Toddy: The Perfect Christmas

The presents are unwrapped, the decorations put away, but the memories will last forever - the memories that is of what I will call a perfect Christmas! :) Until this year, the Christmas of 2009 topped the list of the best Christmas ever because we welcomed our sweet Luke to our lives just a few days before. But, after this year, I would have to say that Christmas 2011 was the best ever! Watching and experiencing the joy and excitement of Christmas through Luke's eyes tops any gift ever given! Luke was completely healed, was 100% himself, and had an ultimate blast the entire day...well, pretty much, for 3 days....for every family event or event here at home, Luke smiled, talked, danced, and made everyone around him smile and laugh. With each new experience that he had, Luke made the best of it! Here are a few highlights of the 2011 Bumgarner Christmas celebration!

I think it's easiest to tell you about our fun times as you see the pictures...

With school getting out on Wednesday, Luke and I began our Christmas break celebration with some fun times at the park. On Thursday, I took Luke to the playground at Fair Grove and let him slide, play with acorns, and play on the ball fields. Here are some pictures of our fun times BEFORE the real Christmas adventures began...(notice the rash still looked fairly rough around his face).

Landis and I have a tradition of opening our Christmas presents to each other on Christmas Eve. Every year, we sit down together and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation as we open presents. This year, we decided to move our grown up celebration time to Christmas Eve Eve (did that make any sense???) - the day before Christmas Eve. :) We did this because we knew that we would be helping "Santa" on Christmas Eve night and we wanted to make sure that we helped him and then got in bed early so that we had plenty of energy for our early riser Luke. So, Friday night, Landis and I (with Madi close by) opened our gifts and watched our movie. It was a nice, rare, grown up time! Here are some pictures....

Landis shows off his gift card....

And his guitar strings...

I open my new coat....

And, try it on....

Landis opens his Carolina long sleeve t-shirt....

And, tries it on....

On Christmas Eve, Luke and I began our day by meeting my mom at Olan Mills. Mom wanted all the grandkids to get their pictures taken together so off we went to the Kmart in Thomasville where Olan Mills is located. As usual, the studio was running 45 minutes behind so to kill some time, the kids rode the horses outside....here is Luke riding....

And, Luke playing in the clothes while we continued to wait....Luke did great for these pictures even after waiting almost an hour. I was very proud of him. He smiled when the lady asked him to smile and he sat in the little chair when asked. He followed directions very well! Thank goodness! :)

Later in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, I decided that Luke and I would start our own Christmas tradition - I decided that he and I would make cupcakes for Jesus and sing "Happy Birthday!" to Him. When I say, Luke and I would make the cupcakes, that's what I meant - Luke helped me with every step. I put a towel down on the floor and let him pour and mix and help me with the muffin cups. Here are some pictures of our messy tradition...

And, here are our completed cupcakes. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then Luke ate a candy cane. :)

Late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, I let Luke open two of his presents that I had already put under the tree. These were from Mommy and Daddy, not Santa. The first one that he opened was a book for the bathtub and then he opened this Brewster (from Chuggington) flashlight. He likes this toy!

Around 5:00 on Christmas Eve night, we headed over to Granny Otelia's house for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and a gift exchange for the kids. Luke was given some neat toys. One of his favorites was the Little People airplane. He sat in the floor and took the little people in and out as he pretended that they were boarding the plane. He also received a Vtech car that included a screwdriver and a wrench and many different shapes for Luke to practice. Mommy was thrilled that Luke also received a large, foam, floor puzzle set. I have looked at these before and almost got him one for Christmas but, thank goodness, I didn't have to because Tammy and Greg did. Luke is enjoying this - just the other day, we had a letter path all the way through the house. Here are a few pictures of Christmas at Granny's....

