Christmas

Shocker -- I'm a little late in posting this.  Oh well.  We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did too.  David Scott received way too many gifts, but who am I to deny him educational toys and gifts given from the heart.  I think it's pretty common for new parents to skimp on gifts for baby's first Christmas -- they don't know the difference anyway, right?!?  So I was rolling along, pre-Christmas, with zero gifts for my firstborn child.  Scotty, in starting David Scott off on the right foot financially, found an LSU football-shaped piggy bank, and that's the only present we had for our child as of December 23rd.  Don't get me wrong, we know that Christmas is about the little baby born in a manger many, many years ago and not about the presents we give and receive.  However, as the day wore on, and after much nudging from my baby daddy, I went to the store and purchased a few more small gifts for our child -- a hooded towel, plastic car keys (a must-have toy for kids), a rattle thingy, and a set of rubber frog bath toys. And although we didn't leave out any cookies and milk for Santa, he still stopped by and left a few things for DS -- pajamas, a mirror for his crib (to help with vision development), a mirror for my car so that he and I can look at one another, and another rattle thingy (to help with hand-eye coordination).  Oh looky here, it's one of Santa's elves sacked out after a long Christmas Day:

We spent the week surrounding Christmas in North LA traveling between Scotty's family in Monroe and my family in Ruston/Winnsboro.  David Scott adapted well to being in a variety of environments with different people and family passing him back and forth.  Scotty and I both have traditions with our families that we don't want to break away from.  My family has always spent several hours around lunchime on Christmas Eve down at Sue Sue's house; she raised all three of us Anders children, so she and her family are like family to us.  We traditionally have a semi-formal-ish (eating on our fine china) Christmas Day lunch with my family (this year it was at my sister's house).  Scotty's family has always had a fun get together Christmas Eve evening, which in recent years, has been at his mom's house.  On Christmas morning, the Wrights/Rainwaters have always had a pancake breakfast.  Food and fellowship -- why would we want to give up the opportunity to do either of these things!  So this year, it got me thinking about what traditions Scotty and I could start with our own children now that we have little David Scott.  For the forseeable future, we intend on continuing Christmas in North LA, but at some point, I'm sure we'll begin having our own Christmas at our own home.  The first year we were married, Scotty and I went to a Christmas tree farm near our house.  That was fun, but the thrill was kind of lost with it just being the two of us.  So for the last three Christmases, we've gotten our trees from Lowe's or Home Depot.  I think, however, that we will bring back the Christmas tree farm experience next year and let that be our little tradition for "our" family.  What Christmas traditions do you have?  My mom lamented this year that she wished we'd been taking an annual family Christmas pic.  So this year, we set the timer and captured DS' first Christmas in a picture, family style:

We also took several photos with Scotty's family, but I haven't received those yet from my mother-in-law.  I'll post those asap.  And, yes, my child IS making an awful face in the family photo.  However, I thought it would be hilarious to look back at these pics and see the look on his face.  PLUS, how do you get a newborn to smile at precisely the right moment when the photo is being taken with a timer...

Finally, David Scott is 6 weeks old today.  He's getting stronger and bigger with each day that passes.  We are thoroughly enjoying every day we spend with our little boy.  Here's a picture I took earlier today.  Enjoy!