Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Our family celebration began Christmas Eve, meeting Mimi and Papa for some Cracker Barrel breakfast, kind of a tradition for them. The food did not disappoint. I'm pretty sure CB hashbrown casserole never disappoints.


Luke's on a real kick about not being last. But Friday morning at breakfast he was inadvertently the last to order his beverage. I didn't anticipate this being a problem, but he was already not thrilled about being at CB (not his favorite) and upset they didn't have french fries (since it was 9:30 a.m.). So he began to cry saying he didn't want to be last to order. And the sweet waitress looked at Mimi and said, "I'm sorry. What did you want again?" and Mimi repeated her order, making her the last to order. So kudos to you CB server for not judging me or my child and helping out. You made my day.

Then we went back to Mimi and Papa's house for some gift exchanging. We would see them again on Christmas Day, but other family would be there and we wanted a little time to open presents with just us.

Luke was very excited about his gift.



As he opened the Wii Draw (I think the actual name is U draw. I totally don't understand switching up the misspelled pronouns), he said, "Just what I needed!" U Draw comes with a "game" which is a pretty cool drawing program. I'm sure a little artist would love it. Luke, far from an artist, was intrigued but after a while switched to some of his favorite Wii games.



Luke showing Mimi the photo calendar we gave her.


Christmas Eve night Luke was very excited. He asked many times where Santa was. I showed him the online Santa tracker (Norad, or something like that). We watched one of the "videos" of Santa in London. Luke watched for a minute and said, "That's a cartoon. Is the Santa coming to our house a cartoon?"

I've never really pushed the Santa thing with Luke. At age 2, 3 & 4, he just wouldn't have understood it. We were so busy just teaching him talk and some basic skills, talking about Santa was just not a priority. This year he's talked about him a lot. I think he's heard and learned a lot from friends at school.

We watched a bit of Santa Buddies on the Disney Channel. Perhaps the worst Christmas movie ever. George Wendt, a.k.a. Norm from Cheers, was Santa. Very disturbing. During the movie Luke watched Santa flying through the air and told me it was the same video that had been on the Norad Santa Tracker. I think he was right. Hard to get one past this boy.




But he still kept an eye for ol St. Nick.

Getting ready for bed Christmas Eve night, though he told me repeatedly he wasn't tired.

The loot Santa left. It looks pretty small, compared to the spread I remember getting as a kid. But Santa left an ipad for the family to share, and those are four wrapped Wii games. So Luke made out pretty well.

Checking out the ipad Christmas morning. Santa learned enough to type a note that read, "Merry Christmas Bowmans! Love, Santa"


After Luke checked out the ipad and asked me to download games immediately (I should upload the video. Pretty funny.) he was ready to open gifts. And he asked if I could open my gift first. I was touched.

Now he's ready to tear into some presents.

He's been asking for this Michael Jackson game for months, and he's yet to play it. Of course, he's already taken it out of the package so I can't return it. I bet he'll enjoy playing it with his cousins soon. The game comes with a glove. Seriously.

Lining up the gifts.

Stocking time. Seriously excited about a new Veggie Tales toothbrush. It plays music. 99 cents at Walgreen's.

A Hershey's Cookies and Cream bar. This was his breakfast Christmas morning. Hey, it's Christmas.

Luke taking over as videographer while I checked out my stocking stuffers.

Worst picture ever. If you love me, don't click on that picture and make it bigger. I only post it for the story. Luke's been asking me for a few months why I don't wear headbands. I truthfully told him they give me a headache. But he thought it would be so great if I wore a headband. I found these soft stretchy headbands at, where else, Walgreen's, on Christmas Eve. And somehow they ended up in my stocking. Luke is sporting one sweatband style. We're the coolest.

After we finished opening he thanked me for all the gifts. He's so not buying the Santa thing.

We enjoyed a delicious Christmas meal with Mimi and Papa and my uncle and his wife. And we had a blast playing one of Luke's new games, Pictionary. It works with the U Draw tablet and it so much fun. I laughed so much my sides ached. There are easy and harder clues, and you always have the option to get a new clue, so young kids through adults can play. Luke loved it and was our artist most of the game. Great way to get him working on some fine motor skills.

Oh, and we had a white Christmas, the first one I can remember. The snow changed our plans for the week, but we're still hopeful to see some more family. Luke seemed to absolutely love Christmas and it was a joy to experience the holiday with him.

Christmas Party and Program

Last Friday was Christmas Party day at school. Riding the coattails of the big success of "Going on a Ghost Hunt" at the Halloween party, we kicked off the festivities with "Going on a Santa Hunt." I found a version here that I kind of liked, but made a few changes. Here it is, just in case any of my 3 readers (or I maybe down to 2) need a Christmas party game for 5 and 6 year olds.

