Santa Claus Came to Town

Wow! I can hardly believe it is really 2013 already!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  It was the last year we are traveling for holidays, as next year we will start staying home so Jenna can have the anticipation and excitement of Santa Claus at home each year.  We went to Clemson on Christmas Eve and had dinner with the family there. Jenna stayed with her cousins while Mom and Dad spent one last Christmas Eve at the Martin Inn on campus (our Christmas Eve routine).  Jenna was still asleep when we got back over to the house, so we were able to walk her down the stairs and see her confused look when she saw all of the presents. It took a minute to get into the routine, but she finally got a handle on it.  What we loved about it all was that she took the time to stop and play with every single gift she opened.  She would play with it until she was satisfied and then would go to open another gift.  No amount of encouraging her to open another gift would divert her from playing with each thing.  I was happy with that, as I really want her to learn to appreciate the things she receives as gifts.

We left Clemson and headed to Mom's in Irmo, where we had a late lunch and opened gifts with Mom.  Again, Jenna took the time to play with each gift she opened before moving on to another gift.  Mom makes a cornbread casserole that is so good, and Jenna gorged herself on that.  After Mom's, we went out to Dad's in Chapin, where we opened gifts and had dinner.  Jenna didn't take much of nap that day, so she started to get tuckered out, but she did good there, as well.  Overall, it was a great day.

I took the Christmas tree down while she was napping the next day (we were all sick over the holidays, and Jenna was really sick the day after Christmas, so I kept her home with me).  She woke up from her nap, came out of her room, and looked around, obviously confused.  She asked where the tree went, so I told her it went Bye Bye until next year.  Every day since, she has said, "Christmas tree went away."  She had fun, but is still working on grasping the concept of Christmas as a whole.

On the way to Clemson in Christmas Eve, Jenna was in rare form - jabbering and singing like crazy.

Here she is telling everyone Merry Christmas (like the parrot she is at the moment...):

Singing "Jingle Bells":

She asks me to sing "You Are My Sunshine" all the time, but I didn't know she could sing it herself until she started just singing it...

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

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