Christmas Day

Last, but not least, here's a quick glimpse of our Christmas Day.

Trust me, it was a whole day of celebrating!

Christmas morning @ our home

We started a tradition where Tanner gets 3 presents, similar to the Wisemen bringing 3 presents to the Jesus. It's a good thing too -- but HE got presents from everyone and anyone.

Dinosaurs, wooden blocks, airplanes, tractors, books, marble works -- anything a little boy could dream of having. [And then I spent the next 2 weeks re-organizing his bedroom to make room for all these new toys.]

And of all those big presents, his favorite was probably the light saber. I think every little boy holds a special place in his heart for one of these. Just look at that smile :)

Christmas Dinner

We spent Christmas morning with my family, and then headed over to Elam's house for more fun, games, and food.

Melinda had a ton of games lined up for the family -- reindeer shuffle, bin the bow of the present, and candy cane relay -- which is much harder than it looks.

We also did a white elephant gift exchange and came home with a car load more full of stuff. Tanner's still talking about the soccer table he got -- and has become quite the pro.

Memorable Christmas Moments

Reading stories about Christmas

Tanner's favorites was Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. After seeing the movie, he's walk around the house and continuously repeat, "HO, HO, HO, Merry Christmas!" And my some small miracle, we actually got it on tape!

Next year, I'm going to try a new idea where you have count-down to Christmas and wrap a book to open and read each night before Christmas.

For this year, I settled on reading him some of the same Christmas stories over and over again. But when it's The Polar Express, I don't seem to mind.

Learning about Baby Jesus

Tanner loves his kids nativity scene, but probably for all the wrong reasons. Normally, it's arranged like this. But when I'm not looking, Tanner re-arranges it like this. I've never caught him in the act, he's sneaky like that, but of course it's him.

Not sure how concerned I should be if Baby Jesus is taking a turn on the tractor, or the Three Wise Men are fighting in a war with one another. Awe-some.

The little one loves to be a stinker, and he'll even tell you as he's laughing his head off.

Baking, Baking, and more Baking.

I made endless amounts of Christmas cookies and Tanner was my number one accomplice.

While I'd like to think he genuinely enjoyed spending time with his momma in the kitchen.

But really, we all know what he was after.

Tanner rolling out sugar cookies and saying "Whoa, this is a big one" thinking that would be the end of it. He loved rolling up his sleeves and getting a little dirty, but you had to watch him, cause he loved to sneak in a bite whenever he could.

Tanner also helped make these amazing cookies. My far -- my favorite NEW christmas cookies. And I was shocked when he held off the temptation and actually helped me unwrap the Andies Chocalate Mints and place them on the cookies.

Singing Jingle Bells (with Santa's bell on his cap).

The poor Santa got dragged all over the house while Tanner would be singing away, jingling the bell on the top of his cap. It was too cute to try to keep Santa in his proper spot.

Spending time with family

We had so many fun visitors over the Holidays -- my parents came from Seattle, my grandparents, Nana & Papa from St George, and my brothers from UNT.

It still seemed quite compared without the entire family we had together at Thanksgiving. But we made the post of who was here and had fun playing games, shopping, and eating. Lots of it!

Trip to the Zoo with Nanny

It's hard to say who was more impressed, my mom or Tanner. She was shouffling the giraffes to get them to eat the lettuce and talking to the lion zookeepers about the the differences/ similarities between wild and domesticated animals.

We rode the monorail around the zoo. We almost didn't make it cause Tanner was having a melt down when he say the first train leave without him. But we persevered & made it. He kept insisting I take pics of all the animals we saw -- so I ended up with tons of pics of animals, and only these of us :)

or Tanner finding every stuffed toy to give to my dad. Tanner and my dad had one thing in common, they loved to wake up early. Tanner woke up at 6:00 every morning and trust me when I say I can't function before 7:00.

Or on Christmas eve, the weather was gorgeous! And we played outside like it was first day of fall all over again.

Anthony and I had off over 2+ weeks of work and school -- so we got lots of good playtime in!

Trains at Northpark

And of course I would forget my camera...but I swear this place was created with Tanner in mind. He was most impressed my seeing Thomas the Train and a train circling the Christmas tree - but this place had it all. I enjoyed seeing the Downtown Dallas cityscape and Fair park with all the amusement rides. Yup, we could have stayed here all day.

Just being our normal, silly selves.

It's all the small moments that add up - driving around town to see the Christmas lights, delivering Christmas goodies to friends and neighbors, going to see Santa Claus, the endless Christmas parties with friends. and spending time with family. It's not really what you do -- but who you do it with -- that matters.

And that is why I LOVE Christmas!

Christmas Greetings

For posterity's sake or for all those who didn't get a Christmas card:



(If I didn't have your address or you didn't send me one, then this is for you)

Tanner continues to light up our lives, one smile, laugh, and hug at a time. Whether it's him telling me, "Ohhh, you SO cute!" or him reminding me, "I'm not a baby, I'm Tanner," I hope be NEVER stops being a little mamma's boy. Oh, but he still LOVES his Daddy too. They giggle and play so hard, they're always out of breath.

We're grateful to live in a town where the garbage man makes specials trips for Tanner to climb abourd or our neighbor who bakes us cakes just for the heck of it.

Anthony is wrapping up his last semester, and in just a few more months, will be an official Dentist. He's definitely excited, but trust me, no one can be happier than me. Now the million dollar question, what will be next is still to be determined.

Above all, we're grateful for the peace and joy that comes from our Saviors love, and so often His light that radiates from each of our dear friends and family.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Love,

The Callison Family