Christmas in 18 hours or less

When my husband and I were first together, we were always very excited about Christmas together. We would go shopping in secret and set aside a special time to open our presents for each other. As the years wore on, Christmas got kind of boring. With a mortgage and two car payments, we usually just got a joint gift and called it a night. We would still try and do something special to mark the holidays, like a special meal, but over the years it just became another day.

Then we had J. Oh the first Christmas with him was so exciting. He was 9 months old. We went all out. We bought a new tree and new decorations. We put the tree up on Thanksgiving. We bought tons of presents for him that he didn't want, need, or even really care about. The big morning came and we scooted him over to his presents (he couldn't even crawl yet). He just sat there staring as me and S both had separate cameras out flashing away like mad. He just sat there staring. Finally, we realized we would have to open the presents for him. Which we did, giddy and giggly, shoving each new present in his face. He would laugh and touch things and spin wheels and push buttons, but his enthusiasm quickly waned.

First Christmas' are very special. I will always remember that day. How excited we were for J. No one ever really talks about the second Christmas....and for good reason. We decided early on in the season that we weren't going to be putting the tree up until the day of Christmas. J is into everything an him with a Christmas tree, I could just imagine, would drive me to drink.

The second Christmas is just kind of awkward. J doesn't know what Christmas is, doesn't know about Santa, doesn't even really get the whole present thing yet. There aren't a ton of really cool toys to get jazzed up about getting a near 2 year old. I kept looking and looking for that one thing that I saw in the store and just couldn't wait for him to open....but nothing. He gets more excited about the wrapping paper than whats underneath it.

On Christmas eve J and I tried watching Christmas Vacation, Elf and other Christmas movies....but go figure he would rather watch Finding Nemo. We tried making Christmas cookies. J ate flour by the handfuls. So S and I waited until J went to bed Christmas eve, out the tree came. We decorated it and put the stockings up and wrapped all his presents and put them under the tree. J was suitably impressed when he got up and saw all the pretty lights. I even got an "ooooo cooo". We waited until S got home from work and then S and I broke out the dueling cameras and got to flashing away while J pointed to all the wrapping paper and said "ssssppppsss" which is his way of saying "spongebob", which is what was on the wrapping paper. Finally, after about 30 minutes my husband and I had unwrapped, that is to say helped J unwrap, all of his presents. J then spent the better part of the morning fawning over the shiny purple bag one of the presents came in.

We then sat down and had our Christmas ham and mashed potatoes as J ran from one new toy to the next. After putting J down for his nap I worked quickly to take down all the Christmas decoration. J will probably wonder where all the lights went when he wakes up. But that was our Christmas, 18 hours or less.