christmas catch-up!

we've had a severe case of the lazies since christmas. no reason, just lazy!

to catch up on the past week... mason's first christmas was a success and we had a great time watching his reactions to his presents, the dogs (at my parents' house), and his first christmas eve service. i was battling a cold the few days prior to christmas and still have some lingering effects, so my brain was not fully funtioning - otherwise, i would have NEVER left the camera at home when we went down to my parents' house (bad mommy!) thankfully, my dad's camera was available, so we were able to grab a few shots, but just not nearly as many as i normally would...

brad and i were blessed to be able to attend our own church service on monday night while aunt kasey (aka special k) stayed with mason. but mason wanted to attend the christmas eve service too, so we ventured down to my parents' church wednesday evening for the real festivities. our pediatrician has recommended no church nursery until after flu season is over (since everyone brings their sick kid to the church nursery), so mason was with us. i was nervous about how he would behave in church as he is quite the talker, but he did well for the first 25 minutes or so. he absolutely loved "o come all ye faithful" and sang right along. i am pleased to report that he was even on pitch for some of the song!

then he started getting wiggly. when another kid yelled out, he started making noises, too, so we followed the lead of the other kid's parents and escorted mason out of the service. read: we were not the first meltdown! :) brad hung out with mason in the car for the remaining 15 minutes, reporting that after one lap around the parking lot, mason was fast asleep in his car seat.

the next morning, mason woke promptly at 7:30 am and woke the entire house up when i suctioned out his nose (he was battling the same cold i was). this typically isn't considered that early on christmas morning (especially to kasey who likes to wake up at the crack of dawn, open presents, and then climb back into bed!) but by the time we had fed mason and eaten breakfast, it was naptime again, so kasey graciously agreed to hold off on present-opening until mason could join us.

an hour and a half later, we were ready to roll!

mason didn't quite get the whole present opening thing...

but he did enjoy the goodies inside... particularly the curious george stuffed animal from grammy and pappy (with books!)

and mommy got everything she wanted for christmas too...

all in all, it was a fun day, spent surrounded by family with thankful hearts - for our own baby boy and especially for the birthday boy, God's own son, who arrived over 2000 years ago to bring hope and salvation to the world.