And Christmases (known to most as Christmas trees). These were the words I heard springing daily from the mouth of my sweet Aiden as Christmas crept up on us this year and then swiftly flew right on by. He was in love with the lights and the music and didn’t care two licks about the presents. In fact in the days leading up to Christmas, we had unwrapped presents lying around in bags all over the house (I wish I was exaggerating *hangs head in shame*) and not ONE.SINGLE.TIME did Aiden mess with them or at least stop to wonder what all those toys were doing in the hall. And our bedroom. And the kitchen. At one point Dan likened it to a dog that he used to know that was fed so often from the table that when bacon was dropped out of his reach, he was too lazy to go over and get it. Several times in the course of Christmas morning when asked if he would like to open another present, his response was “No, I too busy” (To be fair, he’s too busy for a lot these days. Where does he get this stuff?).
  |
| At our neighborhood Christmas breakfast, this guy walked straight up to Santa at the mere mention of his name before Dan could get the camera and before I got Emily over there (only breaking in front of a couple of very understanding people in line). He was very comfortable in his lap, but not a word was spoken. |
  |
Anyways, in true Louche fashion, all the money and time (and stress)devoted to ensuring my kids the “perfect Christmas” has sent Dan and I into a tizzy questioning what we really want Christmas to be about for our family. It just seems in terms of STUFF, everyday is Christmas around here. After all was said and done, it wasn’t the gifts that made us happy, and we wonder if our time and money could be better spent with equal, if not even better results. I’d sum up what we’re thinking with LESS STUFF and MORE EXPERIENCES. It’s an idea that’s just taking shape in our heads that we really hope to expound on in the next year or two since we figure we only have one (maybe two?) years before Aiden gets a serious case of the wants. We’ll see what happens. (And please don’t get me wrong. My kids got some fantastic gifts that are already used daily around our house. We are extremely thankful for all the thoughtfulness and generosity that went into those.)
 |
| The Guthrie Family. Aiden with his arm around Tyler (above) as we pose for the camera = priceless. |
 |
The morning after Christmas, Aiden was still singing “Jingle Bells”, and even now he still talks about Santa and the Snowmen from time-to-time (a lot to do with our awesome neighbors that still have their Christmas lights up for our enjoyment). He doesn’t know that it’s over. He’s keeping it alive in our house even into the new year. It’s magical.
  |
| G-ma and sibling love. |
And Emily? Well she got the most wonderful gift of all over Christmas break. Rice cereal.
And she really likes it. A LOT.
Along with peas so far. For anyone wondering, this does not equate to sleeping through the night yet :\
Now to tackle my year in pictures. It’s the only time of year I hate how many pictures we take. Here’s 2009 and 2010. Can I make it before the middle of January? Chugging away at it nightly, but doubtful. Stay tuned.
