Where do I even begin?

We had the BEST day!
I honestly cannot remember the last time we had such a great day.
We woke up and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Tate was amazed by it all!
Then we got the Christmas stuff out and set up the tree!
Tate was a huge help this year and he was in the height of his glory. He wanted to do the tree all by himself!
He did a great job!
He took the job very seriously...

He loved the angel at the top of the tree...

Then, Tate and Sean wrestled around and played for hours!

Then we showered at about 3pm and headed out to our Thanksgiving dinner at Golden Corral.
Okay, so I could totally do Golden Corral for Thanksgiving every year! It was super delicious, and inexpensive...no preparation and no clean up! Sweet!
We all ate really well. Tate loved it too!

Next we headed to the Quad Cities Festival of Trees.
I cannot even begin to explain what a great time we had. Tate was like a different child. I don't know if it's because he had such a great day and was in a great mood or if it was just a fluke. All I know is that all of his nervousness, timidness, fear and dislike of the camera was GONE...completely gone! It was so amazing! We waited in line for Santa Claus and he was actually excited to go sit on his lap...no hesitation whatsoever! It almost made me cry. For many of you, this wouldn't be so world shaking, but for us it was. Seriously, Sean and I were all smiles and just kept looking at each other like, "what's going on?! Who is this kid?!!" We were elated to see him so joyous and free of his fear and just happy. I don't know what caused it, but I wish I did so that we can see this side of him more often. We were talking about how it's been at least a year since we've seen Tate like this. My heart was racing in excitement and joy for him the entire time we were there.

Needless to say, I have LOTS of pictures of the night! :)

Tate walking up to Santa...

He immediately hopped right up onto Santa's lap and shook his hand!

He smiled for SEVERAL pictures...

He LOVED Santa and hugged him unprompted!

Santa asked him what he wanted and he immediately said, "I want a Wii!"
Um, he might be disappointed on Christmas morning when there isn't a Wii under the tree. :(
Santa said, "I am going to write something on your hand."
Tate said, "OKAY!" and put his hand out!

Then he watched intently as he wrote SANTA on his hand.
I think he would have sat on Santa's lap for hours had we let him.
We had to say, "okay, Tate, tell Santa goodbye!"
He waved and said, "bye bye!"
When he walked up to me he said, "Santa loves me!"
So cute!

He was on cloud nine and willingly let me take a ton of pictures of him.
He and Sean posed for me behind these snowmen...

and then the reindeer...

Then we went and looked at all the trees.
Tate was dancing to the singers singing on stage and ooooing and ahhhhing about all of the trees and the big choo choo train. He was so happy that when Sean sat down, he climbed onto him for a huge hug! Good thing I had my camera ready at all times!

Then I passed the camera to Sean and sat down by Tate so he could give me a hug too! :)

Look at him and the joy on his face!
This makes my heart beat out of my chest when I look at it.
I wish I could describe properly what this night was like for us.
I know it sounds silly, but when you have a child that is soooo fearful of EVERYTHING, it is just such a gift when you get these kinds of moments...and we are so blessed we got THIS side of Tate for an entire day!

Not only do they have trees decorated, but they have tons of doors decorated.
I especially loved this one in the theme of peacock feathers!

This tree was AMAZING!
It was HUGE (as you can see) and it was solid stuffed animals!
You can hardly see Tate at the bottom of it...ha.

He is my heart.

We were just so overjoyed and proud of how Tate did at the Festival of Trees that when we left, we told him how we were so proud of him and because he did such an amazing job, we would take him to one of his favorite places...the Rainbow Bridge.
He was SO EXCITED!
I had to take a few pictures with the flash on so that you could see his cute face!

But I can't go to the Rainbow Bridge without capturing how fun and colorful it is!
I love how Tate is just a blur in this picture...he was dancing like a wild man while we were there.
He was saying, "dance with me, mommy and daddy!"
Of course, I obliged...Sean however did not. :)

He wanted Sean to sit down on the floor and we didn't know why.
Then all of a sudden, he tackled him with a HUGE hug and kept doing it over and over.

He could hardly contain his joy all day...

More love for Daddy...

I am so thankful for today.
I am so thankful for my son.
I am so thankful he was able to fully relax and enjoy his whole day!
He said several times today, "This is a happy holiday!"
Yes it is Tate, yes it is!

This gift from God was the best gift I could have imagined getting today.
It was like a miracle from Him.
He can do ALL things and I am so thankful He did this for Tate today.
Why these burdens Tate deals with on a daily basis were simply lifted from him today, I may never know, but I pray that days like these will happen more often!