Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa VanderZwaag

We celebrated with my parents on the 26th because Sara had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas. When we arrived, both Jackson and Cohen were whinning and crabby. I was definitely worried about how the evening would go with Jackson like that. Anyways, once we started opening presents the boys cheered up. At first Jackson enjoyed helping Grandpa by throwing the wrapping paper away. Later he discovered that many of the presents had boxes so he had to put them on his head, climb in them and put items in them.

Aunt Sara had bought the boys matching Batman pajamas so we put those on and I can’t even begin to explain how cute it was watching the boys run into the living room with their capes flying!

Santa

Santa came to our Christmas party at my parents house. I was anxious to see how Jackson would do – last year he tried to pull Santa’s beard off. Well, when Santa knocked at the door Jackson ran to see who it was. When Santa walked around the corner, Jackson started screaming with fright! He clung to me and just stared at Santa. Hopefully next year he’ll enjoy Santa a bit more.

Christmas Morning

Christmas was definitely different for us this year versus last year. Last year Jackson was just starting to sit up and didn’t really understand what was all going on. This year was a different story! On Christmas morning we had Jackson open up a balloon and he was ecstatic when he opened it. It reminded me of how all those little things amaze him at this point. He didn’t want to open any more presents because he was so busy playing with the balloon.

A Dream Come True......

How did they know that this was all that I wanted for Christmas?

Christmas Pictures

It was that time of year again - Christmas picture time. I remember stressing about it last year as well... little did I know how bad this year would be! Jackson has a mind of his own and decided that he didn't really want a picture by the tree - therefore whenever we placed him by the tree he would run off much to my dismay. After three nights of trying we got a couple where he wasn't screaming or running. Lesson learned - Never again attempt pictures with an 18 month old!

Rock Band

I should’ve known when Luke said “I think we should get a Playstation 3”… Rock Band was soon to follow. Initially the PS3 was for Blu-ray movies (we only have one so that didn’t really make a difference). Then came Call of Duty and some sports games. Now, our living room is filled with not only toys and a Christmas tree but also a drum set! We got a call last week from someone saying that they had gotten some of our mail and we should really call them. Low and behold, they had gotten the Rock Band package in the mail that was supposed to come to us. It was like Christmas for Jackson and for Luke that night. Jackson just loved the big box and the many things that came out of it. Luke was thrilled to get everything out to play. Needless to say, Luke and I have “started a band” and are playing gigs to earn points. And, my parents were over so we had my dad try it out…. I’m thinking that he should stick to his day jobs;)

The Christmas Tree

We continued our tradition of getting our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving (after shopping with Lori of course!!!). Last year Jackson was too young to really appreciate the whole experience but this year was a lot more fun for him. Sara came with us this year so she could hang out with her little buddy, Jackson.

Our house smells like a Christmas tree now. Jackson hasn’t touched the tree yet. He admires it from afar and I did find him trying to peer into the tree as if something was there (perhaps a squirrel???).