We’ve had a lovely first week of Christmas holidays, with a lot of family time. For the first time since Liam’s first Christmas, we were spending it at home — and it was nice to start our own traditions this year, when Liam was so aware of Christmas and everything leading up to it. I can’t tell you how many times he said, “Mumma, I’m so excited for Christmas!”
The weather, while it’s been fabulous for the past month, was very dreary and wet for the days leading up to Christmas, and as a result Liam barely got out of the house… but he still enjoyed the lead up to Christmas, especially the baking of Christmas cookies! We did, however, watch a lot of Christmas movies, and Liam’s absolute favourite at the moment is ‘The Polar Express’ and it’s renewed his love of trains. So happy there’s a piece for his train set boxed up under the tree!!
Liam also happily nosed around under the tree to see which presents said ‘L I A M’, now that he’s gotten so good at reading and writing his name. Needless to say, most of the presents were for him!
Christmas day started lovely and late. Liam was in no hurry to get up, and lolled about in our bed half awake and half asleep, and happy to have some cuddle time. We urged him to go see if Santa had visited, and eventually he peeked out to see if the milk and cookies were gone, and he quickly ran back to our bed in tears because Santa hadn’t come because the glass of milk was still there. Now I’m absolutely POSITIVE that the milk was drunk, cookies eaten, and huge bites taken out of the carrot, so I asked Liam if the glass of milk was empty or full. He thought a minute. “Empty”, he said. “So… maybe Santa drank the milk???”, I suggested. AHA! All was right with the world again. Apparently Santa was meant to stack the dishwasher too.
Liam was happy to peruse the contents of his stocking (and mumma and daddy’s stockings), and play with the new firetruck that Santa brought him, while mumma and daddy enjoyed our morning coffee.
But soon enough he remembered that there were a ton of presents under the tree to be opened. He did well, and appreciated everything (he kept saying, “Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god” with every present he opened that excited him… where did he get that from??) and although he took a bit of a break halfway through to set up his train tracks, he made it through all his gifts before midday.
Lots of Skype calls all around the world: New Zealand, Canada and England. It was an especially difficult Christmas for Grandma and Grandpa Woolley in Canada this year, as the chemotherapy and other treatments have taken a toll, and surgery is just around the corner in the new year. So poor health, anxiety, and a distinct lack of grandkids on Christmas Day made it sucky. We were happy to Skype with them a couple of times, so Liam could show them all his new favourite things. And we’re hoping that next Christmas is a zillion times better, with all of this behind them.
We had Bridget, Sunday and Kevin around for Christmas dinner this year. Adam made a Capon (castrated rooster) on the BBQ this year. With mushroom & chestnut stuffing, potatoes roasted in goose fat, honey-cinnamon carrots, green beens with bacon, and the “Woolley” tradition of stuffed cabbage rolls. Followed by Adam’s awesome apple pie. Leftovers for for three days afterwards!!
Now it’s 30 December, and the weather is fine again. We took Liam out on Sunday to get him back on his bike (it’s been a while) and he did great! If he keeps this up, he should be able to drop the stabilizers by spring and ride his bike like a big boy! (at which point Adam and I will either need bikes or inline skates to keep up!!) Liam also tried out his new kiddie inline skates, and LOVED THEM! I think he did pretty good for a nearly 4 year old… but it will be a while before he’s able to do it without holding on to mumma and daddy’s hands!! Yes, he wore his knee pads (he calls them his ‘kneelings’… and his elbow pads… no need for the wristguards or helmet until he can at least stand on his own without falling down.
One more week of school holidays, before he’s back to school. I’m sure we’ll have some more fun times before the week is through!
In other news… Liam has become a chocoholic, and I can’t wait until all the Christmas goodies are gone so he gets back to normal, healthy eating again!!!!
