I was very excited about Christmas with Jacob this year. He kind of just went with the flow last year, but this year he kind of had a clue about the day. He could kind of say "ho ho ho" for what Santa says. He would answer "ball" if you asked him what Santa was going to bring him. If you asked him again, he would say "doh" (toy).

We broke down and got an artificial tree this year. I was a little bummed, but Ken was very excited about not having any needles or watering to deal with every day. It set up easy, but since we didn't see a tree we liked that was pre-lit, I still had to string the lights. I don't really mind that job too much because I kind of have my method down. It's getting all scratched and sappy that I don't like. The fake tree took care of the sap, but I still got pretty scratched. Once it was all lit (which was done while Jake was napping), we were ready to decorate. Jacob was really into this part. He kept running over to the ornaments and back to the tree. He did ok hanging the ornaments with the loops, but the ones with the hooks were a little more of a challenge. He would have to try once, twice, three, and then just lay it on a branch. He also seemed to favor one branch for all the ornaments. Ken and I had to pull a few off the branch at a time and move them around the tree when he wasn't watching. He also got sick of Mommy trying to take his picture for this momentous occasion. He got to the point where he didn't bother turning around to look at me. He just kept hanging the decorations, looking at the tree, and saying "cheese". It was very cute. We probably got half the tree done before he was just getting silly with the stuff. He wasn't even trying to hang them. I think the real thrill was just going from the ornament box to the tree and back again. The next day when he was at daycare, Ken and I finished the tree and the rest of the decorations. It went amazingly faster.

Ken and I set our alarm Christmas morning so that we could make sure we were up before Jacob. We wanted to get everything all together for our "big" breakfast, and we didn't want him to notice all the presents under the tree until after we ate. Our plan worked. He slept in a little bit from being out so late Christmas Eve, so that even gave us time for his eggs to cool enough for him to eat. He doesn't like it when his food is too "ot" (hot).

When breakfast was all done, we headed over to the tree. We were all set up there, too. The night before we set up the tri-pod for the camcorder. That way we didn't have to worry about taking turns with the camera. We had the screen facing us so we could make sure we stayed in the shot. When Jacob noticed this, he kept running up to the camere saying "me me me" and "da da" and "ma ma". It was pretty funny. We tried to get a few snapshots of him opening presents, but he wouldn't look up at the camera. He was too fixated on the presents. I couldn't tell what his favorite present was. I know he wasn't crazy about getting clothes. When he opened up the ones from Grandma Weiss, he would immediately close the box and say "no no". He loved his Wiggles guitar from Grandma Weiss. He also likes to cuddle with his Lion King lions (baby Nala and baby Simba). I don't think he knew who they were, but after watching Lion King a few times, and reading a book with them in it, he got the clue. He can almost say Nala, but Simba is just "ba". Meme got him those crayola markers that only write on special paper. He's not patient enough to wait for the color to show up, but he is thrilled about having something that has a cap that can be taken on and off and on and ... He got more toys than you can imagine. I can't believe in less than two months he'll be getting more (his birthday).

We had a lot of fun decorating the tree
Nice job Jake!
Jacob loves to put the sprinkles on the cookies!
So many presents... so little time

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