The Pierces: Our First Family Christmas

As mentioned in our previous post, the anticipation and excitement for Christmas was almost more than we could bear, but let me tell you, our first Christmas as a family of three was quite possibly better than we could have ever imagined.

The festivities began Christmas Eve, when we went to Christmas Eve Mass at St. Pius with my family. Will was decked out in his red Christmas sweater, and sat quietly through the entire service. He was particularly fascinated by the intensity of the packed church singing "Emmanuel," and even hummed along a little. By Communion time, he sucked down a bottle, and made sure to put on his best smile as we walked down the aisle, as if he knew he was on display.

After the beautiful Christmas Mass, we headed over to the Pierce's for a tasty Christmas dinner, and opening of Will's gifts. Will opened his presents with a little help from the adults and made the cutest little faces as he opened them as if he was really surprised by what he got. I think his favorite gift he opened that night was an alphabet train. He especially enjoyed the blocks it came with. In fact he was so enamored by them, as he (we) opened his other gifts, he would look at them, then crawl right back to his blocks.

After a fun night of opening presents, Ben and I went home, put our little guy in his oh so cute Santa pajamas, and began our first family tradition that we plan to continue throughout the years. I held Will as his daddy read him "Elmo's Night Before Christmas." He loved it! Of course, as he gets older we will read "Twas the Night Before Christmas," but I figured Elmo was more age appropriate this year :)

After the story was over, our sweet boy nodded off to sleep and Santa's preparations began. I must say Santa did a great job and worked into the wee hours of the evening, as I could no longer keep my eyes open.

Before we knew it, 5:30am had come and Will decided that would be a great time to wake up. For a baby who usually sleeps until 9:00am, it's as if he knew it was a special day! So, we got up, and headed over to the Hoover house to spend Christmas morning with my family. Considering there are 12 people in the fam, you can imagine the wrapped boxes everywhere and Will was delighted by all of the "climbing toys." I think his favorite gift Christmas morning was his Learning Farm, which Santa brought him, however the wrapping paper and empty boxes ran a close second.

After a long morning, we loaded Little Bean up again and headed back over to Grammy and Grandpa's for the adults to open presents and for Will to finish his up. He loved everything he got, but was still obsessed with those blocks and the train. Sweet boy played his little heart out all afternoon, and got some quality time with Aunt Carrie to boot!

As the day wore on, we were on the move again, and headed to my house for Christmas dinner, which as most of you know, is Thanksgiving all over again, but with even more pumpkin pies! Will particularly enjoyed the mashed potatoes with gravy and green bean casserole! After dinner, we played with all of our new toys, and then called it a day as 5:30am was long ago.

As we lay in bed to reflect on the day, and remembering the true reason for the season, I was overwhelmed by the fact that Will is not only loved by us but also loved so much by both our families. Even more, I couldn't help but think about just how special it was for us as a new family and how truly blessed and lucky we feel to have been given this precious gift from God.

It was so much fun to share this very special first Christmas with Will and starting new traditions that hopefully one day he will share with his kids. We look forward to the many more firsts to come in our little families future!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!