McCullers (Family of Four): Christmas 2009

The Christmas parade was the usual for us. Very cold, very rushed to get there. But there was one person in our crowd that made it all worth it....Maeve! She went to sleep on the way to town because she was all warm and toasty in her layers. But, when she woke up, her eyes were filled with wonder at all the lights and sounds she was experiencing.

For the first year, Cam walked right up to Santa, jumped in his lap, and started talking to him! There was no coersion, no protests, no tears...just a little boy who knows what it's all about now. I would have loved to hear what he was telling Santa, however, Maeve was screaming out of terror! She, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with the strange man with the long white beard. Even after seeing Cam was with Santa for a few minutes, she did not warm up to the idea of sitting in his lap. The second time we tried to pass her to him, she squalled even louder. I'm guessing I'll have to wait another three years to get a happy picture of her and Santa.

All in all Maeve enjoyed her very first Christmas. I had a great time dressing her for each little occasion. She had so many cute Christmas outfits that I really needed another month to get some more wear out of them. She awoke to a sea of pink with a monkey theme on Christmas morning since she's our "Maevey Monkey." She, typically, was more enthralled with Cam's toys than her own. I have caught her several times"tending" to her new babies.

Cam coming down the stairs on Christmas morning is a memory I hope I can hold on to. I was sleeping lightly, listening for him to wake up. I wasn't sure if he would go into the living room before coming to get us, but I wanted badly to see his reaction this year. When I heard his footsteps coming down, I lept to the door of my bedroom just to watch him. He got far enough down the stairs to peek over into the living room. His jaw dropped and he ran down the remaining steps and into our room exclaiming, "There's a ton of toys in there! Santa came!" We got up, lugging a sleeping Maeve with us so we could watch Cam discover his new loot.