Christmas Day, Day After, and The Next Day

Henry's going to always love Christmas. First of all, there's Christmas morning...
Then Christmas mid-morning...
Then off to Dacusville for Christmas evening with the Farry family...
The next day, an enjoyable ride to Florence for a Johnson family Christmas...

Then on to Surfside to continue to the merry-making with Nana and her clan...
Then opening gifts two days after Christmas...
And hanging out with Jo'Caleb, and making Josh hold him.Christmas can be both exhausting and refueling at once, and I think it will be quite a while before we get Henry back on any sort of schedule. Actually, even though Henry is lacking in a responsible bedtime, he continues to be be his sweet, chatty self--making me swoon with each, "Merry Christmas, Mama!" and "I love 'oo, Mama."

Merry Christmas to our family and friends! We had a delightful extended celebration of God's sending his son to this earth we inhabit together.

December 28, 2009

Henry ate one and a half steamed oyster at dinner.

Then he peed in the potty! What a big boy!

Now, is there something magical about Nana's potty, or will his new found enthusiasm travel back with us to Greenville?

Dear Santa...

We made some Top of the Stove cookies (my idea) and put a couple out for Santa this evening before Henry went to sleep.
He sweetly dictated his letter for Santa to read, too.
Of course, sticker embellishments were also required.
Dear Santa Clause,
These are ornaments on that reindeer. Oh. There's Cookies. Merry Christmas, Santa Clause! Thank you for coming to town.
Love, Henry

Trains

Henry has an obsession... trains and trains going under tunnels. He's making a tunnel for our North Pole Express train in the above photo. He also shouts out, "We're going under a tunnel!" every time we get close to going under a bridge on I-385, and then, "We made it!" once we are out from under the bridge.

He also loves Thomas the Tank Engine and today would not let us watch anything but the Thomas Christmas DVD we rented. Here is his "Thomas is in the snow, so I won't pay anyone any attention" stance.

Santa didn't have to think too hard about what Christmas gift Henry might enjoy.

Tender and Mild

Elizabeth once told us that "Silent Night" made her think of chicken wings, thus, we began a Christmas Eve Farry family tradition of eating wings along with other random foods such as imitation crab meat, homemade pizza, and crudité platters. Tonight, we had Moretti's cheese pizza, buffalo and plain wings, along with a rainbow roll and spicy tuna roll from Sushi Asa. No Farrys, other than myself, were in attendance. We all agreed to just relax this year, especially since Grandjoe is on call.
I love Christmas Eve--the silly food, relaxed family, and preparation for a special day. We marked the eve of celebrating Jesus' birth by starting the day with a bagel from a local Jewish bakery. Like Cory says, nothing makes Henry happier than a bagel. Nothing makes Penny more envious. Henry also helped Daddy with the grinding of the beans. Ahhhhh... if only we had time for french pressed coffee every morning.
Then, after a nap, Henry took some ornaments off the tree. We had time for a couple of pictures before going to Advent for the family Christmas Eve service. Henry loved the music and the nativity scene photos, and I get the feeling he thinks that Baby Jesus was as oft photographed as himself.

Henry mad

Henry might not have control over his emotions, but he can apparently name them now. Cory and I were going through our usual ritual bedtime routine with him on Saturday night, and Henry suddenly got pouty and said, "Henry mad at Mama."

I couldn't really be hearing him correctly, could I?

He repeated, "Henry mad at Mama."

Why would he possibly be mad at me?

"'Cause I don' wan'go night night."

Why me? Daddy and I had the same intentions. Hmmmm...

Gilmore's visit

Henry calls Gilmore, "Anna," which is her name, but I have a hard time making myself say it. I suspect Gilmore told him a few times that her name is Anna when she stayed with us last night. He actually yelled that he wanted Anna!!!! to brush his teeth last night.
Here they are reading. Anna reads blank pages, and Henry reads upside down pages. Good grief, you two.