Christmas

If last year Matthew was able to understand enough to enjoy Christmas, this year has been the first time he has properly been able to join in the fun.  For the first time he left out a mince pie for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer last night (with Louise's assistance), and understood when he went to bed that Christmas was coming today.  Despite this, he still didn't wake us early this morning, though as he's still frightened of Santa and has yet to leave his bedroom unaided during the night this isn't really surprising.

 The big difference to last year was the speed which Matthew took to unwrap his presents - he'd opened the three big presents that Father Christmas had left for him in the lounge within five minutes and we'd opened everything well before 10am.  Last year, although Matthew probably did have a few more gifts, we had to help him a lot more and we were still opening presents when we were due to leave to go and see the family.  This year, Matthew had a good chance to play with a few of his new toys before we left, including his new Jungle Junction set (the present he wanted most, and was delighted to open first), his Big City Garage, Thomas Take and Play Dieselworks and his Gator Golf.  I had to help him with the Gator Golf, as he found it quite difficult.  A lot of Matthew's presents were self-assembly, which did cause a bit of dissapointment as we didn't have time to set everything up before we left, though he behaved quite well considering (his Jungle Junction and Big City Garage were pre-assembled and wrapped so he could play with those).

We called in to see Louise's family first, and Matthew received some clothes from Louise's aunt and uncle.  We then went to my parents for dinner, which Matthew really enjoyed.   On arrival, Matthew told us all that Grandma was making a sausage dinner for Christmas - sausages being his favourite - though he enjoyed some roast chicken, carrots and peas as well as sausages.  After lunch, we opened presents from my family and Matthew was excited by his new Bob the Builder construction set which he played with for the rest of the afternoon.  He also received some books, clothes and other toys including a tumbling snowman and Santa that he enjoyed watching climb down the lounge door.

Mid-afternoon we returned to Louise's family to see Matthew's Gramps who had returned home.  Matthew was delighted to receive Red Rover and Pig Goes Pop toys from Gramps - he'd asked Santa for Red Rover though hadn't expressed any disappointment at not receiving it in the morning.  Gramps also bought him a farm, which he initially said that he didn't want but changed his mind when he arrived home and wanted me to set it up.  I was a bit too tired to do the whole self-assembly thing again by then, so managed to persuade him to wait!

Matthew's behaviour throughout the day was generally excellent - he moaned a few times but we had no full-on tantrums, which considering the excitement of the day is a major achievement.  I can remember causing a lot more aggro than Matthew has today at Christmas when I was young (but probably a bit older than 3), so credit where it is due!  Having said that, it has been an exhausting day trying to entertain a 3 year old and prevent any unnecessary fuss...