Christmas letter to William

 

Dearest Will,

   I wanted to write this letter to you because Christmas this year was something special and magical. This was the first year we have been able to celebrate with you understanding what the holiday is about. Every second of these two days was exciting and enjoyable and Daddy and I loved spending this time with you.

Our Christmas Eve activities started off with some ice skating at Lawrence Plaza in downtown Bentonville. This is the splash park in the summer, but in the colder months they make it into a skating rink and this was our first time to use it.

     

You were not too thrilled with standing on the ice and trying to use the child push frames, you were much happier when Daddy was holding you!

     

    

 

                     

  

 

You also enjoyed sitting on the sidelines with Momma and watching Daddy do some laps on his own. You cheered him on!

 

                 

   

Afterwards we attended a 4pm church service at our non-denominational church. You sat with us and were a really well-behaved little guy. After that we went to eat at Shogun, a hibachi grill. Daddy and I have been saying since we were first married that we wanted to make Chinese food a Christmas tradition. We sat with another family that said this was their 5th year eating there on Christmas Eve. We agreed that it was perfect; different, fun, entertaining, and no cooking or clean up involved!

Daddy has a pretty amazing talent for catching food in his mouth!

                     

At first you were not too sure about the flames, but the chef entertained you with his spatula-flipping and egg-juggling! You also were very determined to use the chopsticks. At first we had a hard time figuring it out, but pretty soon Daddy figured out he could put the noodles on for you and then you happily devoured them.

               

  

   

                       

After our hibachi dinner we came home for some play time and dancing on our new family gift- the Kinnect. You preferred to watch rather than participate, but I have no doubt that someday we’ll have to fight you for a turn!

                

You were able to stay awake until 10pm Mass, and even made it home afterwards before you fell asleep.

Christmas morning was everything we had hoped it would be. You were excited about Santa eating his cookie and Rudolph eating his M n’ M’s. But of course, the big excitement was with all of the presents. You took your time opening them and wanted to play right them and there with each toy before moving on to the next one. The present-opening took over an hour and a half- but we weren’t complaining at all!

      

      

      

We then relaxed a little before we went to an afternoon movie. It was your first time in the theatre and we were so excited to take you. You were pretty excited, too about seeing the “Big. Giant. Movie.”

                 

We went to see Arthur Christmas and it was so adorable. You sat on Daddy’s lap the whole time and ate half the tub of popcorn! When you tasted your first sip of Sprite you scrunched up your face and shook your head and said “spicy!” Oh sweet child, how you make us laugh everyday!

               

As Daddy and I laid in bed that night we said that this was the best Christmas we had every had. Your excitement and happiness mean the entire world to us and we love you more than anything. We had the perfect holiday and it was truly because we spent it with you.

Burris Christmas

 

We spent the night at Dave’s parents home last night and celebrated Christmas. I had brought some toys to play with but alas, it was not necessary.

Will (the train lover) got some really cool train whistles and he and Daddy made their own symphony.

    

   

Will can even whistle and play piano- oh the talents of this child!

    

There were a few things to dress up in:

     

   

   

   

      

 

                     

                   

Will had us all wearing bows on our heads. All of us.

    

 

 

“You look so pretty!”

Oh my! What fun it was to see our little man enjoying such wonderful gifts. Love to my in-laws and thanks for such a memorable day!

Baking Frenzy

I decided to make some goodies for Will’s teachers at school on Thursday. I baked off and on the whole day. Despite the fact that the dishwasher in the rental house is simple for decoration, I baked away and tried to not let it put a damper on something I love to do. At the end of the day I had made a ZILLION (ok, probably about 6 dozen which is pretty close to a zillion, I think) pretzel cookies, Oreo balls, and “Quiet Bread.”

   

                

                

Quiet Bread is actually a term my cousin Paul made up when he was a kid. I guess he had only really had toast which is of course is crunchy, and when he ate this he commented it was “so quiet.” The name stuck and 12 years later the whole family refers to this as Quiet Bread. It’s actually a Pistachio bread with chopped maraschino cherries so it looks very festive and Christmas-y.

I would have loved to get some pictures of Will and the ladies that take such good care of him everyday, but alas, he was in a less than joyous mood when we delivered the treats and I was busier minding him than my camera. Oh well. point made. We are very thankful this year for Miss Amy & Miss Whitney who are his teachers in his current classroom, and Miss Julie and Jessi who were his teachers at the beginning of the school year.

"A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank...but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child." -- Forest Witcraft

Taylor Christmas

 

Last weekend we were in CoMo again celebrating Christmas. My dad would do anything for his little buddy- including reading a book under the pool table! 

         

                 

Too many cooks in the kitchen? Dave has a little help in the kitchen now now that Laura has come around. She loves to cook as much as he does!

      

Steven and I are just happy there is someone to cook for us!

   

Will just wants to know when to pause Angry Birds to come eat.

                     

We sat down to a beautiful table and enjoyed a wonderful lasagna.

                

Scout made it to Columbia as well!

              

Pretty sure one or two of those presents are for Will:

   

May I start?

  

Laura made Steven a beautiful shadow box to commemorate his run in the Chicago marathon. WTG Steven!!!

                       

      

Dubby enjoyed Papa’s new wheelbarrow:

           

           

After the presents we played a few rounds of Bananagrams. If you don’t own this game I highly recommend it! It is great for two people to play after kids have gone to bed : )  Ready, peel!

Dave and I took a bit of time to catch up with my college best friend, Trista. She brought along three handsome boys, one to whom she's married and two for my to love on; Judah and Abram:

Sunday morning we put Mom’s gift to good use- a crepe maker- OMG… YUM.

        

                

     

It was also Steven’s birthday so we opened some gifts. I said I wouldn’t blog the unshaven/unshowered pics, but you know… '

        

Steven practiced the art of sharing. Will helped him blow out his birthday candle and eat the maiden piece of cookie cake. Look at what the power of cuteness gets you:

*Next few photos taken by Laura:

   

     

 

I hope I don’t need to say how much I love the people I spent this weekend with- I hope I remember to tell them at every corner how much I love them. They are some of the best people I have ever met and it is even sweeter to be able to call them family. Xoxo.