Christmas 2012, Part 1

Christmas was obviously quite a but different this year with baby boy but it was by far our best yet. We usually go to my brother's house on Christmas Eve but this year our family came to us so we could put Gray to bed and still be able to hang out. We spent that night enjoying good food and opening presents. He loved tearing into the paper and trying to eat it. Gray got lots of books and some toys and clothes. His cousins got him a Braves bib with their own money which was so sweet! Mama and Daddy got him a few books and a Leap Frog learning table.















Books are one of the most valuable things he could ever have and I will make sure he knows that as soon as he is old enough to understand. From hand me downs and gifts, he has quite a full bookshelf and it just makes my heart happy, happy, happy!
Christmas morning we went to my brother's house to see what Santa brought and had a big breakfast like we always do. We aren't sure what, if any, level of Santa we are going to do with Gray (I know that just breaks a lot of hearts and maybe I will explain our reasons in another post sometime) but for this year he didn't know the difference so we just let Santa do what Santa wanted to do. Mugger and Gram Santa brought Gray a rocking horse and more toys and books. This rocking horse is just the cutest thing. He neighs and moves his head and tail when you push his ear. PA-RESH!












 

We usually head to Paul's parents on Christmas Day but decided we will start going the day after. It's hard breaking tradition but we want to start our own traditions with the three of us and thankfully both sides of our families were more than understanding about switching some things up this year. We were home by lunch time from my brothers on Christmas Day and it was so nice not rushing off anywhere and spending time as a little family.






Paul and I didn't buy each other gifts this year due to our right budget with me staying home with Gray. Any extra money we do have these days we'd rather spend on an experience rather than something tangible anyway. I have to admit I really missed buying for Paul but our sweet boy is more than worth any and every sacrifice we have had to make and he is far better than any gift we could ever buy. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and headed out right at dark to look at Christmas lights-a new tradition we want to do every Christmas night. We made it through one neighborhood before the screaming began. It was very close to the kind of screaming we heard back in the colic days. I have been slowly introducing dairy back into my diet and I'd had quite a bit of cheese over the past couple of days. I was scared to death that it wasn't going over well with Gray. I felt so guilty and sad for him and we were scared to death about what it might mean for the next couple of days, especially with a five hour drive ahead of us. We tried pulling over and getting him out of his car seat to calm him down but nothing worked. We headed for home as fast as we could and when we were almost there he fell asleep. He was totally fine when he woke up and for the rest of the night so I guess he was just exhausted. We were so relieved. And there will be many more years to look at Christmas lights.
Coming soon-Christmas Part 2 at Nana and Grandpa Hicks'
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