Christmas 2012

This year, we we're back to our tradition of Christmas in Bastrop.  Ethan was excited since GG and Paula's house is one of his favorite places on earth.

But first, here's a couple of pictures of our tree at home:

Decorating the tree

Finished product

And one of Ethan opening the last door of his Advent calendar on Christmas Eve before we left.  I bought this Advent house long before Ethan was even in the picture because I liked it so much (and also because it resembles the one on Christmas Vacation).  We fill it with little trinkets and candies, and Ethan just loves opening a door after dinner every night.

Candy Kiss!

So, off to Bastrop we drove.  We decorated the tree and ate some food with the whole family. 

Then, most of the family left, and it was just us, my mom, Paula, and grandma.  We listened to Christmas music, decorated their house, and made cookies.  It was such a peaceful, special time, and we enjoyed it very much.  Ethan set out a snack for Santa, got ready for bed, and read some Christmas books.

He loved helping make cookies

He saved a special one for Santa

Not-so-great photo of us in our jammies

Books with Paula

Goodnight, tree.

As per tradition, he got to open one present before bed.

And we read The Night Before Christmas

On Christmas morning, we opened stocking in the Airstream (where we slept), gave warning to the house that we were on our way, and headed up to see what surprises were left under the tree.

Opening his stocking

What he found when he walked in the house

A fire house/police station from Santa

Legos

Santa did indeed enjoy his snack

More Legos

The first thing he saw was the fire house, then he dug into a few more presents before declaring that it was time to put together some Legos.  Then, more family showed up and the tree got a little more crowded:

I'm pretty sure there were even more present than this.

The camera was apparently ignored for the rest of the day, but we opened presents, had dinner, and then there was a crazy game of ping pong.  I pretty much did this, though:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of assembly

It was a lovely Christmas, and I'm pretty sure Ethan enjoyed it.  We stayed for a few days, then headed home to fill our house with all our new goodies.  Ethan made it about five minutes, before the excitement caught up to him, and we looked back to see this:

I think it's safe to say he was exhausted.