Our plan this year was to stay at home and start a tradition for our kids of waking up in their own home on Christmas morning. Yeah...that didn't work out this year. Since Christmas was on the weekend, it worked out better for us to be in Florence for the entire weekend and get to spend some quality time with family there. My Aunt Judy and Uncle Bart were in town from Florida, so it was fun to get to spend an extended amount of time with them. Side story...My Uncle Bart does not have much hair anymore, and what he does have, he shaves off. Grant, on the other hand, has a ton of hair! (Have you seen the pictures of him recently?) Bart started teasing Grant about taking all of his hair. Grant really took it to heart, and has said to me many times (when we talk about getting his hair cut) that he needs to cut his hair and give it back to Bart! Anyways...just had to share. :)
On Christmas Eve we spent the afternoon and evening at Mommy's Grandma's house. It is always a fun event because everyone is there! Almost the entire extended family made it this year. It was crowded, loud, and tons of fun. We even got a special treat...my cousin, Josh proposed to his girlfriend, Amy. So sweet! I am thankful for each year that we get to celebrate this tradition with my Grandma still around. She is so loving and has done a wonderful job of raising her family to love God and each other. It makes for a beautiful time together.
Christmas morning we woke up at Poppop and Gammy's house. As usual, Auntie Addi and Auntie Kate were the first ones awake (early!) and woke everyone else up. Grant remembered right away that it was Christmas Day, and he was beyond excited to open all those presents he had been checking out under the Christmas tree. We always open stockings first though, so he had to practice patience (which is something we have been working on lately in anticipation of Baby Aubrie's arrival). When it came time to open the presents under the tree, Grant was really helpful in opening everyone's presents. He didn't care if they were for him or not, he just wanted to rip off the paper! I don't think I mentioned that he was the only little one there, so everyone was more than happy to let him open their gifts. I was so pleased with how he acted during this whole event. I was hoping that we hadn't gotten to the age where all he wants is more and more. I've seen kids open presents, throw them aside, and ask where the next one is. I'm not saying that this won't ever come from Grant, but this year I was happy that he seemed to enjoy each gift and wait (almost) patiently for his next turn. His favorite presents were the actual Toy Story characters in real size. I don't know if I've talked about his love for Toy Story, but he LOVES it and all the characters in it. (At some point I will get to blogging about his new "big boy" room with none other than Buzz and Woody as the main characters!) So he was in heaven when Gammy and Poppop got him all of his favorite buddies!
The day after Christmas we zoomed back to Medford to celebrate with Daddy's family. What could be more fun than opening a whole other round of presents under the tree? Grant had a blast playing with all of his cousins. His big cousins, Marissa, Tyler, and Brian from Salem, are some of his favorite people. He looks up to them so much and he tells me that he is going to "get bigger like Tyler and Brian". He is also having so much fun playing with the twins, Blake and Hailey. They are all finally getting to the age where they play together well. Grant gets caught between wanting to do little kid things (like watch Dora the Explorer episodes one after another) with Blake and Hailey, and doing big kid things (like chasing and big kid board games) with Tyler and Brian. He divides his time well though and has a great time whatever he's doing. The big hit for presents from Grandma and Poppin was a Diego rescue pack. Diego is another of his favorite characters, and he wore his rescue pack for about an hour or more!
Well, there you have it. Our Christmas :) We are so thankful for our families and the wonderful times we get to spend with them. The Lord has richly blessed us beyond all measure!
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