I see Christmas

 Instead of a Christmas Eve box, we had an Advent present bag. I thought that having some Christmassy gifts a bit more spread out would help LB manage and also begin to understand all about Christmas and everything that goes along side it from wrapping paper and bows to snowmen and angels. So in our Christmas  bag we had:
Advent calender of course, a cute German one from eBay
Frozen on DVD as we still hadn't seen it
The Snowman audio book - Sainsburys
A Christmas place mat - Wilkinsons
Christmas books to look at vocabulary - Quality Save
Reindeer bed socks - Matalan
2 Christmas onesies - Sainsburys and Matalan
A cute Rudolph polo shirt - Matalan
Christmas bobble hat - Matalan
Slippers - B&M's
Stickers as they are really good sensory ones - Lidl
Gingerbread man socks
Triple CD of Christmas music -  Quality Save
 We found some really good bargains with items from budget shops, used money off vouchers and picked up items from the supermarket on offer. I was really pleased with our items and absolutely thrilled with LB's response. He was so interested in everything and had such a beaming smile. He's so easily pleased, I really love that about him. He'd be happy with anything and I now know that he realises about presents. He says the word when he sees boxes tied with ribbons, like in books so I hope he gets that squishy ones in wrapping paper, wrapped badly by mum/Santa are also presents :) When I walk into the house with bags LB runs over to peep inside as there is usually something for him ;) Cheeky chops! He loves his hat and likes wearing it even in the house and being a little old man with his home comforts, he likes wearing his slippers. LB still adores music, asking for it to be out on as soon as he goes into his bedroom and sees his CD player. The onesies seem to have been helping him to sleep a little better and I'm trying the bed socks as a way of helping him stay snuggly through the night and get a good night's sleep. 
He looks so smart in his new Rudolph top, looking a proper little boy these days and less toddler like. 5 next month! I can hardly believe it.
So he's understanding the concept of presents and taking great enjoyment in receiving them but what is the icing on the big old Christmas cake for me is that he recognises Christmas. Despite thinking that Santa is Grandad, which is so cute 'I see grand', he also says ' I see Christmas' whenever he sees a Christmassy scene - tinsel fringed windows, grottos, snowy scenes - 'I see Christmas!' That for me is the best Christmas present of all.  It has been nice to compare to last year and see how much he has progressed. This time last year he was still in a buggy and now he walks everywhere although I have to keep tight hold of him beside the roads as he can get quite giddy. 

Back joining in with Small Steps at Ethan's Escapades - it's been a long time!