It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Griffin may not realize it now, but we LOVE Christmas.  Especially his dad.  If he could he would light our entire house and yard with lights.  I really can't wait to see Griffin get excited about Christmas too.  I can't wait to see him and Dave on the roof hanging lights or for him to help pick the year's tree or hang his own ornaments on the tree.  I know that I'll be seeing all these things happen before I know it. 

I believe that my favorite part of the holiday season is tradition.  I love counting on certain things to happen their certain way each year.  My family didn't really have any Christmas traditions that I remember, except that we had to stay at the top of the stairs until Dad got the camera cued. But I enjoyed that.  Sometimes I find myself missing waking up early Christmas morning running down the hall to wake my parents; but soon I'll be the one being woken up.  Soon I'll be starting our own family traditions, and that excites me.

Dave's family has tradition of giving each child an ornament every year.  Dave has all of his including his first.  So we've continued the tradition with each other.  Our tree is mostly all Dave's ornaments and only a few of my own that I've acquired in the last five years and the dogs even have a few.  And now Griffin has his very first ornament hanging from the tree.  This is just the beginning of his collection that I am excited to add to.

Last year Dave and I did Christmas pictures of us and the dogs.  It was our first Christmas as a married couple, so it was fun to do.  This year I almost didn't want to send cards, then I kicked myself and realized what holiday it was.  I would have been sad for ages if we had not taken pictures of our first Christmas as a little family.  I will post the final picture of this year's card soon, but for now I'll give you an outtake.  I didn't even think of how difficult it was going to be to pose a baby and two dogs.  Difficult, but worth it.

Griffin, who had been calm for the whole weekend, decided he wasn't happy about the camera being out.  Jack, who's usually the photogenic one, wasn't in the mood either and kept trying to run away or lay down and sleep in the middle of a shot.  But Lucy was pretty good, except for getting easily distracted by Dave or Griffin or the voices in her head.  After what felt like 1000 pictures, we finally got ONE that worked.

Griffin has been impressing us with his development lately.  Not only is he making eye contact with us all the time, he's following objects with his eyes more consistantly.  I didn't realize that one day I would be so astonsished with someone staring at things like I am with him.  I've also caught a few smiles.  In the evenings while Dave is working on his homework, Griffin and I will have conversations that consist of him cooing and we'll work on his leg and neck muscles, and a couple of times he's smiled right at me.  Can't wait for that smile to be permanently glued to his face.