Merry Christmas with the McHughs

We celebrated a wonderful early Christmas with Grandma Dort and Grandpa Jim, Carley, Courtney, Aunt Michelle and Uncle Mick today.  Daddy and Luke arrived early so Luke could go down for his nap before all the excitement began.  After he awoke, it was a day of non-stop eating, singing and eating.  We played the dice game and while Luke demonstrated the ability to shake dice, he was a little too slow for the fast paced gift stealing at the end of the game.  Luckily, no one else wanted to steal the green tractor from Mommy, so Luke left the table with the #1 prize!

Next, we sang songs and shook the jingle bells.  Carley played the recorder and amazed us with the number of Christmas songs she knew (one of the benefits of going to parochial school is getting to practice religious songs in music class!)  Luke knew most words to Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  For the others, he just made up words and shook his bell.  

Finally, it was time to open presents.  Luke got a bunch of great presents.  He was thrilled with the book Go Away Big Green Monster from Michelle, Mick and the girls.  It is a book he is familiar with from school, so he immediately opened it up and started "reading" to all of us.  He was also infatuated with his new talking Elmo doll.  When Elmo told Luke to kiss him, Luke bent in without hesitation and planted one on Elmo's furry lips.  Elmo also dances, tells stories, asks for hugs, and sings.  And, if he tips over he asks to be set upright again, then proceeds to thank Luke and tell him that they are best friends.  What more could you ask for??