Enjoying Christmas

Will has no idea who Santa is; he can't even pronounce the Baby Jesus' name properly; but one thing's for sure--he knows who these guys are: "Ma-yer", Flo, "Hi-Queen" and Doc. He is obsessed with all his cars and whenever I ask him if he wants to do anything, he says, "No. Playing Doc," or "No, playing May-er." And the first thing he asks for when he wakes? "Doc! Flo!" He is too cute and he sure does love all his Christmas loot.

Not pictured: Josh enjoying Will's new tunnel--fully stuck inside the tunnel made for TODDLERS.

Maine

On Christmas day, we loaded the rug-rats (and ALL our Christmas gear) into the car and zipped on over to Maine (a four-hour drive) to enjoy all that Freeport, our favorite Maine destination, has to offer. And what does it have to offer? The L.L.Bean flagship store, tons of good outlets, a hotel with a pool AND free cookies and lots of good times with the VT Madsens.

Here we are in front of the famous L.L.Bean giant boot.

We shopped, we ate, we swam, we shopped some more and fun was had by all (and somehow I managed to buy three shirts--all green. I guess I like green shirts). Of course, the last night there Will discovered how to climb out of his port-a-crib, so this just may be our last vacation--ever. At least it was the last night. And at least it wasn't too painful--Josh just put him back in the crib three times and then Will was off to dream-land. Of course, at 6:45 the next morning, Josh and I awoke to a thud and when Josh went to go check on Will, he had climbed right out on out of that crib again.

Christmas Morning

Oddly enough, the two boys--who are as of yet completely oblvious to the entire Christmas concept--were the first to rise on Christmas morn. I guess it's not that odd, considering that both boys are typically early risers, but it was strange that we had to finally wake Beth (who was so excited she could hardly stand it) at 8:00 to open presents.

Waiting to go see what Santa brought. Sam doesn't seem too impressed.

Santa brought both boys a basketball hoop. They both loved it!Will opening his remote-control Mater from my parents. As of yet, he doesn't know it is remote-control operated, but he absolutely adores it (see video below). I figure in due time I will show him the remote-control feature and it will be like a brand-new toy.


Will's presents: a basketball hoop, a tunnel/tent playset and a bowling ball set. I'm not sure what Santa and I were thinking, seeing as how my house is not equipped to hold a basketball hoop, tunnel/tent and/or bowling ball set. Currently, my home looks like an amusement park. I seriously need a playroom.

Christmas Jammies

The obligatory Christmas Eve jammies, complete with the obligatory stand-in-front-of-the-Christmas-tree picture. Nate, Amy, Josh and I all had on matching LLBean skiing jammies. Too bad for you, though, we didn't get a picture with all four of us.

The Nativity

Our impromptu Nativity. When Beth asked Will which role he wanted to play, he responded with a quick, "Dada Joe". Yes, that is how Will refers to the man who raised Jesus here on earth: Dada Joe. And then there's Mama Mary and, of course, Baby Jees.

Unfortunately, Will was one of the worst Joseph's to date. However, Beth was a lovely Mary, complete with her wedding veil she felt was appropriate Mary attire.
Will's favorite Christmas song this season: Honanna (Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus), but he also likes the Baby Jees song (Picture a Christmas) and the Dada Joe song (Shepherd's Carol).

Sledding

Somehow, Christmas has come and gone. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but happen it did. And, of course, I have a ba-zillion pictures to document our Christmas. But instead of overwhelming you with all ba-zillion pictures in a row, I thought I'd break it up and every day give you a little peek into the grand adventures that was our Christmas.

Peek 1: Christmas Eve morning. Sledding on a snowy day in a picturesque setting in Vermont. I'm sure Will would have had more fun had we not forgotten his coat and had to steal one from one of Beth's classmates (we were at Beth's preschool and luckily we had a key to the school and, luckily, Anthony forgot his coat over winter break. Thanks, Anthony, though we've never met--you did us a solid).