Christmas Part I: At Home

Zooming down the hall Christmas morning.

Luke had a wonderful second Christmas. He had a lot of fun at his first Christmas, as he was almost a year old, but nothing like this year. He had an idea about Santa, mostly that he brought presents, so that when we told him Santa came to visit he was out to the family room like a streak of lightning. He knew how to unwrap, though once he had a few cars to play with, the interest level waned quickly. And clothes? Forget about it.

And boy, does Luke love those drums!

Every time he is done playing the drums (which he does with both enthusiasm and vigor) he tosses the drum sticks up in the air and walks away. A rockstar already.

Santa is coming!

So Santa enlisted Todd's help this year in assembling Luke's drum set for Christmas morning. And when we say drum set, we mean honest-to-goodness-cymbal-bass-snare-etc-and-all kind of drum set. We are crazy. Or we have been naughty this year and Santa has decided that a drum set for a 2 year old is way more entertaining than coal.

Though Todd enjoys the drum set with or without Luke.

Best Christmas Present EVER.

We had been pretty quiet during the home purchasing process, but since we received the keys today and officially closed, we can now announce that we are homeowners. :) We found the house a month ago (the second house we looked at) and are amazed at how quickly the process was. The homeowners loved their home and were the original owners. They were pleased to be able to pass on their home to a young family who planned on staying there for a good long time and appreciated all the work they put into the home. They left a lot of wonderful things for us (patio furniture, gardening equipment, Christmas lights - for next year- etc.) and were lovely to work with. Thank you Benford Team for all your hard work getting this through so quickly!

Peeking through our kitchen opening

Our front step - I love that the house is blue with a red door - my dream home!

Mmmmm . . .

We decided to hit up Red Robin for an early dinner, where everyone can eat happily and without a great deal of mealtime frustration. Of course, Luke loves it because he gets a milkshake at the end if he eats his dinner. And boy, does he eat his dinner! Chocolate milkshake with whipped cream and sprinkles? Check.

Cookie time!

Does a Christmas cookie by any other name taste as sweet?

Nope. Christmas cookies are the special time of year for cookies. The sweet deal with Mommy and Daddy as teachers is that the sweets roll in like a tidal wave. Mommy treated the last day of school before the break with a Christmas cookie. And I got a green tongue. Yummy!


Now I'm waiting patiently for Great-Grandma's Christmas cookies. And that's better than any other cookie.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree. . .

During the chaos of December (more on that later) we had decided not to get a tree, much to my disappointment. Thanks to Brent and Sam, when they went for a tree, they brought us our little "Charlie Brown" tree. It is about the size of Luke and he is completely disinterested in it. And of course, to a toddler (specifically my toddler) it doesn't move, it doesn't have wheels or bounce. Not interesting at all.

But, we're going to cave. We're getting the tree. Christmas is at our place this year and we'd really like to decorate it. Just a little last minute :)

Talking with Luke

Luke is a very conversational kid - he always has something to say and babble on about, whether understood or not.



But today, very clearly, he said his first official complete sentence.
And those who know Luke, will not be surprised:

"Where is Sally?"