merry christmas.

i told you about the christmas eve blizzard in 2009 and i'm happy to report that she was no where near oklahoma this year.  thank you baby jesus.  therefore, we got to celebrate with our families like normal.  my normal is hanging out, eating too much and somehow finding room for some fudge.  never fails.  there is always room.

the tradition for christmas eve has been to go to my sister's house and eat chicken and noodles, other yummies, decorate santa cookies and open one present.  can you guess what it is?  yes.  if you guessed christmas jammies, you were correct.  so original, i know.  but who doesn't need love new pajamas??!  i'll just let you know that last year i was a little late in the game in ordering james' first christmas jammies.  oh my goodness.  when i realized this, i was devastated!  i was searching local stores high and low.  i ended up with gap stripped jammies and one big, fat shipping fee.  totally worth it.

these were cute until about the third wash and the red stripes kind of faded into the white and they looked more like pink and red pajamas.  good through valentine's day, right?

this year i was much more on top of it.  i did not want my baby to not have christmas jammies.  i, of course, scoured the internet for some cute ones and again i ordered from baby gap.  i swear i should just buy some stock.  anyway, they are so cute.  i ordered his new size, 2t, but they are a little big so he has some grow room. of course james got to open his present.  i was hoping that he would love it.  love the paper.  love everything.  not really.  he did enjoy the tissue paper...but i had to open his present for him.

he loved stuffing the tissue paper in this truck.

i could not get him to sit still or remotely pose for a nice picture in his new jammies so we put the truck by the tree.  at least this way i could get him and the tree in the same picture.  oh, and see the truck.  he loved that toy.  it wasn't even a christmas present.  it was a toy that used to be my nephew's.  my sister held on to some random toys for younger children who may visit.  i think james played with this toy and the vet/doctor set more than any other toys while we were out there.  you know, children play with the "free" toys.  never fails.

so, after playing and playing we had to take james home before we could decorate christmas cookies.  it was okay though because by this point i had realized that james just wasn't catching on to the whole christmas/baby jesus/gifts/family time thing.  i think the closest thing he came to understanding was that he was on the santa clause diet.  milk and cookies only.  do you remember when i left james for the first time at the beginning of december?  well, i came back and my genius had learned his first two syllable word.  the first non-repeating, two syllable word.  cooook-ie.  it is so sweet.  he says it so innocently.  well, this stole every one's heart this holiday and if he asked for a coookk-ie, he got a cookie.

james fell asleep on the way home and we set out the santa presents.  we all went to sleep and woke up to james' internal alarm clock.  we set out all excited to see the presents under the tree.  james walked out and squealed with delight.  then i am not kidding, he walked straight over to the tv.  turned it on and paid zero attention to the presents.  so, we once again packed up to head out to my sister's and celebrate with family.

grammie got him lots of melissa & doug goodies.  big hit at our house.  see that doctor's toy.  not new but i told you he wouldn't let that stuff go all weekend.

love at first sight. 

toy story 3 and these characters (mr. h doesn't think james has dolls) are inseparable.  keeping up with woody's hat has been the biggest challenge.  it's the most important, james' favorite toy and the easiest to lose.  go figure.  luckily, i know exactly where it is right now.  on my night stand.  perfect place, right?

meet bullet!!! 

you guys - this horse rocks, neighs, moves its head and tail.  it is pretty much awesome but a little too tall for james. he's a little scared of it.  he'll grow into it just right though.

obviously i'm not in any pictures.  if i were i'd be in my cute christmas jammies too.  except for i didn't sleep in them on christmas eve so that they would still look clean and crisp for christmas day.  i cheated.  i get too.  i'm the mom.  i actually didn't take very many pictures.  i was more interested in opening presents and chasing james all over the house.  i have some to document the moment but most of the memories are kept in my heart.  i loved spending so much time with my family.  i loved being together.  family just warms your heart and fills your soul with such immeasurable joy.  and that to me is the best christmas present i could have ever asked for.