Christmas at Grandpa's

Since Erin and I have been married we have never spent a Christmas at home, and had every intention of doing so this year.  However, once we found out we would be stuck in our small apartment with all our Christmas decorations in storage we soon decided to find somewhere to go.  After a harrowing trip across the snow covered Blue mountains to Boise in November, we soon decided to skip the mountain passes and just take the I-5 slog up to Maple Valley.

Nathan loves to chase Jet around at Grandpa's house.

After doing a final walk through on the new house we made the even shorter trip from Battle Ground to Maple Valley on Saturday December 22nd.  It was Erin's Dad's brithday so we had a wonderful dinner with Dave, Ellen and Thomas at Covington's finest dining establishment, Applebee's.

After celebrating Dave's birthday we were now ready for the big event.  Our anticipation for Nathan's first Christmas where he could actually maybe kinda sorta understand what was going on was at a fever pitch.  We had contemplated how to celebrate Christmas with Nathan around for quite a while.  We didn't want to spoil him, and yet we really wanted to spoil him.  Imaging him with a big smile on his face after opening his gifts brought much more anticipation than any I remember as a kid at Christmas.

Opening a present with mom.

Inspired by Pinterest, we finally decided to buy Nathan something he wants, something he needs, something to wear and something to read.  What that looked like was we got him a Dr. Suess board book, new socks, a little kids backpack to carry his blanket, sheets and extra clothes to daycare, and a Little Tikes Cozy Car.  We knew Nathan would like the car as they have had something similar at both his daycares and we would often see him just sitting in it smiling when we picked him up each day.

Our thought was that this would be enough to satisfy our desire to see Nathan open presents, smile and enjoy Christmas without overly spoiling him.  However, we did not think about all the gifts he would get from Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents.  Needless to say by the end of the day Nathan was sufficiently spoiled.

Nathan's new car! Photo courtesy of Thomas Marek

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Starting on Christmas Eve, we went to an early 4pm Christmas Eve service that made me appreciate our home church much more.  Returning to the Murray homestead, we enjoyed the traditional Christmas Eve burger.  After wrapping a few gifts we were able to settle in for a long winter's nap.

Nathan doesn't quite know how to open doors yet, so this will probably be the last time in many years that I wake him up Christmas morning.  Once up, we quickly told Nathan how excited he should be.  Nathan had stockings from both grandparents which was good, because it took about halfway through the first before he figured out that reaching into the giant sock would enable him to pull out fun stuff to play with.

Playing with Grandpa.

Opening gifts was another challenge.  If any were in attendance at Nathan's first birthday party you'll remember that he started shrieking and crying whenever gift-wrap began being torn. While we didn't think we'd have a repeat, we weren't quite prepared for Nathan's lack of innate gift opening instincts.  Nathan insisted on tearing just a little piece of paper and then handing it to me.  He might also say, "Uh Oh," leading us to wonder if he really understood what he was supposed to do.

Once Nathan did get a gift open, he of course wanted to play with that particular new toy right away rather than move onto another gift.  Several of the gifts would be better opened at home.  Nathan didn't quite understand, but he was quickly distracted by the next gift.  We quickly saw yet another advantage of staying home next year for Christmas.

Nathan, of course, loved all his gifts.  He received almost an entire new library of books, a couple toy trains that he loves to pay with, plenty of toy trucks, a membership to the Oregon Zoo and all sorts of other knick knacks.  I don't think he has stopped playing or reading his gifts since.

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner consisting of beer butt chicken, crashed hot potatoes, and salad.  It was great day.  We were even able to Skype with my family in Idaho a few times throughout the day.

Nathan eyes the toy trains.

We built upon the wonderful Christmas day on the 26th with a fun packed day around Seattle.  We spent some time with the Davolt side of the family who still live in Seattle by having lunch at their house on Three Tree Point.  We then spent the afternoon viewing the scale model train at the Armory (formerly the Center House) in Seattle Center, taking the monorail to Westlake center and spying all the wonderful Christmas decorations downtown.  We finished off the evening with a quick trip to Alki and Fish and Chips at Spud's.

Erin and Nathan leaving daycare.
Nathan is getting used to his new backpack.

After deciding that this was one of the best Christmas's in recent memory we shoved everything in the car and headed home so we could pick up Jennifer from the airport and await the delivery of the keys to our new house in Battle Ground.

Nathan loves to take walks along the river with his dad, and I just love this picture.  Photo courtesy Ellen Murray.