Collin's First Christmas!

In our family, a little marathon training comes in handy when celebrating the holidays. Don't believe me? Keep reading... It started Christmas Eve when Collin got new Christmas PJ's. Then we re-enacted the Christmas Story with mommy's nativity set. The angel, who apparently dive bombed from the heavens, is recovering nicely from her concussion. Thanks for asking. Then it was The Night Before Christmas and Collin was tucked snugly into his bed.

Then it was time for Santa's helper to lay a little groundwork (seriously, are THAT many twisty things required for ANY toy) and leave a little snack for his impending arrival.

Christmas morning, Collin heard a strange noise coming from the family room. We were on our way to investigate, when he noticed that Santa didn't finish his milk and cookies.

Collin, being the big helper that he is, jumped in to help him out... (that's a cookie in his hand and pure delight on his face at the realization that he gets to eat it before breakfast) Then back to that noise...

Santa had left him a Mickey Mouse Choo-Choo. Note to Santa, you could have stopped there...

Note the complete disregard for all of the other gifts under the tree.

I finally managed to tear him away from Mickey and tried to draw his attention to the other toys Santa had left. We had celebrated his birthday earlier in the month which was the first time Collin had ever received gifts. Apparently Christmas concept is a little confusing still. I handed him a gift and he got a confused look on his face and said "It my birthday?" We'll work out the details later... :)

When the gifts had been opened, Collin felt the need to go shopping. And Rocket got to go with him.

After breakfast with mommy, we loaded up the car and went to Grandma Great's house. You can tell the merriment of the day is already catching up with him.

At Grandma Great's house, you sit patiently and wait for everyone to get their gift. I don't think Collie had any idea why he was waiting so patiently, but he did it anyway.

And it was well worth it. We love our new dinosaur book. Thanks Grandma!!

After Grandma Great's we headed to Grandma's house for a little more Christmas cheer. About 40 minutes away. I figured Collin would fall asleep in the car and take a little nap. Wishful thinking. He fell asleep as I turned the corner right BEFORE Grandma's house. We did manage to get a few cute pictures before suffering a complete meltdown. Total celebration time, 11 hours and 27 minutes, give or take. Told you, training comes in handy. We had fabulous Christmas, made all the merrier because Collin was here to celebrate. Merry Christmas my sweet boy!