Wednesday, February 12, 2014

.....Christmas!

Good GRIEF it's the middle of February.  Ah well, on with the catch up.

I must share a couple of stories that were a part of the season.

First of all - Bundle is 4 1/2.  Isn't she supposed to be the PERFECT age for being beside herself with excitement and anticipation over Christmas?  But guess what she couldn't stop talking about for the entire month?  Her birthday.  Birthday party, birthday invitations, birthday guests, birthday themes, birthday presents.  When is her birthday?  Oh, that would be on JUNE THIRD.  I guess she did throw some Halloween in there - she is very excited about her next costume and sometimes quite anxious that she doesn't know what she wants to be yet.  Oi.  I tried to get her excited for Christmas but it was hard to pull focus away from birthday and Halloween.  The nutter!

Other funny story - I can't believe this happened.  I had a really easy time picking gifts for Stomper and Bitty this year.  They both had things they had talked a lot about and I knew they would love; what a relief!  Bundle, however, was a different story.  She didn't seem to want any one thing, and everything I looked at in catalogs, stores and on-line just seemed like more meaningless plastic C.R.A.P. with which to fill our home.  I couldn't think!  Then she started talking about taking care of animals and being a vet and stuff, and I came across the cutest little veterinary kit on Amazon.  It came with a little crate and a dalmatian toy and plenty of doctor tools to help poor puppy feel better.  I knew it would be a hit and was super excited to find Bundle's piece-de-resistance for Christmas morning.  I quickly placed my order and let my stress go.  A few days later, the box arrived from Amazon and it was  great.  I carefully stashed the item upstairs to wait its turn to be wrapped.  Then later that afternoon another box appeared on my doorstep.  I couldn't figure out what it could be.  I took it inside and opened it and found an exact duplicate of the vet kit I had just purchased.  Wha.....? Did I order two?  I took a closer look at the shipping info and to my horror and humor, found that this was a gift for Bundle sent to her by my brother and sis up in Seattle - their daughter had Bundle's name for Christmas.

I could not believe it.  I started laughing, and was absolutely delighted by the idea that my sister-in-law and I were so in tune with each other as to purchase, from among millions of toys, the EXACT toy for Bundle.  What a hoot!  I love this story!  And then I realized...as funny as that was....I was now back to square ONE.  I had to return my perfect gift for Bundle and start over, again with no idea what to get her!  I ended up with some monster dolls she had been eyeing at her friend's house, and she did love them but the vet kid won the prize.  Sheesh.

And now the exciting conclusion to our Christmas Story.

(Anyone still reading?  Didn't think so.)

Christmas morning!  Wake up, meet in the kitchen, stumble together, hands on shoulders and eyes closed into the cozy living room and start ripping paper.  I felt pretty good about the loot this year - besides a few gifts, books and music, each kid got a date with a parent - Stomper got a trip to Red Lobster (he loves crab legs beyond all reason), Bitty got an ice skating outing and Bundle got a trip to the children's museum.  We really enjoyed going on dates with the kids.  My other favorite bit of the morning was, tips just poking out of their stockings, tickets to this year's holiday Disney movie Frozen - we decided to fill up the Christmas afternoon with a trip to the movie theater.  It was such fabulous way to spend the afternoon.  Of course I'm sure that's partly because Frozen was a fabulous movie - even Stomper, lover of all movies superhero- and dinosaur-themed, was brimming with happiness over the story and music.  I'm sure not just any movie could have made Christmas afternoon as wonderful as it was, but I confess that I have always loved heading out to a movie on Christmas Day.

Our evening was just wonderful also - I invited both of our parents to join us for dinner and decided that simpler I made it the better - I have discovered that throwing a turkey breast on the grill is the best ever way to cook turkey.  It was awesome.  We set up a VERY cozy table in our living room.  It was so nice to sit shoulder to shoulder and enjoy some simple supper together.  Troy's parents, my parents and a drop-in from Margaret's girls. We were even very  happily surprised with a visit from Troy's brother Rick and his wife and son - I loved having more family there to spend time together.   Lovely day.






Possibly my favorite gift of the year - Bitty got a monkey hat from her siblings and didn't take it off for three days.



Santa loves me.  Purple pens in my stocking!




2 comments:

Linda R said...

Going to a movie on Christmas - great idea! Frozen was a great movie.

Gina said...

Rachel! first of all your kids are growing up so fast. Second, how handsome is "Stomper"? What a lovely family. We miss you all.