Merry Christmas!!!

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!!! I'm looking forward to the season this year. I'm understanding more and more about how Christmas came about. Although I enjoy recieving gifts, my parents have talked a lot this year about givingto others who may not be as fortunate as we are. I've helped picked out presents for our family members on my own and for a needy family. Each year we adopt a family through my mom's work and buy gifts for them - so that they can have a nice Christmas like we are blessed to have each year. This year it was a single mom with a 3 year old boy and I gave several toys and some clothes of mine. At first I was hestitant to "share" my toys, but last night I surprised both my mom and dad. I have two of the exact same robots that I recieved for my birthday. And although I play with them both, last night I (totally on my own - out of the blue) told my parents that I only needed one robot and I wanted to give the other to a little boy who doesn't have a robot. "That would make him happy."

Needless to say my mom and dad were surprised, but extremely proud. I may be 3 1/2, but it's never to early to start instilling the value of giving. Of course I got a lot of praise for my willingness to share and mom said that made her Christmas this year.

As you will see in the picture, I have my own little tree in my room. I help decorate it ever year and we have a couple family Christmas traditions:

1) We always open presents on Christmas morning at our house. I have one big unopened gift that comes from Santa and is sitting out when I wake up. Then we go to my Grandma and Grandpa Vote's or My Aunt Lynn & Uncle Steve's and just enjoy the day with all of them.

2) Every year I get a new pair of pajama's that I open on Christmas Eve (after midnigt mass). I wear these to bed that night and then I have them on Christmas morning and look extra cute :)

3) Since I have my own tree, I pick out an ornament every year that represents "me". So it's something that I have interest in. For instance my first Christmas I was only 5 months old, so Mom & Dad choose a Firetruck because my room was decorated in cars, trucks, & airplanes. My second Christmas ornament was a duck with googles and flippers, because I had been taking swim classess (with Mom & Dad) and LOVED water!!! Last year I helped decide on an Elmo ornament because I enjoyed Sesame Street. This year I choose on my own - and I picked out a Scooby Do ornament, because I've discovered that tv cartoon and it was one of Dad's favorite's as a kid, so we watch it together (plus I like dogs). So every Christmas this is a tradition for us. That's our family traditions this time of year. I hope we have many Christmas seasons to come and enjoy these things. Usually we travel north and spend New Years with my dad's side of the family (my other grandparents/family), but this year we are staying home because mom just had surgery again and needs to take it easy. Hopefully we'll see them soon, because I miss seeing them and enjoy seeing them.

Merry Christmas!!! More pictures to come later.
Love, Ethan