These next pictures tell a sweet story. Luke loved his presents that he received so much that after he played with them for awhile, he looked at me and said, "Do you want to take these home?" In other words - I want to take these home. I explained to him that, yes, those were his gifts and, yes, we would take them home. I asked him to start putting them back in the bag with me. He quickly helped me load the bags back up and then grabbed the handles like you see here and said, "I go to the parking lot." :) (You will see him say this in the video at the bottom.) It was very sweet that he enjoyed his toys and was ready to take them home to play. :)

After leaving Granny's house, we came home and it was already almost bedtime. I let Luke play with his floor puzzle for just a minute and then we began our night time routine. After pjs and the teethbrushing, Luke and I sat down in his rocking chair and began reading. I read him almost every Christmas book that he has and ended up with "Twas the Night before Christmas." Then, I enjoyed every second as I rocked Luke to sleep. What a peaceful night - I couldn't help but think of how peaceful the night was many, many years ago when Mary and Joseph awaited the excitement of the arrival of baby Jesus.

As soon as Luke was asleep, I put him in his bed and began helping "Santa" get Luke's toys ready. This is what the living room looked like when we were done....

As you can see, Santa wrapped all of his gifts except for the lawn mower and the vacuum cleaner. The trailer on the lawn mower was full of gifts and his stocking.

Real quick - it is important to know that for a little over a month, Luke has been telling everyone that Santa is bringing him a "real, big lawn mower that he can ride" and a "vacuum cleaner." He has always loved lawn mowers so it was no surprise when he started talking about that. The vacuum cleaner idea came one Saturday morning when he and I were looking through some toy magazines. He saw a picture of the vacuum cleaner and told me that he wanted one. So....needless to say...Santa listened and as you see, Santa brought him to the 2 things he requested and then a few other things.

Here are the cards that Santa and Mommy and Daddy left.....

And...finally....the moment that Mommy, Daddy, and Luke had waited for....on Christmas morning, Luke woke up at his usual EARLY time of 4:45am! I rocked him and laid back down with him until 5:30. He relaxed but didn't go back to sleep. Around 5:30am, Landis and I asked Luke to stay in our room (with the door cracked) for just a minute while we got both cameras ready. Then, when everything was ready, we called his name and told him to come in the living room to see what Santa brought. He took off down the hall carrying his lamb, going full speed, then, as he turned the corner and saw the big lawn mower, he stopped suddenly, threw his lamb on the couch and began exploring the lawn mower. Here is a picture of his first reaction!!!

As soon as he sat down on the lawn mower, he pushed the pedal and when it moved forward, he grinned really big. He rode it just a few feet and then hopped off to explore other things that Santa brought. As soon as he stepped off, the first thing he saw was the vacuum cleaner. Here is his first look at the vacuum cleaner....

I showed him how to turn the vacuum off and on and he began vacuuming the living room, the hall, the kitchen, etc. He vacuumed for quite awhile before he even took an interest in anything else. As he vacuumed, he would quit for just a second - just long enough to stare at his lawn mower and the rest of his presents in amazement. Here he is with his vacuum...

Finally, after some encouragement, Luke decided to begin opening his presents. As soon as he realized that each present ended up being something super fun, he opened the rest of them fairly quickly - one after another. Unlike last year, this year, he needed only a little help opening the presents. Once we got the paper started, he could unwrap the rest all by himself. He was very particular about the paper - he had to have every piece of paper off of the present. As he opened each present, he would say, "I wonder what it could be?" He was very excited about every present - the only presents that didn't excite him too much were books. :) I guess it's because he has a ton already and he was WAY more interested in the toys. Here are a few highlights of the toys that he opened...

