Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...

Despite going to bed relatively late for a little guy, around 10ish, Wyatt is apparently already programmed to get up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Day. How do kids just seem to know that this is "Toy Day"? Once a reasonable amount of time had passed we called my parents to come on over for Christmas breakfast. That morning's specialty at Cafe Leeth was grits and sausage casserole. So delicious but so bad for you. But in the spirit of Christmas...yum!

"Ho Ho Ho"

Wyatt really liked all of the shiny and apparently delicious paper as his main delight on Christmas Day was eating the wrapping.

"Wyatt Claus and Elf"

All that unwrapping really tired the boy out so he took a nice long nap and Byron and I enjoyed several cups of coffee and the relative peace between celebrations. And I read my new book almost in its entirety. Byron got me the Jon & Kate Plus 8 book. Let me tell you if you've never watched that show that she is INSANE. Beyond insane actually. I didn't know if that craziness would translate into print but it definitely did. So ridiculously awesome.

When Wyatt awoke, we headed over to my parents to see Wyatt's best buddy, Baby Judah! Grandaddy and Grandmom gave the boys lots of fun toys. Including the amazing "Bounce and Spin Pony."

"Future Blackmail"

You may be thinking, "My Wyatt Claus, how you've changed!" Wyatt was so kind and let Judah borrow his Santa suit. You may not have noticed this but Judah is a big boy and Wyatt...well he just isn't. The reindeer outfit is 6 months and the Santa suit is 12 months. It was pretty much process of elimination which boy would wear what for the cutest Christmas photos ever.

"Judah Claus and his tiny reindeer"

Christmas night we headed out to Fairfax to see Byron's parents and his grandma. They were still a little stomach fluish and Wyatt was Christmased out so we didn't stay long. Long enough to say "Ho, Ho, Ho" and home we went.

On the 26th, which George W. Bush graciously declared a federal holiday (thanks W), we had a vet appointment for the pupster and then planned the make-up Christmas celebration with the Leeths. For some unknown reason I volunteered to make potato soup for dinner that evening. Why? Why? Why? After peeling a million potatos and mashing a million potatos and cutting a million onions and frying a million pounds of bacon my kitchen was a disaster and we were late for dinner. Ay carumba... But the soup. It was delicious. So delicious. Worth the effort and the kitchen disaster which dear Byron cleaned up!

"Aunt Erin and Wyatt"

Byron's sister Erin has basically declared payback in all the gifts she gives Wyatt. When our nephew Payton was born in March of 2006 we made it out duty to find the loudest, most annoying toys known to man. Now Wyatt is receiving equally loud toys. In fact, his favorite gift of the whole lot is a train that drives around the house droppig balls out of the back. Guess who gets to wrestle the dog for the balls? ME! Thanks Aunt Erin and Uncle Kenny! Though Wyatt's squeals of glee as he crawls behind the train are totally worth my new role as dog wrestler.

"Choo-Choooo!"

Satrurday morning was splent cleaning and generally preparing for Byron's family to come out to our house. The whole gang came by and Payton informed Erin that he would like a baby cage full of toys like Wyatt has. The noise volume of all Wyatt's new toys being operated at once was through the roof yet Wyatt slept through it all!

Finally, Sunday arrived. Our second wedding anniversary! After church, my parents came over for lunch (leftover potato soup, of course) and took Wyatt home with them. Later they took the Water Taxi over to National Harbor to see the Christmas decorations at the Convention Center

"Wyatt's Night Out"

Meanwhile, back home I was having a most glorious afternoon! I actually got to take a bath and no one demanded my attention. It was fabulous. THEN, I took a nap. How wonderful. At 6 o'clock I woke up from my 2 1/2 hour snooze (I told you, glorious afternoon) and got dressed for dinner. We went to Carlyle and got an appetizer AND dessert because it was our anniversary! Byron had received a gift card so we really felt like we could order whatever we wanted. With me choosing to stay home with Wyatt we really have to watch our money so it was really nice to be able to go out that night and not be worried about just ordering whatever was cheapest. I did drink water though...old habits die hard.

"Christmas 2006"

"Christmas 2008"