That is the house just before I went inside after arrive home from Uncle John's.  Not super Christmas-y, but pretty good.  Even the accursed solar powered lights are all on.  As we went to sleep that night it was a feeling of supreme contentment, the whole body version of a full belly after a good meal.

The next morning we woke up and took our customary Christmas picture.  Here was take one:

Isaac looked a little scared so we did a take two:

And yes, that is Isaac's "Hey ladies..." look.

The morning proceeded with a slow pace I was kind of shocked by.  Isaac would open one present and want to play with it, while I was chomping at the bit for him to get to the next paper wrapped gem.

He got a lot of good stuff, a Bruder Road Max Backhoe, a Green Toys Firetruck, and of course a Hess Truck from Santa.  His favorite gift, however, was probably his stuffed animal Yoda.  Here he is getting the Yoda, which was a total surprise to him:

The story behind Yoda is pretty endearing.  We were all at Barnes and Noble and Isaac saw Yoda.  He carried him around for a while.  When we decided to leave, we explained that if he were good maybe, just maybe Santa would hook him up with a Yoda.  Lo and behold, the Big Guy was paying attention.

Three funny things: 1) Isaac always asked before each present was open: "What's in there?"; 2) Isaac also wouldn't open a present until every shred of paper was removed from the box; and 3) Isaac would usually follow up on a present with: "Oh...My...Goodness...."  Really funny.

Up next Christmas Part III: Nanna P-Pa.

Isaac is going to grow up thinking that Christmas is three days long.  For the third year in a row we had a Christmas celebration on the 24th, then one on the 25th, and then one when Nanna and P-Pa arrived.  I guess there are worse things than thinking Christmas is three days long.

I ended my work year on the Friday before Christmas (which fell on a Tuesday).  I got home and instantly it was like a weight had lifted.  I also heard a litany from Isaac in that eyes up, hands moving a lot kind of way that only he can do.  It started with Colby Myles then ended with Nanna P-Pa.  I was delighted to hear no mention of presents or things--just family members.  So when the 24th finally arrived Isaac's first words when he shot out of bed like a rocket were: "COLBY MYLES!?!?!"

The ride down was uneventful and we arrived just as the Nap boys were about to explode with excitement.  That excitement built when we got out of the car but it was nothing like the anticipation that accompanied what can only be described as a parade of presents.  Nanny and Poppa Dom were very generous with all of their grandsons, so generous in fact that we had to form a bucket brigade to get all the presents in the house in under an hour.  Even with the present bucket brigade  it was still BARELY under an hour.  Uncle Dom and I helped Nanny as she furtively looked through the back of her Honda Element.  There was a long shiny one, and a square pretty one, and so on and so on.  At one point I looked at Dom as if to say "Holy Crap" and he looked back, saying "Yeah I know."  And the parade of presents continued.  At the very end, using the same psychological principles that fireworks displays use, Nanny busted out the grand finale--three HUGE presents, one for each of her grandsons.

Isaac's big present was a gigantic cardboard train.  Here he is in the train once it had been fully assembled:



After opening presents we ate brunch and hung out with Myles and Colby. Around 1 we all made our way to Uncle John's for Christmas Eve dinner.  It is, as I have mentioned before, traditional Italian seafood.

This year Uncle John went uber local on the stuffies, getting the oysters himself.  They were, as they always are, amazing.  The Delanos brought enough cookies to give one to each person in China.  I ate most of them.  All of the food was delicious.  Around 6 we started the White Elephant Yankee Swap and I thought I had a winner for sure: the Lav Light.  Alas nothing to could out White Elephant Wilma's Banana Bunker.  It wasn't even in the actual exchange for fear that people might think it is something else, but it was the talk of Christmas Eve.  Just before we left we tucked our boy into his Christmas jammies:

All in all it was a great day.  Christmas Part II next.  

One of the best gifts I get every year is two weeks to spend with Bianca and now Isaac at Christmas time.  This year was an amazing lab experiment in how fast can human beings learn.  The answer: very fast.  In that time Isaac got a tidal wave of Christmas presents and there will be posts about the bounty, but this post is about getting time to spend with Isaac.

In the rush of every day life I get to see Isaac for about 4 hours a day.  It is quite nice that I get that time, but I would love more.  These past two weeks I have had much, much more and it has been incredible.  As we put him in the bath tonight, as if to culminate two weeks of close family time, Isaac patted both Bianca and I on the back at the same time and told us: "All my buddies are here."  Yes, Isaac, they are.

He had a few days where he was so angry and crazy irrational that he behaved like Karl Rove on election night, that is to say, exactly like a two year not understanding the forces that shape his world.  But other than those days he has been very interesting to watch.  He likes playing Angry Birds and will ask for it by name.  He now makes stomping sounds when he is pretending to be big.  He is essentially potty trained, something that blows my mind.  He can carry on full conversations.  He knows when and how to be funny.  He knows when and how to not be funny.  He went sledding for the first time and LOVED it.  He is starting to see himself in the world.  Tonight he told us when we were trying to get his shirt off to go in the bath: "I have a HUGE noggin".  Yes, Isaac, you do.

In the end these were two magical weeks, spent with a magical kid and his wonderful, beautiful mother.  They were the best present I got.  By a landslide.

Though a bandsaw is pretty nice, too.