This one is a portable CD player with two REAL microphones. Santa brought him three CDs to go along with it. The CDs have the cutest songs on them. Luke LOVES this toy. As soon as he figured out how to use the microphone, it became a highlight of the day. He started off by saying, "Merry Christmas" over and over into the microphone. It was adorable! He did this all day! He entertained his mammaw Carolyn, his pappaw Donnie, Gail, and Granny when they visited - he would run over to the microphone and tell everyone, "Merry Christmas!" several times. I have some cute video of this at the bottom. :) By the end of the night (when my dad, Blaine and Taylor visited), he was singing "Happy Birthday!" and his ABCs into the microphone. Before Dad, Blaine, and Taylor left, he told them bye in the microphone. Since Christmas Day, this toy has become a consistently used one, yesterday, we sang the Bumble Bee song several times in the microphone. Because it has two mics, mommy sings along as well. :)

In this picture, you will see Luke playing with the little figurines, Buddy and his dinosaur friends. Awhile back, he saw a picture of Buddy from the Dinosaur Train series in a magazine and he said, "Isn't that dinosaur sweet???" Santa must have heard him say that because Santa brought him a Dinosaur Train book with a set of 5 dinosaurs. Luke was so cute playing with these! As soon as he opened the box and saw them, he said, "Mommy, open them!" And, I did, as fast as I could. As I took them out of the box, Luke took them over to the table and set them up. I told him the name of each one and he would repeat me. He still remembers most of their names and will tell me about them. His favorite is the little orange dinosaur named Buddy. Off and on Christmas Day, he would go and get Buddy and say, "Hey Buddy, are you okay?" "Do you want to go to sleep?" He would take Buddy back to his room and lay him in the bed. He would also hug Buddy and carry him around and if he couldn't find him, he would say, "Where's Buddy?" until we located him. :) I think this gift was a good idea! :) I introduce you to Buddy and his friends....

Oh...one more thing about Buddy and the dinosaurs....remember the little people airplane that Luke got the night before??? Well, Luke took Buddy and the other dinosaurs and loaded them in the airplane and pretended to fly the airplane around. Here in the last few days, he has (all by himself) told us that he is flying the airplane to Georgia. Not quite sure why he chose that destination but, oh well, I guess that's where Buddy's family lives! :)

In between opening a few presents, here is Luke visiting his lawn mower again - he was so impressed by this! :)

At one point, he turned around and said, "It has a tractor trailer" and he crawled into it to try it out....see....

Another present that Santa brought was the dog you see here.....

We eventually named him Flipper because he barks, walks, and then does this really cool flip in the air and lands on his feet....this is Luke watching Flipper...

Luke continued to open presents and one of them was this Carolina t-shirt. It is meant for summer time so Santa bought a bigger size. Luke already loves Carolina so much that he wanted to put the shirt on right then so we did....as you can see...it's quite big....

Notice in this picture that the presents are almost all unwrapped behind him. Here he is opening up another present from Santa....this was a Thomas book with a mat and miniature trains to push on the mat. He likes this! In the background, you will also see that he got a large magna doodle.

See the little trains.....

And, the helicopter that Luke is flying!

Luke put the little trains inside his bigger trains and pushed them around....

After all the presents were opened, Luke looked in his stocking. Santa had stuffed it with some M and Ms, a sucker, a slinky, a little car, and a fun shaped Coke. What do you think Luke wanted first? Yes, that's right, the Coke....see...

There's the sucker....

No need to reach in the stocking and look in it....he just turned it upside down and dumped it out...

Here is a picture of Luke playing with his microphone...video at bottom....

Santa brought Madi a new Carolina collar....it's hard to see but she is trying to model it for you....notice the fun Christmas mess in the background....

Still trying out the lawn mower...

Around 8:00, Mammaw Carolyn came over for our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and biscuits - yummy! Luke watched his new Roary DVD while I cooked breakfast! After breakfast, we opened more presents. Mammaw is showing Luke the picture of him that we gave her!

Mammaw gave Luke this mini-piano to go along with the rest of his instruments! He loved this! You will see in the video at the bottom that Luke would turn this on and start dancing in circles!! So funny! :)

Here he is beginning to dance....oh....I should say - you will notice the movie "The Christmas Story" in the background. It plays for 24 hours and we let it play over and over at our house - just for fun! :)

Mammaw also gave Luke the hedge trimmer that you see here....he keeps this in his lawn mower trailer...

