Whew...

All right, it's the New Year, and Christmas is officially over at our house.

The tree and decorations are down and back in storage for another year. The presents are all (mostly) put away. Matt has finally stopped asking to go see Santa again, and is now focusing all his toddler attention on his "Happy Birthday Day", which is this weekend. More to come on that later.

We had a wonderful Christmas, despite Matt and I being a little under the weather. He was old enough this year to really enjoy the present opening and playing with his new toys. Months ago he had decided that Santa was going to bring him a car carrier truck; of course the Big Guy came through, and the truck was the hit of the morning. Another nice moment came when Matt discovered the sleigh bell that the reindeer had left on our lawn, in thanks for the delicious reindeer food (oatmeal and special magical glitter) we had left out the night before. He ran right back in the house and hung the bell on the tree. Pretty good stuff right there.

It's wonderful to be so close to our families; we were able to have Christmas morning at home and still make it to Tennessee to see both sides of the family on Christmas Day. Of course, by about 4:00 Matt was totally overwhelmed, overstimulated, and overtired - but very, very happy. The grandparents (and various and sundry aunts and uncles) went predictably insane with the presents. My personal favorite gift was from my parents, who donated some money to the fund for Youssif in our names. I think that was a perfectly wonderful present. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I do love my new car stereo - Matt and I have been rocking out to Marc Broussard, Fergie, and Kid Rock as we run errands and we love it. (And yes, my car is a "kids-music free zone." I can't cope with that garbage in my car. "Wheels on the Bus" = road rage from Beth.)

At any rate, it was a very good Christmas, and we are looking forward to the new year.

Some pictures:

New cowboy hat:



First baseball glove:


The all-important car carrier truck:


Before:



















And after:



Please note the line of demarcation on the tree - below it is where the cats and the boy could reach, as evidenced by the lack of paper chain, ornaments, etc. There was a paper chain there to start the season, but Ferris removed it and then ate it.

Also note the lovely star on the tree - Matt and I made that ourselves. I cut three big stars out of cardboard, duct-taped the edges together, painted it silver, covered it in glue and let Matt go to town with the glitter. It is held on the tree with an exceptionally tacky silver-painted and glittered toilet paper roll that is glued to the back of it. It is really, truly ugly and Matt and I are ridiculously proud of it.


Finding the reindeer bell:



Looking angelic (which is quite a stretch...)


Our family:



And, for the die hard Matt fans out there, we present a short video of our Christmas morning highlights.