Christmas Day-2012

Eli woke up around 7:00 Christmas morning full of excitement. He couldn't wait to see if Santa had been to our house. He looked at the tree and then he and Daddy ran to the cookie plate to see if Santa had eaten all his cookies. He had and he had even left a note for Eli!

Then it was time to wake up Grandpa E and start opening presents. First, we went to the stockings. Eli had lots of goodies in his-gum, Cuties, candy, watercolors, pistachios, and new Jake and the Neverland Pirates figurines.

Showing me Captain Hook and Tick-Tock Croc

He even had a special note from Elfis in his stocking! 

After pictures with Mommy and Daddy, it was time to open gifts. First, he looked at the gifts Santa left him. This year the three things he asked Santa to bring him were a Jeep but not a real one (that's how he always said it), a Moon in My Room, and the airplane from CARS 2 named Siddley. He saw his Moon in My Room and Siddley, but the Jeep wasn't there. My sweet boy wasn't disappointed at all. He said "Oh well, I guess Santa couldn't get my Jeep. It probably wouldn't fit through the door. That's okay! If I were Santa, I'd put it in the garage." What little man didn't know at the time though was there was a special note in the tree just for him explaining what happened to the Jeep, but more on that later....

We all proceeded to open our gifts from each other. Josh was very excited about getting a new Tervis Tumblr LSU cup from Eli.

Grandpa E got a Tervis Tumblr as well, but his said "Best Grandpa Ever". He loved it.

Eli then opened some of his little gifts from us.

Then he and Daddy opened their gift from Grandpa E. He got them a really advanced AR Drone helicopter. It's pretty massive and does so much more than fly. You control it with an app on your phone and it even records video as it's flying. The boys LOVED it!

Eli opened a couple more presents from us and one from his friends, Jonah and Micah.

Jonah and Micah gave him this Jake shirt. He wanted to wear it right away!

Once he was finished opening presents, he looked around and that's when we saw the note in the tree. He unrolled it and discovered it was from Santa! Grandpa E helped him read it.

This is what the note said...

When E got to the part about his last gift not fitting through the door, Eli's eyes got huge and he exclaimed, "IT'S MY JEEP! IT'S MY JEEP!" Well, actually he said "IT'S MY DEEP! IT'S MY DEEP!" Haha :)

He ran to the front door he was so excited and then realized he was going the wrong way. He reversed his steps, ran to the mudroom, and opened the door to the garage. THERE IT WAS! He was SO HAPPY!

We were all so very happy that Eli finally had his Jeep that he had been wanting for so long! He wanted to ride it right away but it was cold and rainy. We convinced him to leave it in the garage and when it quit raining he would be able to ride it.

He came back inside and helped E open the rest of his presents.

Then the boys sat down and started assembling the drone.

Josh and I opened our gifts from each other. We didn't get each other much, but he did surprise me with a new Michael Kors watch. I was so surprised!

This was the aftermath of our Christmas. I'd say it was a pretty good one!

The weather finally relented a little bit and Eli was able to ride his Jeep. Have you ever seen a happier little boy? He rode his Jeep until the weather threatened to get bad again. It made my heart so happy to see him so happy!

It was such a wonderful Christmas! I'm so thankful for all the many blessings in my life! I hope you and yours had the best Christmas ever!

Christmas Eve-2012

This year for Christmas we had a very special guest come stay with us...Grandpa E! We were so excited to have him with us, especially Eli. He doesn't get to see Grandpa E that much so when he does come to visit, he is the only one in Eli's world. I don't think Grandpa E would have it any other way either :)

Christmas Eve was a very busy day for us. First, we had to prepare the magic reindeer food. Eli put in lots of sugar for the reindeer so they would have tons of energy to fly Christmas Eve. 

Then we went to lunch with Grandpa E at Ruby Tuesday's, got a blizzard on the way home, and came home and crashed. Once we all got up, it was time to make cookies for Santa. My little helper came to assist me :)

Three generations of Wilson men

Once all the cookies were cut out and on the baking sheet, it was time to decorate them with sugar sprinkles. Eli really liked this part!

Ready to go in the oven!

Once the cookies were baked and we had eaten our supper, it was time to go look at Christmas lights. Our first stop was our town's giant Christmas tree. Eli loves looking at it at night so we had to go see it up close.

Then it was time to go down to the riverfront to look at the Christmas displays by the river. This is one of my favorite things our city does at Christmas time. My favorite display is the manger scene. I love that our city shows that Jesus is still the reason we celebrate Christmas!

Here are some pictures of my other favorite displays. They are all handmade and have moving parts. Some men that worked at the paper plant a long time ago made them and a few years ago the city repaired them and began using them as a Christmas display along the river.

When we got home it was bedtime for little man, but first we had to go put the reindeer food on the ground. We didn't want the reindeer to be hungry when they landed at our house.

He said the flash was too bright :)

Once the reindeer were taken care of, it was time to pick out which cookies he was going to put on Santa's plate. 

We poured Santa a nice, cold glass of milk and then it was time for one more picture before bed.

Eli said goodbye to Elfis since it was his last night with us. He was actually quite sad about Elfis leaving, but was okay once he realized that Santa was on his way to our house.

He hurried and rushed to bed so we could read our last two Christmas books "Christmas in the Barn" and "The Night Before Christmas". We said prayers and then our little man snuggled under the covers and went to sleep. He couldn't wait for the next morning!