The World With Joey: "It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

Christmas time has been wonderful! Joey is such a love, and he is so excited about Christmas. The morning after Thanksgiving, he woke up and asked if it was Christmas (because Christmas is after Thanksgiving). He continued for a few mornings. Then, he realized he had birthday parties to attend before Christmas, and he started asking about those. We have a count down calendar which may have helped? (Sidenote: We survived the last growth spurt and are on our way! It's been about a week or so now, but I didn't want to say it too soon.)

Joey has been so fun with helping with decorations. He has determined the best places for many items. . . not that his decisions don't have his Joey flair. He has created battles with the Nativity characters and various ornaments from the tree. A couple of my favorite scenarios. "Evil Elmo" battles Santa - watch out for Santa's burning sqare (his belt buckle). And when "Evil Elmo" battles the snowman with the carrot nose - the snowman peck! peck! pecks! at Elmo. It's so enjoyable to watch. The one I enjoyed last night was Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the donkey they rode on, and Batman on one team. The train and the large Santa head ornament were on the other team. The "bad guys" trapped baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph in a train car. The strong donkey stood in front of the train and stopped it. Batman swooped in to save the day. This is so much fun!

We had Christmas carolers tonite! Our neighbor and his friends came by and stated we were their "guinea pig"! All went well, and they continued throughout the neighborhood.

This is definitely the best Christmas so far with Joey. He understands the reason and loves the celebration. Joey states that he will be waiting up for Santa this year - he wants to see him. He has also figured out that the Santas around town are "Santa's helpers." We received a Christmas card tonite from some friends which included their photo with Santa. Joey stated - "That's the same Santa I have my picture with." Yes, Joey, you are right.