Merry Christmas

It's Isaac's third Christmas!

Okay, it's only Christmas Eve. Isaac has already had some practice opening Christmas presents, though. When his grandparents sent the Christmas cookies a few weeks ago, they also sent Isaac two presents to open right away -- ornaments shaped like a tractor and a tool box. Last week we had a $5 gift exchange in one of his playgroups. And yesterday we visited my paternal grandmother, who gave him his present to open.

Isaac is actually not a very good present opener. He picks at the wrapping paper when I show him how, but I think he grows discouraged by the tape. He'll actually walk away and abandon the entire package rather than tear into it. We've been staying with my parents for the last two days, and there are lots of presents under their tree, but Isaac hasn't tried to open any of them. In fact, he hasn't shown much interest in them at all. I bet that changes next year, when he'll have a better idea of the wonderful things that might be inside.

And despite my co-workers' joking comments about the impossibility of having a Christmas tree with a two-year old, Isaac hasn't been destructive in the slightest. He likes to look at the ornaments, and of course he touches them, but he has never wrecked one of them -- not last year at 15 months old, not this year at 27 months old. The only person who broke an ornament this year was Craig, who dropped the glass tree-topper while he was standing on a chair trying to get it atop our eight-foot tree. This made a big impression on Isaac, who will happily tell anyone, "Daddy broke an ornament!"

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The photo is the one we used for this year's holiday card. As with last year's photo, this one was taken on Thanksgiving at my parents' house.