Christmas Eve

I was fortunate enough to get Christmas weekend off...so we made the treacherous drive up to Northern California with 2 kids. We opted to leave Los Angeles around 9pm so that the kids would sleep throughout the drive. It got a little hairy at moments because of some thick fog on the Grapevine, but we made it to my parents home safely. We arrived around 2:30am and went to bed immediately. The next day we just lounged around home and waited for my younger sister and her husband to arrive for dinner. My sister and my brother-in-law Albert enjoyed the presence of their nephew Dylan.I look forward to them having their children and our kids playing together.I think Dylan feels comfortable with his Aunt.Notice his pimping white furry vest. It takes a true pimp to pull it off. Sometimes, I think Nancy dresses Dylan with outfits that she wishes she could wear. The whole day all Justin could talk about was when he could open his presents. Finally, after dinner we let Justin open one present for Christmas Eve. He opened one of his presents from my parents.Now that Justin is 3 years old he really enjoys Christmas...the only problem is he doesn't really understand the real meaning of Christmas. To him it's all about the presents. We try to teach him that it's a day that we celebrate the birth of Christ and it's a day of sharing and caring. He just thinks it's a day that he can open presents...the funny thing is he thinks all the presents are supposed to be his. So when he opens someone else's present and it isn't a toy he get disappointed.Nancy decided to start a Christmas tradition of putting the bow from a present on one's head while opening his/her present. Justin was the first person to practice this tradition.
Justin received 5 Hot Wheel cars for his first present from his Grandparents. He tried to convince us to let him open more, but I gave him the veto. I told him he had to wait till Christmas day. Needless to say I was not his favorite for the rest of the evening. He even tried to be sneaky by trying to "accidentally" tear away wrapping with his toes. I would catch him and ask him what he was doing and he would reply, "I don't know."My Dad just finds Justin to be amusing. He thinks that Justin is so clever. It's funny how my parents have become those grandparents who spoil their grandchildren. The things that Justin gets away is amazing...when I was his age and if I tried and did half the things Justin has done at my parents' home I would have gotten a can of whoop ass. Even candy...my Mom offers him so much candy. My parents regulated my candy to almost nothing, but when it comes to Justin...we might as well be in Willy Wonka's Candy Factory. I have to constantly tell my Mom to stop offering my kid so much candy.Justin liked his present, but he was more interested in opening the rest. But alas, he would have to wait till tomorrow.