Christmases Past.

One of the fun things about kids is that every year is a little different. You especially notice it around the holidays because of the distance between them. This year munchie has decorated the tree, helped a little with Christmas cookies and assembled a Christmas list that would fill a sleigh nicely. I got to thinking about that and about the past christmases.

His first Christmas was a non-event. He was 3 months old and we put a couple presents under the tree and took bunches of pictures.

His second Christmas he didn't really get it. He had a bunch of presents, and it took forever to open them. He would open something then play, open something then play. We started in the morning and around 5:30 it was finally done. Toward the end it was just torture - we just wanted him to finish opening the packages.

His third christmas they made reindeer food at school, we talked about spreading the reindeer food and putting out cookies for santa and he promptly fell asleep Christmas eve right after dinner. I suited him up and walked his sleepy self outside to scatter reindeer food anyway. Then I put him to bed. He understood the pile of presents, though, and made very short work of them indeed.

His last 2 christmases don't really stick in my mind much. He has been into the getting but not so much the getting ready. For his fourth christmas he got a bike. He didn't really seem all that excited by it, though.

Last year was also the Rec holiday concert when the boy was so nervous he peed himself right before going on stage - but didn't even miss his lines. Poor thing looked miserable, though. On the day itself he really tore throught the pile of gifts and when my family came for dinner he asked everyone as they arrived if they had brought him a present.

This year he's been into the whole idea of preparing. He's gone shopping with both his dad and me, he's helped decorate and we've read lots of christmas books. I hope the holiday meets his expectations. I think it will - he's a process kind of guy. He's involved in the process and he likes it even more than the outcome. Like Halloween, he talks about it a bunch. Dressing up and getting candy but in reality he's eaten maybe 5 pieces of candy from Halloween. I think Christmas will be like that too. The process of decorating and making a list and talking to santa are as important as the pile of presents. Of course I could be wrong, in which case my little Madison Avenue sponge will be checking his list to see what's missing.