We gave Mammaw new tires for Christmas! She was so excited! She is opening up the receipt that we wrapped here!

One of Luke's gifts from Santa was a John Deere sweatshirt for him to wear while he rode his lawn mower. After some encouragement, Luke tried it on and sat down on his couch and sort of smiled for me...

When pappaw Donnie came over, he asked Luke to go get his guitar and play some music...so Luke did...

Before we knew it, naptime came. While Luke napped I cooked a casserole and headed to my aunt and uncle's house for Christmas lunch. As I cooked, I reflected on the morning - it could not have been better! Luke had a ball and played so hard! He enjoyed every single second of the Santa presents! I couldn't quit smiling!!

When Luke woke up, Landis brought him to meet us at Chris and Leslie's house....here he is with memaw out looking at the goats and horses...

And, opening more presents....

Here are Lexi and Logan....

Then, back at home, it was finally warm enough to get out the lawn mower....here is Luke riding it.....

Rudolph rode in the trailer...

More riding that night.....

So....that concludes the Christmas Day celebration - as you can see, it was a BLAST!!! Luke was so sweet - the pictures don't even express it! At this point in Luke's life, video tells so much more than pictures ever could! We videoed everything on our big video camera and watched it after Luke went to bed. It was great to relive everything again - the most genuine excitement and joy of a toddler on Christmas - there's nothing like it! Like I said - the tree may be stored away until next year - but the memories will last forever!!

The next day, Luke was able to continue the Christmas celebration. First of all, Mark and Melissa came over and gave him another present. They gave him the coolest Tool Workshop. Luke loved it! Here he is opening it....

And, showing off his fire hat...

With Melissa....

After we played at the house for a little while, Mark and Melissa, Luke, Landis, and I went to Elizabeth's Pizza for our favorite lunch - pizza!! We had a great time! Thank you, Mark and Melissa, for being so sweet to Luke - he sure does love you!!

Some more lawn mower riding....

Monday night, we went to my mom's house to continue our Christmas celebration and boy Luke was wild!!!! Mom and Kim gave him this t-ball set. He loved it! He would get so excited when he hit the ball! At one point, he went completely wild and started hitting the bat on the floor saying, "Good shot! Good shot! Good shot!" over and over. We laughed and laughed!!!

There he is during his wild spell!

Mom and Kim also got him a Leap Pad. We are super excited about this!!! I still need to take the time to download everything and set it up. Once this is done, Luke will love it!! :) Thanks Memaw and Pappaw Kim!

After we opened presents and ate a delicious spaghetti dinner, Luke went even wilder!! He ran around and around chasing Lexi....see...at one point, he ran around and circles and said, "I'm acting crazy!!!"

He climbed the steps 100 times and scooted down with memaw.....him and memaw also had a dance party upstairs that was quite cute!! :)

After watching him run around for quite awhile, my mom made the comment, "Is he always like this???" Yes, mom, I said. She said, "No wonder you stay skinny!" That's funny!!! :) She also went on to say that me or my brother were not this wild! Oh my! I told you Luke was a wild one!!! :0

One other quick funny story - at dinner, Luke told us all about this boy at school that said a bad word. He told us, "That boy said stupid!" (He has told us that part before.) Then, we asked him, "and what did Mrs. Brenda say about that?" He said in a very serious voice, "We don't repeat it!" That's right, sweetheart! Good answer! It was quite cute to hear him tell us all about this serious situation. During dinner, Luke enjoyed sitting on a pot as his booster seat - leave it up to memaw to be creative!

The whole night was a blast! Luke had the time of his life for the 2nd day in a row!!! :) When we left, he passed out in the car!

Luke has continued to have a blast playing here at the house the last few days! We haven't really done anything super special over the break - we have just enjoyed each other, the new toys, and the lawn mower! :) Here are a few pictures of us playing the last few days....