Jackson's First Christmas!

know I'm more than a little late on this, but we had a great first Christmas with Jackson! It was such a special time for Tyler, Jacks, and me. Christmas Eve we went to candlelight service at our church. It was packed out, raining outside, and freezing. Jackson was ready for bed and cranky, but the service was awesome. Candlelight is one of my favorite services of the year - even in the hustle and bustle, it seems that it is a quiet, reverend time to worship our Creator. We had communion as well, and I thought that was a great way to take time to remember the sacrifice the Lord made for us. They had tables set up where each family could take communion as a family and were prayed over by the elders & deacons of the church. Here is a picture from the church website of us standing in line for communion.

After church, we came home and put Jackson to bed in his Christmas jammies, ate dinner, and then Tyler and I got to play Santa! We had a blast putting together Jackson's toys and setting them all up for him.
Then we watched a little tv together and hit the sack, knowing our baby gets up at 6 a.m. most days, and we figured Christmas would be no exception!

Christmas morning, we got up and took Jackson to show him all his toys and see what he thought about them. He was so funny; he played with all of them and was just pleased as punch to have all those new toys! Here's a video of him when he first saw all the toys.

After we opened presents & stockings, we got cleaned up and packed our car and headed down to visit my inlaws. Tyler's family hosted the extended family dinner on Christmas Day evening this year. It was a very special time for his grandparents because all of their living children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren and (all the spouses) were able to be there. Later that evening we exchanged presents with just Tyler's parents and brothers.
Tyler & his brothers modeling their Ninja Turtle boxers

Candy cane love!
Me & my hubby opening presents (please excuse my double chin. I'm working on it.)

The next morning, Jackson got a second Christmas morning with his GranGran and Poppy. He got a set of golf clubs and a rocking horse - which was so much fun to watch him play on!

Earlier in the year, Tyler's mom had bought all of us matching pajamas and wanted a group photo. So:

Then we came home , worked all week, and got to do Christmas again with my family on New Year's Day! My grandpa cooked a deer leg, we made mashed potatoes and lots of other yumminess, and all went to my grandparents' here in town to watch football and exchange presents. Jackson had an ear infection by this time and wasn't too thrilled about presents or food or anything for that matter. He got lots of fun toys from his Sassy, Grandpa, Nan and Bop though!

We do Christmas poppers every year with my family and it's always fun to see what's inside each one.
My dad being a ham.
Me & my mom
Jackson with Grandpa
Jackson playing while we were trying to eat. He just doesn't sit still for anything! Ha!

All in all, we had a great first Christmas with our babylove. He certainly kept us on our toes and changed a lot of the things we normally do. It's interesting being on the parent end of Christmas, that's for sure!

My hubby and I didn't really do gifts this Christmas (or any Christmas that I remember!) because we tend to buy one big-ticket item as our joint present. Last year it was a new TV, and this year we bought a new table & chair set for our kitchen. We're loving finally having a real table to sit and enjoy dinner.

Hope everyone had as much fun during the Christmas season as we did. I can't believe it's come and gone already. Now on to the next fun thing - Jackson's first birthday party in 3 weeks!