It was a very merry Christmas here at the Bower house.  When we waved goodbye to Jeremy’s family in Chattanooga, we headed straight for Birmingham to my older brother’s house.  He’s the father of this little Thundercat.  And Christmas with kids is so much fun, we almost didn’t want to tear into our own presents when we got back home. 

Almost.

I then remembered how much I love opening gifts and how I just bask in the glow of love afterwards and it got me in the present-opening mood.  I have this weird thing about getting gifts.  I can remember exactly who gave me what item years later.  It’s because I feel massive amounts of love from the giver whenever I see a pretty package with my name on it.  Don’t ask me why. 

Anyway – so on Sunday night my boyfriend and I sat down with a couple glasses of sparkling cider and some homemade fudge (thanks Nurse Vicki!) ready to celebrate.  Here’s a little photo montage of some of Jeremy as he opened his gifts:      

        

His big gift from me was a watch. 

And a sleeping mask.  Don’t ask.

I opened my gifts and basically swam in a pool of love as it oozed from my boyfriend’s choices:

        

I got way more than I expected.  Especially when I opened this: 

(thud) (whomp) (crash)

you just died of jealousy.

It’s a dock for my iPhone.  I mentioned about getting one of these for the kitchen way back when we found out we were pregnant.  Afterall, I want Baby Will to be a concert pianist (among other things).  So a background in classical music is vital.  And knowing who sings “Poker Face” will be important when he hits preschool.  Ya know, so he can hit it off with the ladies 🙂

But the number one thing that put a smile on my face this year was being able to slip more moolah into the Baby Fund.  It’s a really shmancy jar that we keep on the counter with our savings for Will’s gear and delivery.  We figure that the delivery alone is gonna cost a pretty penny (even with great insurance) and the stuff that we need up front for bringing home baby #1 is skyrocketing by the hour.  So my sweet boyfriend suggested a cash collection jar so that all our spare change, our holiday money and the cash we find in old jackets can be put to good use.  And man, does it feel good whenever we hear the clang of a coin.  It’s like a reminder that we are a wee step closer to meeting our little boy.

So now that you got the low-down on our earthly goods, tell me what you got this Christmas.  Or maybe you budgeted toward one pricy family item – or just did a gift card exhange.  Or maybe your favorite gift was something that was really small but personal.  Whatever it was that made your Christmas spirit soar – spill those holiday beans and tell me the item.  It’ll be like celebrating the gift all over again.  But instead of with family, it’ll be with some weird girl on the internet 🙂