Christmas memories

Merry Christmas, son.

I have been asked several times how Christmas was for Stephen and our family. He seemed to really enjoy the fact that lots of people came to visit and brought him a present. It may take us a while to help him understand that all visitors do not come bearing gifts for the prince.

Here are some moments we managed to capture

Helping mommy put stamps on the envelopes. If your stamp was crooked on your Christmas card..now you know why. After he was done each time he would say "dood job!"

First, my cousin Wendy and her family came to visit and celebrate Christmas the weekend before. Before we moved away, we would all go to my aunt's house and get this brood together to celebrate before we all went our separate ways for Christmas day. There are now eight cousins and it makes for an interesting noise factor. The cousins all have a wonderful time together and can get quite silly as you can see. All three of my cousin's children were just taken with Stephen and coddled him the whole weekend. I told you.. I see rottenness in his future.

My sister and my nephew, Ethan were also here. They remained with us through Christmas day (along with Grammy and Papaw) and made our celebrations complete. Melissa was particularly thrilled when Stephen called her by name "Too Too".

Stephen, Anna Claire and Mung Mung (Chaya). He has grown to love our dog more than anyone and follows her throughout the house calling her name. She is quite tolerant, bless her.

Officially one of the crew. After a long day of visiting..everyone unwinds with a game of Mario Cart..Fortunately, we had already watched the Nativity Story before they crashed.

The Lucas family

The first time I saw this photo I suddenly understood why we have so much laundry at our house. Who knew there were so many of us?

More fun with Nuna and Katie.

The best thing about a big sister is that she can drive you around with her new set of wheels. Austyn has been begging for a scooter for three years. I did not cave, I was overruled (by Dick Van Dyke, of course)

One of Stephen's favorite presents: his Thomas the Tank engine train set. He does love some cars and trains. This was a huge hit and at any given moment throughout the day one can hear the sound of little battery operated trains running around and around the track. Jon says he knows what Stephen will buy with his gift cards this year: Batteries. :-)

All in all, he enjoyed Christmas and all of the excitement. I would love to be able to ask him what he was really thinking or feeling inside..or maybe not. I kept wondering if he had an idea what all the fuss was about since they do celebrate Christmas in Korea and at AMSA (from what they said). I believe he was a bit overwhelmed from all of the people and activity. He handled it well, but then took a five hour nap the day everyone left. Who wouldn't have?

One of my Christmas gifts was a tri-pod. Go figure. This shot of our family is a true reflection of the moment..Wilson with his peppermint stick and Ethan taking his hands down from the bunny ears he was making on Jon's head, and the girls were ill because they never ate anything but candy after breakfast *sigh* Merry Christmas, right?

Stephen had a hard time telling his Grammy and papaw bye-bye. He was very sad and appeared to be a bit confused. I think he really enjoyed having them around and was genuinely sad to see them leave. Once they were in the car and he waved them goodbye, he seemed to relax a little. I am sure he will be glad when everything is not a learning process or a struggle to understand what is happening.

If you were not here..we missed you. Please know that we look forward to celebrating with our loved ones who live away and just bringing Christmas cheer into the new year.