We're Going on a Santa Hunt
It’s Christmas Eve. Santa’s coming soon. But we can’t wait. We're going on a Santa hunt. We can't wait to see him!
It’s a cold night. Let’s dress really warm.
Put on your hat. Put on your gloves. Put on your boots. Let’s go!
Oh, no! There's a lake, an icy, frozen lake. We can't go over it, we can't go under it,
We've got to go across it. Put on your skates.
Skate. Skate. Skate.
Whew! We made it! Take off your skates.
We're going on a Santa hunt. We can’t wait to see him!
Oh, no! A snowstorm. A whirling, swirling snowstorm. We can't go over it, we can't go under it. We've got to go through it. Stomp thru the snow.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
Whew! We made it!
We're going on a Santa hunt. We can’t wait to see him!
Oh, no! A herd of reindeer. Big reindeer, with bells around their necks. We can't go over them, we can't go under them. We've got to go thru them.
Let’s pretend we’re reindeer. Tie on your bell. Pretend you have antlers.
Jingle jangle. Jingle jangle. Jingle jangle.
We're going on a Santa hunt. We can’t wait to see him!
Oh, no! A cave. A dark, narrow cave. We can't go over it, we can't go under it,
We've got to go through it.
Be very, very quiet. Tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe.
What's that at the back of the cave? Lots of white fur, little black eyes, sharp teeth.
Is it Santa? No! It's! A! Polar! Bear!!
Back through the cave
Tiptoe. Tiptoe. Tiptoe.
Back through the reindeer.
Jingle jangle. Jingle jangle. Jingle jangle.
Back thru the snowstorm.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
Back over the icy lake.
Put on my skates super fast.
Skate. Skate. Whoa!!! I almost fell.
Take off my skates super fast.
Run to my house.
Open the door.
Run upstairs.
Run into my room.
Close the door.
Get in bed. Hide under the covers.
Whew! I’m going to wait for Santa right here!




The kids seemed to love it. Well, maybe the little guy next to me looks less than thrilled, bless his heart. It's a terrible pic of me, but look how happy Luke is.



One of our activities was a Snowman Relay. I divided the kids into teams and they helped dress each other in snowman garb. Then we taped on a carrot nose and I took their picture. Then they took everything off and dressed the next team member. We didn't recycle the noses though. It was a pretty big hit. Only 3 flatly refused to wear the costume.






Big fun.



We also had an ornament craft and some Christmas sticker sheets. They kids were in three groups and visited each center.






Luke showing his love for the awesome Mrs. W.

Mrs. W's Christmas gift, a money Christmas tree. I popped in one day when Mrs. Wheeler was out and asked each child what Santa should bring Mrs. W. Their answers ranged from school supplies to Wii games (Any guesses on who suggested Wii Party and Wii Wheel of Fortune?) My favorite answer was Santa should bring Mrs. W more students for her class. I made little paper ornaments with their answers and put them on the tree.

***

Sunday Luke was in a program at church. I posted a photo of his costume a couple of weeks ago. Given the unusually snowy and icy weather we've had, the kids had only 1 rehearsal before performance day on Sunday.

Here's Luke before their first performance in Children's Worship Sunday morning.

He's totally feeling his role as shepherd.

The shepherds and angels lined up and ready for their entrance.

Luke and his long time buddy Zola in the "green room" (a.k.a. the wood paneled room. A little BHCC joke. Sorry.)

Luke and Eli show their excellent shepherding skills. That's Eli's sheep on Luke's head.

Children's Worship performance, and really their dress rehearsal.

The shepherds visit the baby Jesus.



Sunday night's big show for an audience of about 700. Impossible to get a good group shot. There were 35 or so children in the play.

Thanks to Jonathan for the close ups. Luke was really into the hand motions for the songs. This is "asleep on the hay."

Luke gets his sign to display announcing "Jesus is Born." I don't know why we have backwards letters on a sign clearly written by an adult.

Luke showing his sign.

I don't really have words (rare, I know) for my emotions watching him on stage). Even I, his mother, forget at times where we started and how far we've come. I wouldn't have dared to dream this moment possible a couple of years ago.

How did we get here? The grace of God.

Oh and I was on the front row as "head shepherd." It was fun working with kids. And it was exhausting. But isn't the head covering fabulous? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have done it without me helping out. And even then I thought he might back out Sunday night. But he was determined to follow through on his commitment.

So glad our good buddy Cooper and his family made the effort to come see Luke's stage debut. Luke had the very best time running around with Cooper and his sister after the performance. My favorite quote of the night was when Alison told Cooper to go find his little sister and he said, "But I can't. She's it!"

