John's 1st Christmas

Ho, ho, ho!  Before my boy’s first Christmas is completely neglected (like his first Thanksgiving…whoops!), I thought I should write a little something here.

John was incredibly lucky to spend his first Christmas with almost his entire family…mom, dad, his sisters, all 4 grandparents, all 7 aunts & uncles (including Petey), and 4 of his cousins (including Jake).  We missed you, Shiva!  Nannie isn't able to come to mom's house anymore, but Bud, John, and I went to see her the day after Christmas.

Christmas Eve morning we woke up and headed to the Garros to hangout with that side of the family for a while.  Mimi and grandpa’s house is full of fun toys and cousins so John had a blast.  We left at lunchtime and the poor kid was asleep before we were out of the neighborhood.  We got home and attempted to get him to sleep in his bed, but that wasn’t happening.  

Around 3:00 we gave up and headed to my parents house for presents and dinner.  John got some practical things (clothes, thermometer, stroller attachment) and a bunch of really fun toys (A car! A firetruck ball pit! A piano!).   Despite not having a nap, John was pretty sweet and spent most of the time hanging out in Bud’s lap.  As usual, dinner was fabulous.  Lasagna + wine + garlic bread = happy Katie.  John started to be an ass towards the end of dinner so we had to scoot out pretty quickly before things turned ugly.  Needless to say, John was exhausted when we got home and feel sound asleep pretty quickly.

This wasn't a new toy, but kept John entertained while we opened gifts,

When he wasn't playing with that toy, he was sitting in Bud's lap idolizing Paul.

This is an awkward pose...I swear we like each other.

John's first pair of sunglasses.  Babiators.

Christmas morning John woke up at 8:00 and I nursed him as quickly as possible so we could get to Bud’s parents’ house.  All the kids over there were patiently waiting for us to get there so they could see what Santa brought them.  I’m 99% sure I would NOT have been able to wait so I was impressed when we got there that there were still wrapped presents. 

John was a little over-whelmed with the craziness once we started unwrapping, but he was perfectly happy to sit in Mimi’s lap and watch everyone.  I don’t think she minded either.  Like the night before, John was completely spoiled.  He got a water table, a cell phone, a tv remote, a ball thingy, a little baby couch, books, a magic cube, and a ton of other stuff I’m forgetting.  After presents we had the traditional Garro Christmas Day BBQ (burgers, macaroni salad, and chips) and then we left.  Again, John fell asleep in the car immediately.  We took a very, very long way home so that he could sleep knowing that it’d be his only nap of the day.

Just hold me, Mimi.

Post gift-opening haze

Asleep within 3 minutes of getting in his carseat.

(No, he didn't have that Mt. Dew...it's just a toy in the car)

We were home with the girls for about an hour or so and then headed back to PVB to my parent’s house for dinner family time.  Another amazing meal…beef tenderloin, potatoes, and salad.  Just like the night before, John started to turn into a gremlin half way through dinner so we left before Allyson and Paul decided to get sterilized.

We are so, so lucky to have both sides of the family here in Jacksonville.  It would be very hard to miss one side or another on Christmas.  We were, however, a bit exhausted.  Eight trips to and from PVB in 48 hours is a little much, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.