Post Christmas and everything else

I haven't posted to facebook or this blog throughout the week, but decided to do a posting tonight before the second half of the week begins. Last post involved Christmas Eve Eve celebrating with my immediate family. On Christmas Eve, we drove to my grandmother's house as planned. Had a wonderful time with the extended family on my mom's side. We stayed until about 8:45, then made the hour and fifteen minute drive back into town. Gray was asleep 20 or so minutes into the trip. Transitioning him from the car to his crib was a piece of cake.

After getting him settled, we set up for "Santa". The tree had been gated off from Grayson, so we took it down. Jennifer finished wrapping some last minute presents, and we set everything under the tree. Fell asleep a few minutes past eleven.

Christmas morning- Grayson was up by 7:45 and we watched him open presents and have an all around good time. Seeing him run to the tree and find his toys was awesome! Glad I got some of it on video. After he'd played some, I went to Hardees and brought back breakfast. After exchanging our limited gifts with each other, we went across town to see Grayson's Grammie and Papa. Had a good time with them for a little bit, then came back home for lunch and a nap.

The middle part of the day was a very strange time period. Totally did not feel like Christmas. I've always been doing something all of Christmas day. To have a portion of the day at home with nothing Christmasy going on was a bit strange. When Gray woke up from his nap, we headed to Uncle David and Aunt Jane's (FIL's side) for a late Christmas lunch. Had a great time over there, as usual. Grayson really started to get worn down toward the end (he didn't take a great nap) and we had to duck out a few minutes before we probably would have otherwise. We also had to allow enough time to have Jennifer's immediate family do some gift exchanging. All in all, it was a good Christmas...by far the focus was on Gray, but he's the sole baby on both sides, so why shouldn't he be? :)

This would have been a much more informative post had I done this over the weekend, but I'm taking a little bit of a break from the blog and facebook this week. Don't get me wrong, I check it periodically for email or time sensitive messages, but it's been nice just relaxing with my wife and son all week. We've eaten out a time or two (have IHOP plans for tomorrow morning), made several trips out (going to Target is fun when you have gift cards) and just enjoyed not having much of a schedule. That's going to change tomorrow, as the final holiday get-together begins. Jen's uncle and aunt (MIL's side) are making their annual trip here from Dallas. They are a fun bunch of people to get together, so I'm hoping to have some good stories to tell after the New Year. If I don't post before the weekend, here's to a great 2010. I know a lot of things will change for many people this coming year-hope it's one to remember!

Christmas Movies

Over the last few weeks, Jennifer and I have been watching Christmas movies. I love 'em. Well, these viewings have made me think about my favorites. It's hard to narrow them down, but here are my top 5 "Christmas" movies:

5. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Showing us what makes the season so joyful can also drive us mad: Family.
Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f***ing Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of a**holes this side of the nuthouse.

4. The Santa Clause
Just a good, clean, funny movie.
Charlie, stay away from those things. They're reindeer, you don't know where they've been. They all look like they've got key lime disease.

3. Home Alone
The top 3 are quite a bit above the rest. This one is definitely watched yearly.
I made my family disappear!

2. Elf
The most recent Christmas movie to really grab my attention. I've seen this several dozen times and, for some reason, Grayson absolutely loves it. Excellent job by Will Ferrell. So very quotable.
First, I went through the seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest... Then, I went past the sea of twirly, swirly gumdrops... And after that: I went through the Lincoln Tunnel.

1. Die Hard
The perfect guy Christmas movie. I suggest reading this article regarding its inclusion in the Christmas genre. I love me some John McClane.
"Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho."

those that just missed the cut but are very worthy of being watched every year include:
-White Christmas
-A Christmas Story
-How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon)

I'll not become sick

A brief summation of the past 24 hours:

We went out with Kristen last night, as planned- bought gifts for Grayson from her, my grandmother, and one from us (more to come, I'm sure). I'm naturally a kid at heart, so it was as exciting for me to pick toys out as Grayson will be opening them. We're trying to get a nice balance of "new technology" toys (i.e. electronic dog that talks to you, toddler laptops, etc) and simple, imaginative toys (i.e. building blocks, cars, barnyard sets). Too many kids these days are obsessed with the latest gadgets, and I don't want Grayson growing into that kind of kid. Nothing wrong in using those toys, but a balance is necessary- especially in the 18month-3 year range. Kids are unbelievable creative.

Jennifer came in from work yesterday sick. She's a tad better today, though not completely better. Grayson was pretty miserable today..well, as miserable as he can be. He handles being sick quite well, in my opinion. Fussed about various things off and on. Fever wasn't ever very high (10o.4, adjusted), so we'll just kind of keep an eye on him tomorrow. He ate very well tonight, which is a true indication of his feeling alright. Hoping he sleeps through the night.

Going to finish watching Angles and Demons before it gets any later. Must get my wife to sleep at a decent hour tonight. Final week of Christmas prep is before me!

The Lights!

Thursday was a fairly relaxing day, all in all. Gray had a bit of a fever earlier in the afternoon- wouldn't have known it from his behavior, but his hands were burning up, so I decided to check it. It seems to have gone back down now, though. Not sure what caused it, but he did get the flu shot on Monday, and he was around a snotty kid at church Wednesday night. He's also in the middle of some serious teething, and although many doctors say teething doesn't cause a fever...he's had some low grade fevers while teething in the past, and I don't think it's a coincidence every time.

Last night, after dinner, we took Grayson to see the Christmas lights on Hwy 109. He's a big fan of Christmas decorations in general, and was fascinated by every lit up Santa and Snowman we passed on the way. It took about 10 minutes to drive through the place. Took some video, which you can see below. The final clip has him seeing Santa.

Big news today: Jen's last day of the semester! We're going to take Grayson to Target with his Aunt Kristen so he can help pick out his Christmas gift from her. Should be a good day.