Our Christmas is already more blessed than I expected or certainly deserve. Looking forward to some sweet, relaxing time with our little family the next few days. Luke is so shocked by how much time he has off of school for the holidays. After only 3 days he's asked many times, "Is it still Christmas Break?" Merry Christmas!

Snow!

Sunday morning snow started falling. And it snowed all day and into the night. On December 12!!! I was able to tear Luke away from the Wii and bundle us up for a few minutes in the snow.

He pretty much loved it once we got outside. Rain boots are not warm in the snow, by the way.

He posed by our classy Christmas decor. I cannot believe I have these pieces in my front yard. We got the penguin from Walgreen's a few weeks ago, after much begging from Luke for some outside decorations. Then Luke decided penguin needed a friend. And then he spotted Tigger in the Dollar General window. I purchased the display model Tigger, the only one left, for $10. I don't even like Poo.

Hilarious father/son photo. Luke calls the face Lamar is making "the big eyes."

While playing in the snow, I remembered I bought some good snow gloves at Walgreen's last winter. (I guess I do shop there all the time. It's 2 seconds from my house. No wonder Luke thinks it's the place to buy a turkey.) They worked well for snowball throwing.

Major snowy day for us.

Trying to catch a snow flake. Not sure if he was successful, given that his method was running as fast as he could with his tongue hanging out.

We finally dragged him back in because we old people were freezing.

No school today and I'm wondering about tomorrow. I hate for all the kindergartners to miss the special Christmas activities Mrs. W had planned for this week. Friday is the last day before Christmas break!

Breakfast with Santa

Time just keeps marching on. Saturday was Breakfast with Santa. I think this is the fifth one Luke's attended. We took him when he was a 10 month old babe, and again when he was 22 months. That year we arrived just as the festivities were ending and posed for a quick photo with Santa. The Christmas he was 2, his anxieties were at their highest. We had received his diagnosis just a few months prior, and he was about to begin preschool. It was the most stressful time of life . . . so far. Anyway, we skipped that year. Last year we went and Luke had a nice time, though we did our best to avoid the crowds.

This year was really fabulous. We got our Santa picture, Luke choosing once again to stay with Mom and Dad and not Santa. It's his tradition.



Luke was so patient waiting in line for the picture.



He enjoyed a few crafts.

From the moment we arrived he looked for his buddy Annie. He latched onto her last year at Breakfast with Santa too. I'm sure he remembered. We didn't meet up with Annie and her family until after we'd eaten. And although he asked about her repeatedly and was not happy when other folks sat at our table, he controlled his emotions and only quietly voiced his protests to me.

Smiley kids doing crafts.

Luke getting in on the conversation.

3 silly kindergartners

Breakfast with Santa was relatively easy and fun. Amazing.

Feelin' Festive and Such

I neglected to include one of my favorite photos from Oklahoma in the last post. Maggie is all about the princesses. She talks about them pretty much every waking moment. She loves princesses as much as Luke loves Wii.

So Luke learned a lot about princesses on this trip. He could identify several of them by the end of our visit. When we took a family photo, Maggie and Luke suggested a group photo with the princesses too.


Look at Luke's face. Hilarious.


Luke is planning on participating in a little Christmas program. I say planning because you just never know what will happen performance night. He will be a shepherd.


Apparently a handless shepherd.

Luke enjoyed decorating the tree this year. Here's how he helped:


It was kind of odd that he was exactly the size of the tree box.


I was really unmotivated with decorating this year, but Luke kept asking for the tree. Half the lights were out on our old prelit tree, so we purchased a new inexpensive one this year that is SO much easier to assemble. So maybe I won't dread tree assembly as much next year.



I opened the ornament boxes and let Luke make selections. When he tired of decorating, we were done.

And . . .ta da!



Such a beauty. Our old tree topper did not work with our new Kmart Blue Light Special tree, so I perched a large candy cane ornament we own for some unknown reason on the top. It's mostly cropped out of this photo, but I will have to get a close up of that beautiful piece.

Here's our annual family photo in front of the tree.

Whoops.

There we go. We are so fancy in our sweats.

Luke posed and took this.

My boys on tree trimmin' night.

Luke's been "earning" a Wii Speak for quite a while and it came this week. So excited. This interfaces with a few games. The only one we use it with is Wheel of Fortune. It doesn't always understand us, especially Luke. But you can record you own happy and sad sound and play them on command, which is super hilarious and definitely worth the price. Last night Luke had his Mii saying, "Yippee! Ride 'em cowboy!"

And Luke went to his first birthday party at Build-A-Bear Workshop on Saturday. He did SO well at the party. And each party attender goes home with a bear. Wow.

Luke and his bear, Tokyo.