Christmas

We had quite a special Christmas this year. Not only was it Thomas' first Christmas (outside the womb), but my parents came down from Canada. By the way, California, you can thank my parents for the rain since it seems to happen every time they come. In fact, it was warmer in Canada than Poway during this last cold spell. So much for escaping the Canadian winter :) 

It wouldn't be Christmas Sunday without an adorable baby suit. I often wonder if I will have as much fun dressing up our other children, or if it's just a first child thing.

Thomas was spoiled this Christmas, not that he noticed. Most people say their babies were more interested in the wrapping paper their first year - Thomas didn't even get that far. All he wants in life is a good cord, preferably one that is plugged in. 

 My parents insisted on buying him a toy tool set (ages 3+...) after he kept stealing grandpa's tools from the motorhome. He also got a sandbox and sand toys after my mom discovered how much he loves to play in the dirt. My bet is he has all the sand out of the box the first day. After being spoiled by grandma and grandpa Orth, we headed over to the McPhie household for a delicious meal, good company, and even more presents (including a stuffed wolf that I may have taken part ownership of). 

My brother-in-law David and his family got Thomas this blow-up donkey. We were a little confused when we first opened the box and saw a deflated donkey head, but now that it is fully functional Thomas is in love. 

Craig and Marilyn got us a much needed ladder for Christmas (now we can finally return theirs....). They got us a Little Giant which is basically our dream ladder. I have been scouring craigslist for one of these babies for a while now. Is it ok to drool over a ladder? I think so. 

To go along with the theme of outdoor/yard presents, I asked my parents to rid us of the poof tree for our present this year.

 This is a pic from Jan 2014 - it has gotten much worse. 

Michael has had to spend several Saturdays trying to tame it and I swore we would be rid of it. More pics and the full take-down will be in a future post.

I don't have any pictures, but I also have to put in a plug for the annual McPhie Christmas Eve Extravaganza at my brother-in-law Robert's house. His wife, Megan, makes a delicious corn chowder that we look forward to every year. And it was fun to spend time with Jonathan and his family down from Northern California. Since all of the big movies tend to come out around this time of year we usually do a double date movie. I think this is our third time and something always seems to go wrong. We got there 30 min early and the movie sold out with only 8 people left in front of me.

 Then when we decided to see a different movie it sold out with only 3 people in front of us. I guess we should have expected as much on a Friday night after Christmas. Pretty funny, though.

Merry Christmas!