christmas

I love Christmas. Out of all of the seasons and times and holidays throughout the year, Christmas is by far my most favorite. But having a baby and experiencing Christmas with him in awe and wonder of the lights and the magic and everything else has made me fall in love with this season yet again.

Monday before Christmas we went to see Santa but because the line had been so long the other times we tried to go, we decided to get there bright and early when Santa first arrived to be at the beginning of the line. You guys. When I heard Santa walking up behind us, his bells jingling on his heavy boots, I almost cried. I was saying, "Look Maddox! There's Santa!" I had the youngest child in line and I was the most excited parent by far. By leaps and bounds, actually. And Maddox couldn't have cared less (except he was thinking, "Gimme that beard! I wanna pull it!") and he sat on Santa's lap and gave the biggest, best smile and we all melted.

That afternoon Evan had two Christmas Eve services to work at church and I had a list of things to finish before Christmas and so Evan went off to work and I went to my mom and dad's house. Evan surprised me a few hours later and told me to pack it up, we were going on a date. So we did. To our favorite brewery where we had big kids drinks and big kid conversation and there were no cheerios involved and no diaper bags in sight.

When we were leaving, Evan made me put on a blindfold because he was taking me to my Christmas present which was a surprise hour of private ice at our little ice rink. You guys. I died. I was SO surprised. When I saw where we were I was so excited and then when we walked in to an empty building with fresh ice, I died again. So we skated for over an hour and I missed my old figure skating days so much. But this just made me so excited to teach our children how to skate. Because you know I will.

This gift he gave me was so thought out and such a sign of his love for me. It showed me how much he loves me far better than any gift wrapped in pretty paper and topped with a bow ever could. I kept saying that we needed to go on one last 2013 date and then he pulls this out of his pocket and blew my measly "date night" out of the water. I love him so much. I can't even.

And then obviously we opened gifts on Christmas morning with the babe in tow. I tore open his presents and then tried to get him to rip the paper but all he wanted to do was eat the bows and pieces of tape and ribbon and then eat Evan's candy bar and pull on the tree. So we opened his presents and ooh'd and ahh'd over all his new toys even though Maddox could not have cared less. But it was still magic and it was still the best first Christmas.

We did Christmas jammies for Maddox (found here). They are the cutest, softest things and I'm probably going to buy 15 more pairs because seriously. How cute?!

And now the tree is gone, Christmas is put away, the Christmas clearance sales have been shopped and I am so thankful for this first Christmas for our baby boy. It was pure magic.