Christmas Eve

Sam is 2 and a half now. Last year he was somewhat interested in Christmas, but we were struggling with his casts and his surgical wound sites and skin grafts and everything. He was also extremely nonverbal, including very limited comprehension. This year he is speaking a bit more, and more importantly, he is understanding way more of what we say to him and is following directions, etc. So Christmas Eve was meant to be a big trial run of festivities and present opening to prepare him for the big family get-together today.

First thing, I realized that Sam's runny nose has now morphed into a slight cough, and therefore church is probably not a great idea. Aside from the obvious germ-sharing, he probably wouldn't be able to go to the nursery (if it's even open) and therefore it would just be a miserable experience for all of us. He really doesn't sit still or be quiet very well. But he's a 2 1/2 year old boy. You can only expect so much. Plus, Dan wasn't going to be home from work in time for us to attend the "family" version of Christmas Eve at Augustana. So it would just "just us" for Christmas Eve.

I had decorated our tree the night before, which consisted of newer, less breakable ornaments. Tada! But I forgot the candy canes.

Most of the presents were still in my office aka the gift wrapping room. I also hung up our stockings on the railing with yarn.

 

Good enough. I'm calling that "decorated". The presents were all wrapped by Christmas Eve morning, aside from the bows which I always put on at the last minute. Now I just needed to do a little cleaning and get ready to make a lasagna for dinner.

We opened our presents to each other while the lasagna was baking, and Sam wore his new spiderman PJs to bed. He still wasn't too interested in opening the presents, but once he could see what was inside, he was super-excited. He made me read both of his new Little Blue Truck books on the spot. It was a fun, quiet, laid-back kind of Christmas Eve.