First Christmas

Celebrating Christmas for the first time with a child is wonderful. Although, Tyler was probably more confused than anything, it is a memory that Jim and I will cherish for many years to come. Tyler's first Christmas, unfortunately, started off with a pretty bad cold, complete with fever, raspy cough and stuffed up nose, and ended up with a double ear infection. Despite this, he was in pretty good spirits.
We started the celebration on Sunday at Shannon and Mark's house where it snowed and blowed all day long. It was fun to visit with the kids and see Tyler interacting with his cousins. We played games, opened presents and had an Italian fondue for dinner. Tyler made out like a bandit, coming away with plenty of new (and noisy!) toys. :) Of course I left my camera at home so I"ll have to post pictures from Shannon later.
The next day was Christmas Eve where we usually get together with Jim's entire extended family. Unfortunately, Tyler's cough and disposition both worsened so we opted to stay close to home that day. However, it was Christmas Eve that Tyler started crawling on all fours for the first time! He also cut his two front teeth that day (all he really wanted for Christmas, after all).
Christmas morning brought about high spirits and wonder from little Tyler who probably thought, "Where did all these toys come from and where are all my old toys??". He stayed pretty happy throughout the day, no doubt due to the arrival of Nana and Papa Buffo for Christmas dinner. Tyler adores his Nana who always seems to make everything feel better. We had a yummy dinner of ham and potatoes and Tyler put on quite the entertaining show. I was happy to be able to talk with my family back in Texas throughout the day. Although, I loved having a white Christmas at home with my boys in Minnesota a part of me was sad not to be in Texas too. The long distance makes it hard to be there physically but my thoughts and heart were with all of them this Christmas Day.
That night Tyler slept fitfully and we ended up taking him to the doctor the next day where he was diagnosed with the ear infection. He's been taking medicine for two days now and appears to be recovering. He's finally sleeping and eating normally and back to his perky old self.
The three of us received many wonderful gifts this year but were reminded of the most precious gifts: The birth of our Lord, wonderful friends and our family.