Christmas!!!

Jack's 1st Christmas! Here he is contemplating whether Santa thinks he's been a good boy or not. Since this is pretty picture intensive, I will try to keep the commentary short (ha!) Christmas at our house was wonderful - Jack & Bean were good sports as we flashed away with the camera & video camera. What did we do in the days before digital?






Aunt Ali wanted to make sure Jack had the appropriate attire for this big event.





Here's Jack ready to go to Christmas Eve Mass like the good little Catholic that he is. Thanks Lizzitante for our church outfit!





We got to sit with Anderson for our first Christmas Mass! Melissa & I noticed that they do a nativity play right before the Mass - kids were dressed up in all kinds of stuff (we can't wait for Jack & Anderson to someday be sheep :)





Christmas eve! While Jack is wearing Christmas pjs they didn't last. He's too long for 9 months so I bought these 12 months. But after 5 minutes in them I realized the legs are too skinny for my chunkamunk and the elastic around the ankle was cutting off his circulation. So I'm at a loss. C'mon Carters - get it together!




Our first Christmas present! From here on out, Jack will test all his presents with his mouth.





Trying out the new Babal (some weird Swiss-made toy I found online. I got sucked into their catchy Ikea-like commercial. It's nothing really, just a foam ball - but he loves it!)





Trying out the bow from our gifts. Check out the stocking!





Trying out the new gear set we got him.







And the remote control...





Bean followed suit and used her mouth to explore what Santa brought her...





Can't believe Jack's first Christmas was a White Christmas!






The snow got even better in Morristown! Watching Bean play in the snow makes me wonder if I calculated her age wrong - I think she's 11 going on 4.




Present time in Morristown! All of those are Jack's by the way. And he's already learned how to dig right in :)





Not the best picture but proof that I had a hard time wrangling him over the excitement of all this stuff!




Poor cousin Ben under the avalanche of gifts!





One of our favorite gifts - the Fisher Price Puppy! We liked it so much we kept clapping when it started to sing.





Jack & Bean had no shame about taking over the entire living room while we were there.





Granddaddy discovered that Jack also likes to play with his glasses case and a bottle of Oat Bran pills :) He spent 20 minutes doing this right here - perfectly content.




Talking to Mimi with Aunt Kerry...




Family photo! I love how Eli and Jack prove that until you get teenagers, posed pictures are never perfect. :)




We came back to Knoxville for the night before leaving for Jackson the next morning. When woken from his nap, Jack gave us a look that said, "I have to get in the car AGAIN?!'





Jack's patience was rewarded though when we arrived in Jackson to see Gramma, Grandpa, Lizzitante, and for the 1st time got to meet Great Uncle Lonnie & Great Aunt Pat! You can see here that Jack is a little wary of Lonnie - what can I say, the kid is smart.




He loved talking to his Great Aunt Pat :)



This is random but Dad had hats made that read "Kersey Farms" on them for the extended family. Here we are modeling them :)




Present time in Jackson! I think two of those are for Andy and me...though that might be an overestimate...




Dad manned the video camera, Grandpa had the digital camera, and Gramma got to hold Jack. Not a bad arrangement :)





Present from Uncle John & Aunt Cristin - an Oregon Ducks outfit to wear for the game! And he will wear it. No child of mine will be seen rooting for our arch-enemy Auburn. I know that is sacrilegious to go against the SEC but I didn't spend the last 31 years of my life hating Auburn just to turn around and cheer for them. No sir.





Awesome book from Aunt Noel & Uncle Jimbo :)





So many toys, so little time... Please note that each of these toys comes with a "Spanish" setting. When did this happen?! I'm not particularly a fan.





Bean is not sure about this giant bear so she waits in the wings to rescue Jack if necessary.






Here he is writing an email to his buddies at daycare telling them about all the awesome loot he got for Christmas.





All packed and ready to go home. Boo. :(

As far as first Christmases go, I'd have to say this one was fantastic. And from personal experience, I know that it only gets better from here!


Here are some videos that demonstrate how easy it is to entertain an 8 month old. If you want him to laugh simply place things on his head. Easy as that!