Saturday we slowly woke up. Well I slowly woke up and Tate bounded up with excitement as usual. We just hung out at home. He played trains and I let him watch 'The Polar Express'...he was over the moon!! We then made some egg-free sugar cookies!! They were not half bad, and Tate had a blast making the cookies with me! It was the first time we've ever 'cooked' together!
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| The Finished Nativity Sugar Cookie Project! |
In the tunnel while on the train...
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| Gorgeous! |
Saturday night brought two Advent books as we missed out on Friday night...
Sunday morning found us at church, along with his 'Polar Express' book :)
Once home I finished loading up the car and got some lunch into Tate, we headed over to Neiman Marcus for some make-up for me and Nordstrom for some clothes. For me!! I decided that I need to embrace the size I am, right here and now, and start dressing like I appreciate the life I've been blessed with. I convinced Tate to nap in the stroller after our stop at Neiman's on the way to Nordstrom. He happily obliged, and I was able to spend an hour trying on clothes and found some great outfits!! All within my budget! Woohoo!
After the beautiful service we went home and picked up Vincent. For it's not Christmas until Vinnie joins us. And puts on his Christmas outfit.
We left the mall and headed off to my parents; Tate woke up as we were walking back to the car! Such a great little shopper, this little guy of mine. I wonder what I'm going to do when he no longer naps!
We arrived at my parents' and unloaded our stuffed to the gills car. Tate scampered in and convinced my dad to let him watch trains on the iPad! Happiness instantly! It's so very nice to just be at my parents'. They play with Tate, watch him, and enjoy his company. Basically it's so nice to be able to have 6 eyes on him instead of just my 2. I can sit down and just relax and close my eyes if I want to. I can go to the bathroom by myself (well Tate still manages to interrupt me every single time I go to the bathroom there as well, but I start off with the door shut and alone!). It's just comforting.
My mom, Tate and I did a little Christmas tree craft in the afternoon...
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| Tate's Masterpiece! |
That evening I decided to take Tate out to find the great Santa roller coaster in my parents' neighborhood. I had to convince him to come look at these lights as he wanted to play with his trains and watch more trains with Papa (of course). And it was warm and humid. Ugh. But the Christmas spirit prevailed! My mom joined us and we were off! Sadly, though we found the roller coaster house it wasn't going to be 'going' until 7pm and we were there at 6:15. Taking Tate back at 7 was not on my agenda, but it was cool to see anyway. We made our way back home, stopping to look at a few more houses, got Tate bathed and ready for an Advent celebration at my parents' place.
Sweet Tate then slept in his little Thomas bed all night long, if you consider waking up at 5:26 all night. I don't, so convinced him to climb into bed with me for a bit longer. Then when he kicked me 2930742 too many times I sent him back to his bed. Finally he had to go potty, and I gave up.
After breakfast we iced and decorated the egg-free sugar cookies that we had made on Saturday (Nativity shaped sugar cookies)!
I think there were a few cookies with icing. My little boy has his mama's sweet tooth.
We got loaded up and off to our house to go to the Children's Christmas Eve service at my church. I convinced Tate to nap...
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| He has not let go of that movie since I let him watch it for the first time last week! |
And he napped and napped and napped. For 90 minutes!!! I then had to rush him into his church clothes and off to the church. We arrived 35 minutes early and were almost late! We sat with some friends and thoroughly enjoyed the service. The service is so sweet; the Children's Ministry provides 'costumes' for any child who wants to participate. Tate chose to be a star last week while we were at church, and immediately changed his mind over the weekend and wanted to be a train. At the Nativity...sigh. Once he saw his little friend H during the service he decided he wanted to be an angel like her.
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| My Angel Star :) |
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| And why can't I be a train? |
After the beautiful service we went home and picked up Vincent. For it's not Christmas until Vinnie joins us. And puts on his Christmas outfit.
We got home and had some dinner. My parents and Lindsey headed out to Christmas Eve Service at my parents' church while Tate and I got ready for bed in anticipation of Santa Claus making an appearance that night. First though Tate had to open his first Christmas present...
Then we opened the last book of Advent...
After opening the last book, we set out cookies for Santa. Tate could not understand why he couldn't taste one (we'd already brushed his teeth!), but he was very excited to put out the cookies we'd made in the Santa plate we'd painted at The Mad Potter...
The cookies were left on the table and Tate ran off to read a book while I cleaned up. Instead of reading I heard this lovely song...
Such a sweet little boy I have. He was a bit more wound up than I thought and didn't fall asleep until close to 9. But I was happy to rock him a bit more when I realized he was still awake (I went to check on him, and his little head popped right up!). I may have mentioned that Santa would only come if he would go to sleep...
Before Santa...
After Santa...
All Tate had asked for from Santa was a Talking Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Spencer the Train, Duke the Train and James the Train. Santa Claus was more than happy to oblige and brought a few other items he thought young Mr. Tate would enjoy.
Is Tate a bit spoiled? Yes, yes he is. Someone explained to me once why it is that we parents want to do so much for our kids and why gift giving is such an integral part of Christmas.
It's most easily explained with this verse..
"For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son..." John 3:16
God gave us the greatest gift. He gave us an amazing gift. We parents can't give our children or loved ones such a powerful, loving gift, but we can try to express the depth our love through the gifts we bestow at Christmastime.
I so hope that God's love shines through me in the manner that I love my son through hugs, kisses and yes the gifts I give him.
3 comments:
What a perfect and lovely Christmas! The children's service looks lovely.
But poor, poor Vincent. LOL
I always think of Matthew 7:11 around this time of year.
Yes, I bought my kids too many gifts; yes, they even wanted more and said so; yes, they were so inundated with gifts, I snuck a few into the closet and will give them on New Year's Day. Yes, I may be spoiling my kids. But it's once a year AND the day will come when they don't want toys anymore. They'll want cash and $400 video games. The wrapping paper frenzy and pretend play for hours afterwards will be a distant memory. So yes, I will continue to overshop for a few more Decembers.
Oh, that verse made me choke up. It's beautiful to me that this is how you see your gifts to Tate.
It looks like you had a perfectly wonderful Christmas! Though it is a wonder to me that you can convince Tate to sleep in his car seat with his legs all scrunched up!
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