handsome boy

Tonight was Will's first Christmas Eve service at our new church, and it was also his dedication ceremony, which is the Unitarian Universalist baptism analog. So my mom sent him some fancy clothes, and he loved them. You could see the pride in his eyes as soon as Matt put the tie on him. I'm not sure how he knew he looked so handsome, but I guess he just did. And he did great at his ceremony, giving the minister a fine "what the hell are you doing?" look when she touched his head, eyes, and mouth with a white carnation. And he farted nice and loudly as soon as we got back to our seats, making his Uncle Jon very proud. Now Will is in bed and I get to put his presents under the tree, which I've been looking forward to for a very long time. Will was way too little to appreciate anything about Christmas last year, so although this isn't his first Christmas, it's the first time that we get to get excited about it as parents to a little kid.

We had a very, very busy week with lots of company. Chris, Helen, and Catherine visited for most of last week, which was wonderful since we only get to see them a couple of times a year. And Chris did pretty much all of the cooking, so we ate better than we have since before Will was born. And on Saturday Jess, Robbie, and Henry arrived en route to Princeton for Christmas. We waited for the babies to go to bed Saturday night and then we had a nice festive holiday dinner, which was sort of like Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara, except that it was Christmas, the Thrill was not there and thus did not bring wine, and Robbie did not wear bright orange expandable pants. But otherwise it was really similar. And then on Sunday Jenny, Chris, and Rorie came for lunch. It was neat to see Rorie now that she is walking and talking, a lot like Will. The last time we saw her was last March when they were little babies!

Tomorrow we are off to Allentown to have Christmas with Matt's family, and the next day we continue on to New York to spend a few days with my family. Merry Christmas, everyone!