Christmas Day(s)

We decided to put off our family Christmas morning until the 26th, since we were going to Jan's sister's, Andrea, for the 25th.  We were planning on being there early afternoon, with Jan leaving earlier in order to be able to cook with his sister.  We had had a pretty bad sleeping night, so we were slower than planned out of the house, but we finally made it out with breakfast AND a much needed baby nap behind us.

We watched a David Garrett concert on DVD while the master chefs did their thing and I found it really amazing.  He is orginally German - or has some German background and must have lived here from the sound of his language, but currently lives in New York and is an amazing young violinist.  I love the violin anyway and seeing him be able to excite young(er) generations with his music is pretty amazing - check him out if you haven't already.



Also happening simultaniously to the kitchen magic and violin amazement was that Blaise was taking an afternoon nap!!  I was prepared for the sleep demise the holidays would bring and knew it was possible that he wouldn't sleep, but we tried anyway of course.  He didn't sleep long - 35 or 40 minutes, but even a short nap made my afternoon much more relaxed knowing that he got some rest.  I'm sure me being relaxed helped everyone else enjoy their Christmas celebration as well!

Dinner was nothing short of amazing and Blaise had fun taking apart Tante Andi's table decorations.  :)  Adrian, who is now almost 4 1/2, encouraged us to eat faster and skip dessert so we could move to the next phase of the day: PRESENTS!!  Now, oddly the Christkind seems to bring these as well?  I am becoming more and more confused.  Anyway, Blaise got some cute things from his Babi, Jan's mom, and a super dooper cute pirate toy chest from Tante Andi.  He loved being in the middle of the action, ripping open presents and much to Adrian's disapproval, checking out his older cousin's loot! :)

As I mentioned, we did our family Christmas morning on the 26th.  My Mom and Dad flew over with 4 suitcases, of which only a little over one held their things.  With his first Christmas and first birthday coming up, you know Blaise was going to bring in a big haul.  My mom filled her bags with many of my old toys, and Blaise found them under the tree on Christmas morning:

Lisa waiting for the fun to begin

I tried to capture the expression on his face and his "running" start to the presents, but he was too fast and they didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped, but you get the idea:

Spying the presents

Pausing to take it all in

Checkin' in all out - you can also tell here how he had a stuffy nose :(

Bath toys!

Serious Blaise

He is loving holding on to the table now and checking out all it has to offer.  Christmas morning brought a bowl of crinkly candy canes.

Lisa received a treasured gift from Kim

Grandma Rose must have been good this year

That pretty much wraps up our Christmas celebration 2009.  It was a fun first Christmas and I am already looking forward to observing the developmental changes that 2010 will bring for Blaise.