Matthew's 1st Christmas!

This Christmas was a very special one for Maria and I as it was our son's first and it was our first as parent's. We were so excited to take our son out for his first visit to the mall as the holiday was drawing closer only a week away. We walked around for a little while to do a little shopping and to see Santa. We were happy enough to see him from the distance as the lines were bustling with so many kids. We stopped for a little rest as the demands of shopping for so many nieces and nephews and dealing with the crowds can take its toll especially when you're out with your baby for the first time.

It was time to head back home and put up our tree so we could have our little family celebration and share our joy and appreciation for being blessed with the best Christmas present ever! Maria did find a really cute baby santa outfit and a baby jump suit with santa's helper inscripted on it. We were looking forward to taking family pictures with Matthew's new outfits by our tree to share with family and friends.

After steadying the tree which was one of those artificial put it together yourself types that looked nice Maria volunteered to decorate it after putting Matthew in his crib to rest after nursing him.

I was happy she decided to decorate it as she always does a much better job and I wanted to catch up on some much needed rest.

When I awoke I peeked in on my wife as she had completed the tree decorating and was placing the christmas cards up around the wall and had the lights intermittently blinking with the sound of the traditional Christmas jingles playing. She did ask me to place the angel on top of the tree as she could not reach that high. I also needed the help of standing on a chair to reach that high and to find the plug so it would properly light up. As I moved the chair back I stepped back with my wife to admire the beautifully decorated tree and could not wait to take pictures with our little baby.

We positioned Matthew near the tree cradled in Maria arms with his little santa suit and we took many pictures. A couple of times he would yawn or cry but there were some that came out perfect in our eyes. I managed to get in a few myself holding little Matthew and a couple of pictures were taken with the timer to get that most important family shot. We were so delighted to get some nice pictures to add to our baby's album and to give to our sisters' families and to Pop.

I was glad I went to Midnight mass to ring in Christmas. My wife and son were sleeping at home and I enjoyed sharing in the commemoration of Christ's birth more so this year as it had special meaning to me.

Christmas day was to be celebrated at my sister's house where our family, my other sister's family and our Dad would get together and have a large family sit down dinner with all the trimmings and all the eggnog you could drink. It is truly a wonderful time and the best part is watching all the nieces and nephews open up their presents and seeing the smiles on their faces. Maria sat with Matthew on her lap most of the time until my sisters and the kids wanted to see him. My sisters would share in holding him and gently patting him. They were so delighted to see him and they absolutely loved his little santa suit.

It was a very special day and we were so delighted to get to celebrate a special day with our special little one. It was a joyous day!