christmas morning | a note to littles

dearest littles,

this morning was “christmas morning” at our house. next weekend, we will travel to alabama to visit with family (where you will, no doubt, be gloriously overwhelmed with affection). so, we decided to have our own little christmas celebration early.

it was wonderful.

you woke us up bright and early. well, it wasn’t very bright, because the sun was not yet awake. but, it was early. and, your face made it bright. we tried to ignore you for a little while, because we were sleepy. but, finally, you said “excuse me guys,” which made us laugh. we caved. (had we not, you would most certainly have asked, “are you ignoring me,” which is also hilarious).

i brought you into our bed to watch a “toon.” i desperately wanted to wait until the sun came up to go downstairs, because, as you know, i am obsessed with “the right light” for photographs and didn’t want this christmas to go as undocumented as the last did. but, you wouldn’t wait long. we headed downstairs in the dark. this is why only one image from “christmas morning 2011” exists (other than those of you riding your bike).

you got so excited when you saw all the gifts. they were piled high on the dining room table under our tiny table-top christmas tree. (we went for the table-top tree this year because (a) we are leaving town soon and won’t be here for weeks and (b) last year’s tree situation was a disaster that we still haven’t recovered from.) you love everything about our small tree. of course, i stuffed a stocking for you last night, so it waited there too – full of goodies.

as an aside, your grammie loves doing stockings. i looked forward to my stocking every year (which was always bursting with marvelous and thoughtful surprises) when i was a kid. i definitely got the need to stuff a great christmas stocking from her – so you should thank her the next time you see her.

you unloaded your stocking first and, within the first ten minutes of christmas morning, managed to eat two pieces of chocolate and demand a sucker. wowza. but, we let you, because its christmas.

you saw your bike next. it is blue, just as you requested. you weren’t nearly as pleased as i had hoped you would be. i think you were just overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff around. later, when we took you out to ride it, your excitement did not disappointment.

you loved all of your gifts. your dad picked out a counting and sorting game for you that turned out to be a huge hit. i don’t know why we didn’t expect this – it consists of a ton of small, plastic, colorful bears with matching cups to sort them into. fun stuff. once again, your dad proved that he is incredibly good at being a father – completely thoughtful and, i will admit it, a bit all-knowing (which is a bit annoying). moving on.

it was a wonderful christmas morning. we had blueberry pancakes and fruit. you had candy. and more candy. and, then, some more candy. you played with all of your new toys in a very diplomatic way – giving each of them time to be your new favorite. and, when it was time to ride your bike, you thrilled us with your energy, excitement, fearlessness, and sense of adventure.

in conclusion, i love you a ton. maybe i love you more than i should, because sometimes i feel like my heart will burst with pride and happiness. (this is, perhaps, balanced out by the times that i feel like i want to throw you out a window or move to tahiti, but let’s not talk about that right now). you bring me and your dad such joy. love fills our home and our hearts. thank you for that.

merry christmas littles mckgee.

love, me