Still Catching Up: Christmas Eve

It feels strange to not have some sort of big family plans on Christmas Eve and just sort of do our thing. Guess we're still adjusting. We tried to get Paw-Paw to come, but he wanted to wait until Christmas morning, so we just had a quiet Christmas Eve day.

Spence and I finished some pretty sparkly ornaments and decorated cookies for Santa.

Then we spent the afternoon playing and hanging around the house until time to go to a party down the street hosted by Charlie's parents, Anne and Alex. We stayed there a few hours, then came home to get everything in place for Santa. It was late, so posed photos just weren't happening. This is all I have! Spencer didn't want to write a letter to Santa this year. Not sure what that was all about...so we left cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and called it a night.

Spencer went to sleep fairly quickly, then Dave and I finished wrapping a couple of presents and I had my usual quiet moments gazing at our pretty tree, wanting Christmas to last a little longer.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas plans changed a little at the last minute this year. Paw-Paw was going to come back with us to Austin from Aunt Bobbie's house, but he wasn't feeling up to it. So for the first time ever, we had nothing going on Christmas Eve. We had a relaxing day, visited with some friends, then came home to bake cookies and get ready for Santa's visit.

Like last year, Spencer dictated a letter to Santa. This one said:

"Dear Santa, What do you want for Christmas?
Do you know what we have for Christmas?
Cookies and milk and water for you, Santa, and carrots for the reindeer." 

Then he signed his name and we got everything set for Santa and his crew.

Before he went to sleep, Spencer made us promise not to stay up too late so that Santa wouldn't skip our house. After a couple of last-minute preparations, I took a few minutes to admire our pretty tree and count my blessings before we settled our brains for a long winter's nap.

Spencer's 4th Christmas

Sometimes the big events in our lives seem too "big" to blog. The perfectionist in me is so worried about capturing all the memories "just right" that I get paralyzed and just never do it (for ex., I never did manage to blog about our fabulous vacation this summer...). Something to work on in the new year, I suppose. With that said, here is my positively imperfect retelling of Christmas 2011.

On Christmas Eve we met Paw-Paw, Renee and Chris at Dianne and Scott's house in Katy. We decided that the first Christmas without Grannie needed a change of venue and Dianne and Scott were kind enough to host. It was a fun afternoon and Spencer got quite a haul of goodies, including a cash register and two Thomas the Tank Engine track sets. After a delicious BBQ rib feast, we headed back to Austin to prepare for Santa's arrival.  

Spencer changed into his official Christmas jammies then prepared a plate of milk and cookies for the Man in Red. Daddy also suggested that he leave some carrots for the reindeer. We didn't get to visit Santa this year (when we went to the Kerbey Lane Doll Shop on the 23rd, we found out one of Santa's elves was sick and Santa couldn't be at the store that day), so Spencer dictated a letter for him. Santa liked it so much that he even wrote a note back to Spencer - and got sooty fingerprints on it in the process! And the reindeer must've enjoyed eating their carrots - we found part of a gnawed carrot outside on the patio. Once the preparations were complete, Spencer went to bed.

Spencer woke up around 7:30 on Christmas morning and was excited but patient as Mommy and Daddy  got out of bed, grabbed the camera and made our way into the living room. If you watched the videos in the previous post, you got a glimpse into his sweet little reactions to everything. What a joy to watch him experience the magic of Santa and Christmas! Luckily Santa was able to make Spencer's wish come true - he delivered a train table with all sorts of new tracks, trains and gear. We opened lots of gifts, including a bunch of awesome dress-up gear from the Loves, and then played with the new toys until it was time to go to Geep and Pop's in the afternoon.

At Geep and Pop's there were plenty of fun gifts, including more pieces to add to the Busytown playset Spencer received from Mommy and Daddy. Geep and Spencer baked gingerbread cookies before dinner (how fun!), then we sat down to a beautiful meal. Before bed, we took a drive through the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

We were blessed with a wonderful holiday and such generosity from our family and friends. This is just a glimpse into the festivities - peruse the December photo album for even more of the story. Here's to health, happiness and love in the new year!