How Macklan Stole Christmas...

Forget the Grinch...Macklan stole Christmas this year. This little man was the center of attention at every Christmas celebration with family and friends, and he received an endless pile of gifts. The Christmas season was kicked off by our annual family Christmas reunion the first weekend in December, followed by get togethers with friends every weekend thereafter, and wrapped up with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions with family. There were also many trips to the mall during the holiday season which included a couple of attempts to visit Santa at his workshop. However, these attempts were unsuccessful. Santa was not well received by Macklan. Needless to say, I didn't get that much desired picture of Macklan sitting on Santa's lap whispering wished for gifts in the ear of the man in the red suit. Instead, Santa's helper captured a terrified little boy...red-faced, mouth agape, tears flowing, and arms outstretched...who only wished for his Momma to rescue him from this strange man. I guess I'll just have to settle for Macklan's picture by the plastic, light-up Santa at the reunion.



Macklan's excitement poured out as he prepared to open a special gift along with all the other kids at the reunion.



On Christmas Eve, we had lunch and gift exchanging at Nana and Pap's (Scott's parents). Here Macklan anticipates opening gifts with his big cousins Kaitlyn and Austin. The mountain of unopened gifts soon turned into a sea of crumpled wrapping paper as these excited kids tore into their gifts.



Christmas Eve night consisted of opening gifts at Nana and Pappy's house (my parents). One of Macklan's favorite gifts was his talking backpack from Aunt Kristen, Uncle Jonathan, and Briley. He liked his puppy house shoes too; he just didn't want them on over his pj footies. Nana always fills stockings for Macklan and Briley, and they enjoy digging into them. The final gift for Macklan was his very own chair monogrammed with his name.








Christmas morning was spent at home. Scott and I woke early (around 7:00 am) in anticipation of seeing Macklan's face as he saw for the first time the gifts left by Santa. Although Santa visited last year, Macklan was too young to truly enjoy or remember the experience. Therefore, we couldn't wait to share his excitement on his 2nd Christmas. I also wanted to double check my camera and video camera for a strong battery charge and plenty of recording space.

7:30 am, 8:00 am, 8:30 am...still no Macklan. Out late the night before, I knew he had to be exhausted but never did I think that he would sleep until 9:00 am on Christmas morning.

The moment I heard him stirring around, I rushed into his room to get him. Before I could mention to him that Santa had come, I had to do a quick wardrobe change since his diaper had leaked onto his pajamas. Once that was taken care of, he was off to the living room. Macklan's face when he peeked around the corner and saw all the new, fun toys...Priceless! Laughing and playing with Macklan on Christmas morning...Priceless!









Our last stop was Mammie's house for a delicious meal, giving and receiving of gifts, and family game time. Even though Christmas Eve and Christmas Day consist of jam packed schedules, we make it a priority to stop and remember the reason for all the celebrations...the birth of Jesus Christ!