Christmas this year was  a good day for all of us. Jacob got his main gift from Mom and Dad, a 6-speed Trek bicycle detailed in black with blue and white trim, on Christmas Eve.

The new bike – 6 speeds, front shocks,  and Shimano grip-shifter. Dad wants one for himself.

There are no training wheels, and it will take him time to master the gear-shifting, but that means he can use it even longer. It’s a bit big, but he’ll grow into it and no doubt look pretty cool once he’s riding around Phu My Hung.

Then, came Christmas day. Jacob was anticipating Santa for the first time ever. He asked Christmas Eve night if he could stay up to meet him, and I explained that Santa would probably be too tired to talk. I’m not a big fan of this mass myth of Santa, but it’s far too pervasive to tell him the truth, so I play along.

Whoo-hoo! Gifts!

Jacob woke up before us. He was in the living room playing with the iPad patiently waiting for us to wake up (‘Star Wars – Millennium Falcon’ is his favorite game now). I was surprised he wasn’t eyeing the gifts or ripping them open. I asked if he wanted to eat breakfast now and he said ‘No, I want to wait for Mom to wake up’. He sat there until Mom got up, which is when I snapped this photo of him in front of the tree.

Then, as the fresh cinnamon was boiling away in a pot on the stove and a video of the WPIX Yule Log (click here to find out what that is – I did thanks to NPR) was playing on the TV to the tunes of Frank Sinatra’s Christmas, Mom woke up and Jacob started unwrapping it all.

He was quite happy with his gifts – R2-D2 and his toy airplane in particular (both Santa requests). His letter to Santa and evidence of Santa’s appreciation of Bi’s excellent cookiesand love of carrot juice is pictured below.

Jacob’s letter and Santa’s leftovers

Here is the full-length video of ‘Unwrapping of the gifts’. You can probably skip this if you aren’t Jacob’s grandparents!

I was very happy with my gifts – the complete collection of Tin Tin in English. I’ve already started ‘The Crab with the Golden Claws‘ – so far a good read. Bi liked her gifts from Santa – bathroom what-not and the gift of a spa voucher from me. Jacob got Bi a bubble wand (Mom can like bubbles too!) and an Indiana Jones key chain figure – her favorite man in film.

From there, we hung out, enjoyed the morning and then eventually made our way to Bi’s parents house for lunch and gift exchange. Jacob got chocolate and gave his cousin – ‘Baby Bong’ (pronounced ‘Boam’) – a toy and stuffed snowman he picked out for her. She doesn’t take to most people, but was particularly fascinated by Jacob’s jumping around and noise-making! Below is the photo of them horsing around – Jacob will make a good brother someday, I hope.

‘Big’ cousin Jacob and Bong (9 months old) on Christmas Day 2011.

A great Christmas Day – complete with a great time together, with others and watching Star Wars! We watched the movies in sequence (according to the storyline) over Christmas weekend and Jacob is now obsessed with R2-D2 and TIE fighters. We’ve now started it as a Christmas tradition to continue every year. So, a good Christmas – hope yours was a good one as well.

– Dave