A December to Remember!

This December was truly amazing! It was our first Holiday season with our sweet boy and it all started after our wonderful thanksgiving when we put up our Christmas tree. I must admit I was a little hesitant about putting up our tree with our glass ornaments on our tile floor with a newly walking 11 month old, but i was so surprised by how great Mason was with the tree. We put out all our decorations while he was sleeping and the next morning when he woke up, i carried him into the living room and he was awe struck by the lighted Christmas tree. I was smart enough to put the less breakable ornaments on the bottom but Mason was so gentle with the tree. All month he has loved the tree, he waves at it, he sits next to it and stares, he touches the branches gently, he lightly touches the ornaments with his finger tips. He even tries his best to say the word tree, he says "eee". If you ask him where the tree is, he will walk over to it. I hate that we are going to have to pack it up, I'm afraid it will be disappointing to him. The one thing that we unfortunately cannot pack away and clear out of our living room is all the toys mason got for Christmas. On Christmas eve we went Landon's parents house in the afternoon and exchanged our gifts with them. Mason got a light up drum, two books, a megablocks boat, a music cube, and a toy tractor. Later we all headed to Landon's grandmother Hinson's house where Mason enjoyed playing with all of his cousins and we were excited to announce our family news. Mason enjoyed his new toy truck, race car, turtle toy, and new outfit. He loved being around all of the other kids and was so excited at everything that was going on. After a great night of wonderful family, food, and fun, we went home and put Mason to bed on his very first Christmas Eve! The next morning we woke up, Mason enjoyed his bottle on his bean bag and Landon and I enjoyed a cup of coffee. My mom came down the hill to our house and we opened our Christmas gifts. Mason had little interest in opening his gifts on his own, so Ling-Ling jumped right in and helped tear in to his gifts. He got a push cart, a monster puzzle, a pair of pj's, a tractor ride toy, some bath boats, train cars, stacking cups, and a play tent. Landon surprised me with a new ipod and a few weeks earlier i surprised him with a new salt water fish (a lunar wrasse) for our aquarium. After a few hours of playing, eating breakfast, and cooking our dishes for lunch at my moms, we got ready and went to my moms house for Christmas with my family. My brother and his wife and two girls came over and we had a delicious lunch and then opened gifts. Mason got an alligator piano, an Eeyore stuffed animal, a Monica the moo cow lawn mower, some clothes, and some cute little stocking stuffers. He got an adorable pair of toy story pj's from his cousins. Later that day we went to Landon's Grandparents on his dads side, the Greenes. They had music and food at the fellowship hall near their house and when we got there Landon jumped right in with his guitar and played hours of bluegrass while Mason and i visited, played, open presents, ate yummy food, danced to the music and played some more. Mason had such a big time walking around and being the center of attention, waving and smiling and being so adorably cute!! He loved the music so much and would wave at his daddy and walk over to his daddy while he was playing, he would try to touch his daddy's guitar and at one point even turned his papaws bass guitar off while he was playing. He loved bopping and dancing to the music and when the music would change to a fast paced song Mason would just about burst with excitement, clapping his hands and waving his arms around in excitement. He had a great time seeing everyone, being some place new and opening his gifts. He got so many neat toys like a set of weebles with a merry-g0-round, a sing-a-ma-jig doll, a jack in the box, a drum pad, a pillow pet puppy, a shape sorter toy, and a clock toy. He had such a great time playing with all of his new toys and was entertained for hours with them. He also loved playing with his cousin Carson who was there, and they had a lot of fun together. We also got to share our exciting announcement with Landon's family as well (more on the exciting news in an upcoming post). It was a long two days of Christmas celebrations but we enjoyed every minute of it!! And I'm really looking forward to next Christmas when Mason will hopefully get the hang of opening his own gifts!! Now we just have a couple of weeks till mason's first birthday!! I can't even believe he will be turning ONE! This year has flown by in a flash, and has been the happiest and most exciting and joyful year of my life!!