhood was richer for it.
*steps down off soapbox*
Continuing. Right. Along.
After Santa fell asleep on the couch, Mrs. Claus got to work on her boys' stockings. I'm deeply, madly in loathing with our stockings, but when I pulled out the Mickey stocking we bought last minute so Liam would have one last year, his squeals of glee let me see very clearly that it was the *right* one for him this year. I'm also pretty particular about stockings. They. Must. Be. Hanging. We just tend to buy too much (Zach's family does stockings in a big/great way!) and end up piling a few things up on top of their hangers. But darn it, I can stuff a stocking like nobody's business.
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-Christmas Morning-
Christmas morning, we spent as a sweet little family of 3. Zach got Liam up while I got the dogs outside to potty, and then we sat down to do Santa presents. Liam's big Santa gift was the FisherPrice Imaginext Big Foot-- He's got the big dinosaur from last year-- Spike, and we're just hoping that they continue to make these incredibly awesome toys every year because we love playing with them they're so cool.
When my brother and I were little, Santa brought our presents in special "Santa" paper. Since we were Norwegian residents at the time, Santa's paper was julenissen paper-- and I was beyond, BEYOND thrilled to find julenissen paper at IKEA a few weeks ago. Home it came, and Santa was thrilled by my find (meaning: I love it, Zach doesn't do the wrapping, so he deals).
Liam did pretty well by Santa this year- and we're hoping next year, he's brave enough to at least go and give Santa a hug in person.
Maybe not.
But we can hope, can't we?
