Santa came early to Lakeland, TN

Or at least he came early to our house. I mentioned in my previous post that our family of 5 (now 6 and yes, Max and Marley have their own stockings and Santa visits them too) is celebrating Christmas this weekend rather on the actual days. So Santa came last night for Jack, Max, and Marley and our morning was filled with toys and unwrapping. Jack has changed so much in the past year, as you can imagine considering he was only 6 months old last year and barely able to sit up on his own. Here is a picture of the little guy last Christmas with what was by far his favorite toy.

Fast forward 12 months and let the excitement begin! Jack was delighted by his very own train and train table - "Choo choo!!!" he kept exclaiming.
He also got a remote control helicopter that he tries to grab out of the air while yelling "Oh! Oh! Oh!" while Daddy was steering it around the room. Now for the "family of 6" comment. Jack got a fish. Bill the Beta we call him. He loved them at the pet store, so we thought how much trouble could a fish be? I'll get back to you on that. I'm not sure if Bill will have his own stocking next year. Currently, he won't eat, so he might not be with us for long.

The stocking was also a success. It was fun to see him go through it. "Melmo!" he yelled when he pulled out his "Elmo's Potty Time" DVD and "Pabo!" for his Backyardigans book. He's really getting into the characters and the Backyardigans and Max and Ruby seem to be the current favorites.

Here he is checking out his new bear houseshoes and opening a gift. He LOVED opening gifts this year almost more than the presents inside. He would hardly be finished opening one before he was saying "More! More! More!" and pointing to the tree. You can imagine his confusion when there were still gifts under the tree that he couldn't open. Lucky for him, his grandparents will be spoiling him rotten with more gifts later this week.

We can't forget Max and Marley. I don't have a good picture of Max because as soon as we gave him his stuffed snowman he ran into the bedroom to guard it with his life from Marley. He's still laying on the bed with it right now about 5 hours after getting it. Here's Marley guarding his red dog.

Go Titans! Santa also brought Jack a new Titans sweatshirt. The Titans are about the only Tennessee team I can cheer for with a clear conscience, so it's fun that Travis and I can actually be for the same team for once. I have to say though that when I told Jack we were going to watch football he ran to his room and grabbed his Bama hat. That's my boy!