Christmas 2009

This was the first Christmas Santa Claus really came to visit our house. Shayne & I had way too much fun helping Santa out. The Bug really was a good boy this year, so Santa was very good to him. :)

I made our stockings...and that was an adventure in and of itself. I actually did quite a bit of sewing this Christmas, and I'm so grateful to Grandma Gerth for the sewing machine she gave me earlier in the summer. I tried to embroider our names on the tops, but was having some technical difficulties, but needed to get them done, so I did with some decorative stitching instead. Each one got a little better, so by the time I got to the Bugs...they weren't too bad. :) Shayne picked out most of the fleece...including mine, gotta love girl monkey's!! Why go normal and all traditional when you have Shayne in the house who likes to go against the grain a bit. Thank you Kaye for the board and vinyl lettering to hang them on. :)

Anyway...

The Bug finally got up around 9:30. Santa had wrapped most of his presents, but had left his CAT dump truck with some Hot Wheels cars in the back for him to see. He didn't notice them at first, but as soon as I pointed them out to him, he was quick to slide down the stairs to get to them. He immediately pulled out the Hot Wheels and started driving them on the ground making his little car noises. :) Too cute!

We let him play with those for a bit, then got his Stocking down so he could see the farm animals in it that went with the Barn he got as well. He played with those animals and his barn for quite awhile. Loved them!

Before we opened any presents, Shayne read the account of Jesus' birth in Luke 2. This was tradition in Shayne's family, and I'm so glad he has brought it into ours. I know it's so important to truly remember the reason for all the celebration. It was nice to just sit and contemplate for a few moments, on a morning/day that otherwise is crazy. Thank you Shayne for remembering what really is important.

After reading from the Bible, Shayne got a gift for The Bug. He was a little slow to recognize what we were doing, but if you ripped a little bit from the gift and he could see what was underneath, he was all about ripping of the paper. Most of the time he was just all about ripping the paper...forgot about the gift hiding underneath. :)

The Bug got all kinds of fun gifts. He received his very own stick horse...shortened so nicely by his Nana Price so he could ride it. ;) She and Papa Price also sent him the coolest wooden train. He thought it was so cool! You can see how much he loves it in the pics. After he played with it for awhile, we decided to put it away until he's a little older and can appreciate it and play with it a little better. He also got a very soft stuffed bear from his Great Grammy Gerth. He immediately took it from his dad, started carrying it around, put it down and then began to lay his head on it, b/c it was so soft. How cute is that?! :) He also got other gifts like books, some clothes (Carhart overalls...yeah!!), and more cars. He loves cars. So...Santa was very generous with The Bug this year...he really was such a good boy. :)

I surprised Shayne with a new Simms G4 Pro Wading jacket. He's had his other one for about 8 years, so was definitely due for a new one. He loved it! I knew he would. Shayne got me a new camera. I actually got it back in October, and have been using it, but we both agreed it would be my Christmas present. It's a Nikon D3000 and we got it in a package deal with two lenses, memory card and bag. It's a pretty sweet deal. I love it! He also got me a pair of real sheep skin slippers, which I wear all the time! I have such a good husband.

For breakfast we had Danish hotcakes, which comes from my family. Then we went over to the Swanson's and played a game of hockey on their lake with a bunch of other families. I'll put up a separate post for that. Later I fixed up our Christmas dinner...with Shayne's help of course. We had Cornish hens, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, corn, sweet potato casserole, and rolls. For desert we had pumpkin cheesecake or custard pie. It was delish!

I can't even tell you how wonderful our Christmas was this year. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to just be with my own little family. Shayne is my best friend, so there's no one else I would rather hang out with. And...who doesn't love their first born?! Watching The Bug be excited over wrapping paper and lights and bows was too much fun. I can't wait until next year when he "gets" it even more.

So that was our wonderful Christmas!