Before I get to the Star Wars gifts I received, let me start with an aside (or two, or three or four). I've always enjoyed Christmas. I love seeing family, exchanging gifts, sending out Christmas cards, decorating...the whole thing. Love it. However, there is nothing like celebrating Christmas with children. My oldest was 2 last year at Christmas, and it was the first year he got the concept of Santa Claus, which made Christmas morning even more fun. Of course then, he wanted to open and play with each present as he unwrapped them. This year, he is three, and he has a three month old little brother. Four things from my Christmas morning experience with my son that I want to share:

1. My son woke up at 4 a.m. Suprisingly, he just wanted to go to the bathroom. Then he went back to bed. Until 9:00 a.m. I was stunned.

2. When my son woke up at 9:00 a.m., he was perfectly content to play in bed for about ten minutes...despite me telling him that Santa had left presents for him downstairs. Again, I was stunned.

3. After I finally got my son downstairs, and he saw what was waiting for him, his response was priceless. He exclaimed, "Wow! This is awesome!" I had never heard him say that before. Priceless, I tell you.

4. My three month old slept through the entire present opening extravaganza. Howver, his big brother brought him all of his presents, opened them for him, and told him what they were.

And finally, I would point out that Christmas day with a toddler is exhausting. Fun, but exhausting. A normal Christmas day includes a lot of cooking and cleaning up after presents, etc., and then add the assembling and opening toys for a three year old, and you just get worn out. Great day though.

On to my Star Wars presents...

I received two Star Wars presents.

First, I received the lego version of Obi-wan's Jedi Star Fighter with the hyperspace ring from Revenge of the Sith. I have a modest collection of Star Wars lego models, and I hadn't added to it in some time, so this was a nice edition. This was from the 3 month old. I plan on setting some time aside to assemble it this weekend.

Second, I received the pop-up guide to the Star Wars universe. This thing was surprisingly, amazingly cool. If you haven't seen this, you need to find someone that has a copy and check it out. There are about six or seven main pages. Each one has a main pop-up model. The Rancor and Darth Vader mask models are my favorite. However, this is the best part: each main page has multiple sub pages that open off that page. Each one of these sub-pages has a pop-up model. In some instances, the sub-pages have sub-pages of their own. The detail in this thing is astounding. I've looked through it a dozen times already.

Another reason I liked the pop-up guide so much is that I had never heard of it before. This is kind of unusual, as I'm generally familiar with all the Star Wars books, guides, and comics out there. I didn't check, but for all I know, it could have been around for some time.

I received some gift cards to the local book stores. I'll be using those this evening to pick up a copy of Rule of Two and the Essential Guide to the Sith and Jedi.

So, it was a great Christmas. Remind me sometime to brag, er tell you about the incredible turkey breast I grilled for our Christmas dinner. I hope everyone got everything they were wishing for and had a great holiday.