First Christmas

We had a nice, a low key Christmas this year. Aaron is too young to care about it and we have enough going on without the extra stress and work of wrapping even more gifts and putting up a tree and then taking it down 3 weeks later. Thom and I bought our own big gift this year (Thom got an internet tablet and I got new bedding for our bed) and then we got each other one gift to open on Christmas. We didn't get Aaron any gifts this year, but we do a gift exchange with my family, so he got something from all his aunts and uncles and we got gifts for all my nieces and nephews. Without a tree, we just put the gifts on the "holiday window seat" to await Christmas.

In lieu of a tree, we put together a basket of lights with some pine branches from the front yard, some pine cones and some pepper berries. We surrounded it with cards and holiday photos from friends and family.

We spent Christmas Eve with my sister Theresa's family and our parents. Theresa hosted a delicious dinner at her house. Aaron did pretty well, but after getting him home and into bed a little later than usual, Thom and I were so tired, we went to bed by 9pm.

Aaron got us up nice and early on Christmas as usual, and after feeding him and grabbing some coffee, we settled down on the couch to open presents. We only had a couple gifts between us, but Thom's sister Janine had sent gifts for us and for Aaron. Aaron seemed to enjoy his first gift:



And that was before he opened it! After opening his gifts, he was happy to play with the paper and ribbons. This is one of the reasons we did not bother buying him toys this year.

Aunt Janine and Uncle Bruce got Aaron a little glass ornament and a new book about a sheep named Russell who helps Santa after his sleigh breaks down. Aaron enjoyed his new book.

See the slideshow at the end of the blog entry for more pictures of Aaron opening his gifts and playing with the wrapping paper and ribbons.

After two naps and a bath, we headed down to my parents' house for Christmas with my family. Aaron did surprisingly well on only a short nap while we were there.

Aaron's cousins Noah and Grayson got electric guitars from Santa. Fortunately they did not bring their amplifier with them to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We had a good afternoon with my family. Aaron got a savings bond and a "1st Christmas" ornament from Grandma and Grandpa and several new outfits from his aunts and uncles, including a onesie that says "Science is Awesome!"

Today we explored a park near our house that has lots of trees, big rocks and a creek running through it. There were a lot of paths, some paved, some dirt. We found a nice play area at one end of the park and put Aaron in one of those infant swings for the first time. He seemed like he didn't know what to think about it. Then we played on some of the other equipment for toddlers and he really seemed to like a large gear assembly that you could turn and make several gears turn at once. I think we'll be going back to that park many times in the future.

Thom is taking off until Jan. 2, so it is nice having him around. Tomorrow our sitter is coming so I can get some work done and Thom can have some down time. She's working a late shift so we can go out to dinner, too. I'm looking forward to that. We've only gotten out together without Aaron a handful of times in 8 months, but it is something we need to do more often.