Merry Christmas from our family to yours! As we imagined, this Christmas was much more eventful than last year. Maximus got into the holiday spirit and enjoyed all the attention, food, and gifts. It’s hard to tell which he enjoyed more – handing out gifts or opening them. The only glitch is that the first person we told him to give a gift to….was the same person to get all the gifts for the rest of the night. At one Christmas he kept taking gifts from my dad and giving them to me. At the next one, he kept taking everything and giving it to my father-in-law.
I didn’t wrap any of our presents until the week before Christmas so Maximus didn’t have much experience with NOT messing with the gifts. I was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t even pay attention to them. He didn’t need much coaching when it came time to open the gifts. One little tear so he could see where the paper was, and the rest was history. When he opened his first gift he needed a little mommy comfort.
The next time he opened a gift, he was more independent. He ripped right into the gift {and immediately wanted the gift out}. As you can see, Bryan was taking pictures over the mountain of Maximus gifts. He must have been a very good boy this year!
Pictures from my in-laws house looks much the same, except he was the only grandson there this year. Needless to say, by the end of the night he was CR-A-ZY. We’ve never seen him bouncing off the walls like he was. He was climbing up and down the stairs. Constantly running out of the family room. And being all around crazy. And that was before he ate half of my cheesecake. I know, I know. It wasn’t my fault. If you’ve ever been close to a toddler bedtime, you’d decide that letting him sit on your lap while you eat is worth the quiet. Except of course when he grabbed his fork and tried to steal half of my cheesecake in one bite. In the end I think he ate at least half of it. And then we put him to bed…. š
I think Maximus enjoyed our family Christmas the most. It was just us and he had a pile of presents in front of him. He got to unwrap and play at his own pace while we took pictures and watched. Thankfully I was armed and ready with the camera when Bryan sent him into the living room to find mommy. Here he is rounding the corner on Christmas morning.
He walked up to me and the camera and said, “hi.” Then walked past and sat down to play with a toy my sister had bought him. He didn’t even notice that he walked right past his gift from Santa. We let him play a little bit and then showed him his new instruments.
He’s loving all of his new toys. I don’t think he has a favorite toy this year. I think he loves everything. We did leave a few gifts in the boxes and put them in the closet. After all, how many toys does one 17-month old little boy need? I spent the day after Christmas boxing up “old” toys and putting them into storage for a while. Some may not come back out because they’re for babies. {I keep putting them in the closet but he keeps brining them back out. Now he can’t see them in the totes!} The other toys will cycle back out in a few weeks or months, depending on the fun he has with these. Come spring time, we’ll blow his mind with a few of the bigger, more intricate items that he got.
This Christmas gig sure is a good thing. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, year round! Our family had such a wonderful Christmas and we hope you had the same!
