The Aftermath

Another Christmas has come and gone. It's bittersweet for me because I love the joy, excitement, and purpose of Christmas but it's such a letdown when the last gift is unwrapped and the last guest leaves, when the tree comes down and the manger scene is put away. The happiness can be found in knowing there will be another year (hopefully) and all the feelings will come rushing back again next year. As always, I've promised myself to enjoy the season more next year but I think this year I got off to a pretty good start.

This year Christmas was a bit different for me. I got to observe it through the eyes of a 2-year old. What simple pleasures it brought, genuine happiness, and pure joy it was for him. I'm not sure if he was more excited to have family around or if was the excitement of ripping open gift after gift (since he pretty much single-handedly opened every gift under the tree for everyone).

Santa's elves were up busy Christmas Eve assembling the beloved train set. I felt like Wes and I were testing our relationship like the couples often do on the Amazing Race. Well if that one night was any indication, we should sign up for the show pronto! We didn't argue one time and the table was assembled with no leftover missing pieces to spare. Wes decided to assemble it down in the basement where it would permanently reside. I thought we needed to have it under the tree but he took care of that. Wes told Colin the next morning that we had to look all around the house to make sure we didn't miss anything from Santa. We looked upstairs, nothing, we looked under the tree and found a package from Santa. Colin eagerly opened it, as I sat there fighting back tears (yes, I'm always this emotional). It was 4 books and he was thrilled. He said, "WOW," as if that was all Santa had left.

Wes and I both agreed he would have been perfectly content had that been his only gift from Santa. What can I say, the kid loves books and I love his innocence! I then asked him if he thought maybe Santa left him something down in the basement. "Yep," he said and off we went. When he saw the train table, he let out the same "WOW" but this time it was much more drawn out and with more feeling. He loved it and played down there for almost an hour while I cooked breakfast for everyone.

Pictures tend to tell the story better than I can, so here are a few of Colin mastering the gift opening procedures. Take note that none of the gifts he's opening are his own.

It doesn't look as if anyone seems to mind though.