Christmas!

Christmas less than a month past, and here I am writing David’s next blog post! Yay me!

As one might imagine, the Christmas season is busy and eventful, and this year wasn’t much different. It was, however, David’s first year to really notice what’s going on. He’s a pretty social kid, so he LOVES being at gathering where he can make himself the center of attention. Now that I think about it, that was probably his favorite thing about Christmas - all of the people who doted on him for a month straight.

So anyway, we spent lots of time having Christmas at various places with various people:

First up was the Patin Christmas party at mom’s house with that side of my family. They are always hard to nail down and corral into one location at one time, so every year mom makes them come to her house a couple weeks before Christmas so that she can at least see everyone once. As would become a recurring theme, David was loved by all and David acquired toys. At this one, nobody was supposed to get him anything, but alas, such a demand fell on deaf ears. The standout present from this gathering was the toy Cars keys that he got with the car noise making keychain. He likes car noises, he definitely takes his boy-dom seriously.

For the next couple of days after that party, my dad was in town from Colorado. So David spent a lot of time hanging with Grandpa. Various Google baby clothes were procured along with a sweet bean bag chair that later came in the mail. Good times were had by all.

Next, 2 days before Christmas (if I recall correctly), was Christmas with Christy’s brother and sister-in-law who came to town for an afternoon from Vacherie. Among the items of import gained at this small gathering was David’s new John Deere steering wheel thingy. Since it is both a steering wheel and makes noise, he loves it. I don’t think we’ve been allowed to put that one in the rotation of living room toys yet, because he demands to have it out all the time.

Christmas day lunch brought us to Christy’s mom’s house for presents and food, and David was not disappointed with the gifts received. At this stop, he got what might very well be his favorite toy-based gift of the year - a fisher-price gear thingy. It is pretty cool, and I very much appreciate the accommodation of David’s inherent nerd character in giving him an engineering toy. This child has no chance.

After lunch, we went home for a nap, then it was off to my mom’s house for Christmas evening coffee, dessert, and more presenting with David. His primary acquisition at mom’s house was a David-sized chair with his name embroidered. The kids of the family that we stay with in Houston have these, and David loved them last time we were there, so we kinda figured he’d like one for himself. We have not been surprised at his enjoyment. He climbs on it, watches his baby can read videos from it, and uses it as a stepping stool to get on to the couch. Plus, it’s red. When you’re 18 months old, everything red is awesome.

Lastly was Christmas with my paternal grandma, aunt, and uncle. Christy made dinner (best meal of Christmas, btw) which we ate and then had dessert and more presents. David returned home with a tricycle from great-grandma. Which he loves. Luckily he gets most of his tricycling done with mom during the day. It was also my first experience putting together a toy for David. It was surprisingly not bad, hopefully future endeavors will be just as easy.

So David’s first “real” Christmas was a success. In the end we managed to have minimal incursions of excessive toys and lots of David attention. Which, of course, is really the most important thing.