Wall to Walls

Phew! The holidays are over, can you believe it? Most of you are probably saying, "Ummm Kinsey the holidays ended weeks ago", but not for me. The holidays are not officially over until the 17th - Liv's birthday. After that we can finally put away our party hats and get back to the drudgery of work.

This is the first year that we did not travel for Christmas and while I missed my family and our traditions, it was nice to be in our home for Christmas Eve. The Walls kept Zach on his birthday night and brought him back for church on the Eve.

Church was a disaster to put it mildly. Apparently the Catholic churches near us do not have a kids service (like any self-respecting Episcopalian church), but instead the kids choir sing carols for 30 minutes followed by A HOUR long mass. I'm sorry, what? My baby loves church, loves it, but he cannot sit there for an hour and a half. The church was also packed, I have never been to a church that was that crowded. Zach and I spent most of the time out in front with the Jesus statue - and every other 2 year old in the place. I finally realized that I had the car keys with me so I hustled that boy home and got dinner going.

Christmas morning was sweet and fun. Santa had put out Zach's gifts on a chair in the living room, complete with his train table, still in the box. Santa decided to go see a movie on Christmas Eve instead of putting together the table. Zach threw himself on it screaming "Open! Open!". He also really liked the play kitchen pots and pans I got him to help me in the kitchen. He kept saying "Help you Mommy, help you Mommy". (Tracy you might notice that some of the gifts Santa gave Zach were technically from Wyatt....thank you for that!) I didn't get the first part but here is a bit of Christmas morning.

Then we went out to the Walls for what my mom deemed years ago the "Wall to Wall free for all". And it was. I did get to take a nap while Zach napped, then it was dinner with their friends and more present opening. I am pretty sure that Zach is going to think he gets presents every day as he has opened them every day since his birthday.

Everyone was so generous to him (and all of us). He loves his basketball hoop, all his trains, his handyman stuff - he keeps hammering on the walls saying "I working!"- and his new ride-on front end loader. I have put most of the toys up in his room to bring down throughout the year. That is the trouble with having your birthday and Christmas right next to each other, you get everything all at once. So I will rotate down his toys throughout the year so they are new to him all over again!