Letters to Ian: Christmas Consistency

Dear Ian,

Merry Christmas! Well, in the blog-o-sphere, anyway.

Here you come, down the stairs!

When we left off, Daddy and I had tucked you into bed, and we were all anxiously awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus. After a good night's sleep, the day finally arrived. As per Mommy's strange holiday traditions, you made your bed, and then Daddy and I called you downstairs. Daddy took video and I took pictures of your reactions to seeing the treats and gifts that Santa had brought you.

Your little face lighting up is my favorite Christmas memory.

You were so excited to see the gifts under the tree. Your stocking was over-flowing, and that thrilled you. To see that Santa had eaten your cookies that you left for him was also a big hit. You were also pretty dang pleased to see the big gift in the corner with your name on it. You got right down to the business of exploring the contents of your stocking, and I think you really enjoyed your treats. You got new purple picks for your guitar, bubbles, bath colors, crazy straws and some chocolate coins. There was also a miniature tractor and trailer, and I think you were most excited about this. Stockings are one of my favorite parts of Christmas morning. And your excitement over your stocking made my day.

Santa did pretty well with your gifts this year, too. You received fuzzy bear slippers that you really like. They keep your feet toasty warm, and the eyes light up when you walk! They crack me up. You also received a cookbook that was all about how cooking works. Santa knows that you love to cook with me and Daddy, so this book was perfect for you. You also got a new Pete the Cat book, which you were super excited about. Another gift was a set of gears, and you really seemed to like them, too.

But your very favorite gift was the basketball and hoop that Santa brought you. He must know how much you love to practice with the hoop at school. You opened the ball first, and you just shrieked over that! But then you got to open your big gift. When you got the paper off and you realized what it was, you hollered, "Oh yes! Just what I needed!" That made my and Daddy's day. And yours too, apparently.

It really was a nice Christmas at our house, but now it was time to pack up and head off to Grandma and Papa's house to join Uncle Brian and Aunt Maggie and Nole, Uncle Gary, Aunt Megan and Payton and Taylor to have a little more Christmas madness. But first we had to have one more picture with your new basketball hoop and ball.

Happy Boy

Holy Cow. That's a lot of stuff...

Holy moly. When we got to Grandma and Papa's house, you could hardly see the tree there were so many gifts. Now, there were four kids and eight grown-ups worth of gifts under the tree, but still. It was sorta crazy! It took Uncle Brian forever to "play Santa" and get everything passed out. Once he did, there was a frenzy of wrapping paper and chaos, but it was a blast. You received some really great gifts from Grandma and Papa and your Aunts and Uncles. Uncle Brian and Aunt Maggie gave you this crazy hopping ball thing that you love, and Uncle Gary and Aunt Megan gave you this cool light that looks like the moon. It works perfectly in your bedroom, and it even cycles through the phases of the moon! You love it, and it doubles as a wind-down sort of night light when you go to bed.

From Grandma and Papa, you received a new fleet of tractors and attachments and a cool sleeping bag. You also got new barn boots so that way you could help Papa out with his chores since he's having trouble with his knee. You opened all of your gifts, and you were thrilled with them, but then Grandma and Papa had one more trick up their sleeve...

Good Gravy. You and Pay and the other grands were the honored recipients of this little piece of awesomeness. Yup. You guys got your very own gator. You and Payton had an AWESOME time driving it around. You gathered sticks all over the yard in the bed, and pretended to "feed the animals." Then, you got a set of walkie-talkies (I think Payton got them for Christmas) and you pretended that you were driving an ambulance and were picking up injured people. It was neat to watch you. And you could have spent the whole day driving around.

You and your cousins are some lucky little people. And honestly, our whole family is a group of lucky people. And that's what this all comes down to: Family. You are a loved little man. You're loved by Daddy and me, and you have four sets of Aunts and Uncles, four cousins, two sets of grandparents and one Great Poppey. Spending time with all of them during this special time of year is one of the greatest gifts you will ever have, and I hope you realize just how important that is.

Here's you, Payton, Nole and Taylor in your matching Christmas shirts. You and Pay were pretty tired and cranky when I tried to take this picture, but this was the best of the bunch.

The Davis side of your family, minus me, since I had to take the photo. We take up a pretty big table, huh?

So, there's our Christmas 2012 in two blog posts. Took me a while to type it all up, and I know Daddy was wondering what the heck I was writing over here. I commandeered his laptop for half an hour! But it was all worth it to document our memories of another holiday season with each other.