An early Christmas at home

I love spending the holidays with family. I mean, I really, really, truly love it. We have been so lucky to be able to go "home" to our parents' houses for Christmas for the past few years, and we're grateful that we'll get to do the same for the next couple years. But we also know that there will come a day that we won't fly to Utah for Christmas and will therefore celebrate the holidays entirely with our own little family. When that time comes, I'll love that, too, since I think it's important to have our own little family identity and traditions and memories, as well as a place in our big families. Because of that, we started doing our own, small, early Christmas before heading to our parents' homes for the big day (see last year's here.) 

So this year, we paused the unpacking less than a week into our new home and put up Christmas instead! We put up the tree, decorated the porch, strung up our garland, and hung the stockings over the fireplace. Jake woke up the next morning and "ooooh"ed and "wow"ed at all the sparkly lights. I think he approved. The living room became his first favorite place, where he could take off shiny "balls" and present them to mommy, dance under the Christmas disco ball, or serenade us with Christmas carols at the piano. (Surely those songs must have been carols, right?)

Matt and I scheduled our early Christmas celebration for the Sunday before Christmas, right after church (which ended earlier than normal for us since that's the day Jake came down with his fever). We brought our little sickie home, gave him some Tylenol, took a family nap, and then headed down to the Christmas tree. Jake happily ripped open his gift and started playing with his new blocks under the lights. After a few minutes, we stole him away from his toys and took him to the backyard where his big Christmas present awaited.

We found the perfect toddler-sized swing set for a steal of a deal and were so excited to bring it home for our little guy. He loved swinging at Grammie and Grandpa's house every day that we stayed with them (for three months) and it would have been a shame for the fun to end just because we moved into our own house. Jake saw the swing set and squealed as he ran toward the swing with his arms up. After a few moments of us catching up, he stood there holding the swing expectantly -- "So are we going to use this or what, Mom?" And oh, the joy when he was in the air! I don't think a baby could get any happier. (Especially a baby with a fever of 102.) We then taught him how to climb up his little tower and spotted him while he went down the slide over and over and over again. I think it's safe to say that our early Christmas was a hit.

(PS-We'd accidentally left the stakes at my parents' house, which is why the swing set wasn't in the grass yet. No worries, it won't be on the cement for long!)