Christmas Day

Since this post will contain 15 pictures (yes, I said 15!), I'll let the pictures tell most of our Christmas day story for this year.  It's a lot of pictures, but I want to be able to remember all of this later on when I'm old and gray!

Parker has been sleeping in lately, so we were up before he was.  This worked out perfect because we got fully dressed and ready so that we could start cooking right after we were finished opening presents.  We didn't want to rush through present opening, but my whole family was coming over for breakfast at eight, so we wanted to get things done in a timely manner.

What did Santa bring??  I am such a loser mom and photographer that I didn't take a picture of the presents Santa left!  I had a lot on my mind, like, "What in the world is my child wearing?"  You won't see this outfit in any other pictures....

Opening his first present.  Flashcards!  Santa also brought a tent, some puzzles, and lots of stuff in Parker's stocking.  

Enjoying his xylophone! 

He liked pulling all of the little stuff out of his stocking.

Omi and Opa pre-breakfast.  Loved her sweater!

My sweet little baby.

What's in here, Granddaddy?  

He was trying to hug his play kitchen from my parents and Renee.  He was very excited about this one!

Showing off his musical talents on his Elmo keyboard!

This is the "hat" that goes with the keyboard.  haha!  It's actually a microphone, but he decided to wear it his own way.  

Sesame Street boots!  Love the look on  his face.

March, march, march!

After we had our yummy breakfast and exchanged gifts with my family, we headed to church for a Christmas day service.  It was very relaxed and laid-back with lots of music!

After church, we headed to Ryan's parents house for the rest of the afternoon.  Unfortunately, at this point I kind of shut down on the picture taking.  The present-opening experience at Ryan's parents house is very intense because there are so many of us and so many presents!  It takes Ryan's sister and I almost 15 minutes to get them all separated.  I did take some pictures, but most of them didn't turn out very good.  Parker was sitting on Ryan's lap while he opened presents and was kind of "over it" by that point.  It was past his naptime and I think he was just a little overwhelmed. 

Here he is wearing Daddy's new hat from Uncle Bryan!

We opened presents and then had a super-yummy lunch.  After lunch, it was WAY past Parker's naptime, so I drove around in the car with him until he fell asleep.  I sat in the car with him for about an hour while he slept, and then we went inside to sit and talk for a little while before leaving. 

"Would you like something to drink?""  

When we came home that night, my sister had put together the play kitchen for Parker.  He was very excited to see it sitting there when we walked in!

Parker helped me open a couple of my presents from Ryan, and then decided that playing with his keyboard would be more fun.

It really was a special day.  I have said it before, and I'll say it again--Christmas is hundreds of times better when you have your own child.  Parker still doesn't quite "get it", but I'm sure that next year he will.  His six-month-old brother or sister definitely will not, but that's a whole different story.  This year was even better than last year, and I am already looking forward to next year's Christmas season and what it will hold!