Christmas was very hectic for us this year. Tradition is for us to spend Christmas Eve with my family (Grandma and Grandpa Meyer too). We normally come to Wichita, eat a late lunch, open gifts, head to dads church for the Children's program at 7 pm, and then we head home so that we are at our house Christmas morning.
This year, Joshua had to work on Christmas Eve. I did not realize this until the weekend before and was "panicked" trying to figure out what we were going to do. Cori offered to come to Emporia and pick Cooper and I up so that we could be home and then Joshua would just come as soon as he got off work. This wasn't so exciting for Joshua, but understood that this was the best we could do.
Cooper and I got up that morning and packed a bag for the day. I headed to Emporia, dropped Cooper off at Grandma Gayle's (Joshua's mom's) and went to my 9 am zumba class (yeah, they had class on Christmas Eve). I got out of class at 10 and went right back to get Cooper and meet Cori. In the mean time I see that I have a text from Joshua saying, "we just found out we are closing at noon." YYYEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! I was so excited!!! However, Cori was already almost to Emporia so Cooper and I went ahead and went with her and Joshua met us later.
Joshua got to Wichita around 2 pm. Grandma and Grandpa Meyer came over around that time as well. Luke, Cori's fiance', had to work until 4 pm. When he got to the house, Cooper ran up to him and said, "Uncle Luke, we get to open presents!"
So, we were able to start our normal tradition (a little later than normal) with the whole family there. God answered some of mom's prayers that day!!!!
Mom was able to get (SOME) of her village set up this year. I say some of it because she has to rotate pieces since she has so many. Cooper really enjoyed the village. He would look at it and play with some of the pieces.
Cooper got out his chair and was waiting to open presents.
Stockings are tradition at our house. I look forward to opening my stocking every year. I think that stocking stuffers is the reason I have just about EVERY pampered chef gadget.
Cooper had a special present sent to him from our friends in Texas. When I told Cooper the gift was from Jackson he said, "yeah, Jacken!"
Cooper opened the gift and right away yelled, "THOMAS!!!!" It is actually a Percy train, but Cooper loves it. The remote is his favorite part. He will hold it up to his ear just to listen to the train sounds.
Great-grandma and Great-grandpa gave Cooper another gift that has been a HUGE hit at our house. I can honestly say that it is one of the first toys that Cooper has had that I can not wait for the batteries to run out. He loves playing with it, and I love watching him, but the darn thing is super loud and he has found the on/off switch.
Cooper got a "ta-tar"
We had to open it right away. Cooper said, "gwampa Doug, I rock out!" We are not really sure where he learned "I rock out" but he sure did. Grandpa could not believe that no one got him on film....this stopped the opening of gifts for about 5 minutes. This gave me time to catch my breath and pick up some of Cooper's mess.
Cooper loves the Jayhawks. Not that he has a choice at our house, but he also sent this puzzle and a jayhawk shirt to his friend Jackson in Texas.
Cooper also got a tool set (that he loves and we have had to hide a couple times), and a little people truck. Aunt Cori and Uncle Luke gave Cooper a coloring easel that we will set up as soon as I get his room organized (I started yesterday and I am almost there).
After dinner we got ready to go to dad church for the children's program. Cooper was dressed and ready to go so he found his "ta-tar" to keep him occupied.
Cooper and Uncle Luke played together for a little while. Uncle Luke is VERY musically talented and even played Cooper a couple of tunes on the guitar.
After church we loaded up the van and headed home. We got home around 10:30 -11:00. Cooper was out. He got up in the morning around 7:15 and came up to our room like normal. I asked him, "who came to our house last night?" Cooper leaned to my ear and whispered, "Santa." I said, "he did? What did he bring?" Cooper said, "presents!" I asked him, "do you want to go see what he brought?" He then got excited, but still just sat there. Joshua and I had to get him to go back downstairs with us. We were glad that he is picking up on the idea of Christmas, but look forward to the day he is so excited for Christmas that he can't sleep!!!!
Santa brought Cooper a big bag of Lego's, the Alvin and the Chipmunks soundtrack, Polar Express, Happy Feet (Cooper calls it penguin feet), and Robots. We had a couple of other gifts that we were more excited about, but wanted to see the look on his face when he opened them. I was afraid that if Santa brought him the "best" gifts he would loose interest in everything else.
Mommy and Daddy gave Cooper a Little Einstein bath set. Cooper loves the Little Einstein's and we knew he would get plenty of other toys for his room so we opted to go with bath toys. Then we gave him his Jayhawk helmet. The only helmet I could find actually came with little shoulder pads, a jersey, and pants. I just wanted the helmet, but this was all we could find. Cooper rarely takes the helmet off of his head. He will watch TV with it, take it with us when we go places, and has even tried to wear it to bed.....he quickly learned that didn't work our so well.
I do have a short video of Cooper Christmas Morning that I will put on later. The quality is not great because of us having an old house we don't have much lighting in the living room. However, you will be able to hear Cooper talk about Santa and the presents.
Around 10 am we headed to Grandma Gayle's for Christmas with the Hamlin's. I didn't end up getting any pictures of our Christmas there, but I did get a video of Cooper and the dancing snowman. I will add this later.
Cooper got a little remote control car that flips over (Ramie, you called it a bounce back racer). Cooper, daddy, and mommy have played with it so much that the batteries have already died.
Friday afternoon we when to Grandpa and Grandma Pat's (Joshua's dad and step-mom). We had soup for lunch and opened presents. Cooper got a John Deere tractor and some Spider man slippers (pider man). We have already had to wear the piderman's in public (just to daddy's work)....I never thought I would be one of those mom's, but I did it!!!
We had a good Christmas, but are looking forward to this week to relax!!!!
Joshua and I could not leave for Wichita until he got off work on Tuesday. So Cori had to entertain Cooper all day on Tuesday as well. She had mentioned going bowling to him earlier in the morning, but the bowling alley was full. However, Cooper would not let Aunt Cori forget about it so they went back to try again. They only had one lane that was open, and they wouldn't let them bumper bowl since Coir and Luke were going to bowl too. I have never heard of this being a problem before, but Cooper still managed to bowl a 54.
