Merry Christmas Eve!

Santa came one day early to the Black house! Today was Christmas morning and we had fun watching the boys open their presents. There were lots of presents for Micah to open, and the trouble was wanting to play with each toy as he opened it and not really caring about opening the next present! First up was a ride-in police car. We had to explain the difference between an indoor toy and an outdoor toy with this one, but it's such a nice day here (77 degrees), that he got to take it outside for a spin after he finished opening his presents. Santa brought Micah a couple of puzzles including one that's too easy for him, but he adores because it's got lots of pictures of different vehicles and when you put the piece in the right place, it makes the noise of the vehicle. Brilliant! This is a book of five puzzles that you can do right inside the actual book. Ideal for traveling. Liam wasn't left out! He did a lot of wide-eyed staring... ...but loved his new stuffed squeaky dog! Micah loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse, so Santa brought him some fun figurines. Here is Micah naming all the Disney characters. Liam loves his new Tigger! (Santa had a Disney gift card to use up, so that explains all the Disney toys!) Derek and Rebekah's daughter Naomi and her husband Craig sent Micah a bear after Liam was born and we saved it for Christmas. He obviously loves it - thank you, Naomi and Craig!! A fun duck game where the ducks all go around in a circle and quack a lot. Why Santa brought so many noisy toys, I don't know. Giving Tigger a ride in the police car. He got the hang of it pretty quickly - only a couple of quick detours on the lawn. Some of the loot, since I forgot to take a picture of all the presents under the tree before they were opened. Two other fun toys - a work bench and a microwave. The end!! :)

Preschool Christmas Pageant

Micah had his Preschool Christmas Pageant last night, and it was wonderful. We've been going to them almost every year, but it's different when your child is actually in it. Sooo much fun. It's children aged 2-4, and you just never know how they're going to behave. They sang a few songs, which were interspersed with the telling of the Christmas story, told in a child's language. The other tricky thing about tonight was the number of kids. All of the classes were in the front of the sanctuary together for the first time, and for a lot of the younger kids, Micah included, that was pretty overwhelming. But he did great! Here he is, all dressed up and ready to go. By the way, the shirt just would not stay tucked in, so this is the only picture I have of him with it like that. Liam was held by Derek most of the time so that Tim and I could focus on Micah. What you can't see in this picture was that he's wearing the same shirt that Micah wore last weekend to see Santa. It's size 24 months, and other than the sleeves being long, it really wasn't too much too big for him. Scary! For the first part of the performance, which his class didn't participate in, Micah sat in Ms. Pam's lap. She is one of his teachers. Here he is on stage. He sang a little bit on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Christmas Star" but other than that, just kind of stood there. But sometimes, during the telling of the Christmas story, he was laying down on the stage. Notice the legs... Sometimes he was facing in the wrong direction... But most of the time, even though he didn't sing, he was standing in his spot looking straight ahead or at one of his teachers. He did a great job!! When we got home, I wanted to take a picture of my boys in front of the tree. I think Micah had one too many cookies at the reception following the pageant but you be the judge!

Christmas, Disney-style

Last Saturday, Tim and I had a chance to take a date night to Disney by ourselves, with tickets to the see the Epcot Christmas Candlelight Processional. I know I've blogged about it before, and we've made it a point to see it almost every year that we've been here and it really gets us in the Christmas spirit. If you're ever near Disney at Christmastime, it's worth the trip. It's basically a service of lessons and carols. A celebrity narrator tells the Christmas story from the Bible and a choir sings Christmas carols at different intervals in the readings. It's just great to see something so blatantly Christian done at such a popular tourist destination, where it would be easy to take the neutral road. A Disney tree - a little gaudy, but somehow it fits in there! Our celebrity narrator this year was Steven Curtis Chapman! We've seen several different people over the years, including Steven Curtis Chapman, and he's definitely one of the best because of the passion with which he reads the words, and the belief we know that he has in the story. Singing along! A view of the whole stage. Choirs, mostly local although there were a few participating from different states at some point during the season, make up the singers on the risers. Lots of our kids from church who sing in their school choirs have gotten to paritipate. We were pretty far away, as you can tell by the picture above, but the zoom on our camera works really well, and you could see just how meaningful the experience was to Steven Curtis Chapman. A tree in Epcot that we thought was beautifully lit. After Epcot, we headed over to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights in Disney's Hollywood Studios. There's literally millions of lights that cover the buildings on the fake movie set in the park. (By the way, this is not referring to Ozzy Osborne, but a family from Arkansas named Osborne who donated all of his Christmas lights to Disney for this display.) Most of the time they're just lite like this, although this picture doesn't do it any justice. Peace on earth and Merry Christmas! Sometimes, though, the lights come to life and dance to the rhythm of a Christmas carol while fake snow falls from the sky. Sounds cheesy, and it is, but it's also really fun. For some reason, I can't get the short video I took to load onto this post. If I ever get it to function, I'll add it on at that time. Suffice it to say that it is a really fun experience!

Breakfast with Santa!

Micah and Liam visited Santa at the local Y this past weekend! We aren't members, but we're friends with the executive director who invited us to attend. Here was the result: Despite the quizzical look on his face, Micah did much better this year than last year, which just turned into a screaming fit. This year, I tried to explain Santa to him and asked him what he was going to ask Santa for when he got to sit in Santa's lap. He kept telling me that he was going to ask Santa for a fire truck, and is still saying that that's what he wants from Santa despite the fact that he froze while on Santa's lap and didn't say anything. We'll see if Santa knows what Micah wants anyway...