Christmas Morning

Christmas morning.  It always goes by in a blink, doesn't it?  But I will say that I don't think I've ever felt as good about the gifts for the kids as I did this year.  I was really excited about the things Santa was bringing them and there wasn't any item that I was sorry about.

As tradition dictates, our three sweet children tiptoed up the stairs and snuggled into bed with us before the sun had peeked over the mountains.  We wrestled with them for a while but of course our efforts at prolonging the morning were futile.  I don't think we even tried to get anyone to eat.  We just sent them to the bathroom and lined them up.  We walked them into the livingroom in their youngest-to-oldest line and got the show started.

Look at the patience of those kids!  I got them to pose in front of the tree for a  few pictures before opening a single gift.

My favorite things for Skippidy this year were dress ups from the movie Frozen, sparkly pink boots and new bedding.  She has been using the same old blanket I got for Cap when he turned two.  It was super fun to pick out a fuzzy blanket and flowered spread for her bed. 

For Bitty I was most excited about a red pea coat, tan sparkly boots and a giant lego set she had her heart set on.  Back around Thanksgiving when I started the "what do you hope Santa brings you for Christmas" (although she's in on the secret too) she was talking about wanting a Nintendo 2DS, a hand-held video game player.  I was relieved when in December she came shopping with me and saw a Lego friends barn that won her heart.

And Cap was way too easy to shop for this year.  I knew he'd love some cool new athletic shoes, and legos and hero factory characters are always big hits with him.  The trick is getting myself to stop before he has way too much loot headed his way.  It's nice to have a kid who is so easy to shop for, who has many loves and things that will make his day.  He was pretty stoked to get some Guardians of the Galaxy action figures.  See?  Way too easy.

I think my very favorite gift of the day however was for my sweet hubby.  It's very hard to surprise this man, and we've even agreed that I should not try.  He'd rather just get something that he has wanted more than getting a surprise.  But....it's still fun to try to pull off a little something every once in a while.  I did it a couple of years ago with a very simple photo collage of each kid.  He loved that. This year I found out my dear friend Lisa was selling her hand-made terrariums that she dedicates to both her husband who passed away 10 years ago in an accident as well as to your own family.  She not only builds the terrarium but places inside it many hand-sculpted things like a little gnome to represent both her hubby and the father of your family, a bird to represent herself and the mommy of the family, and eggs for each child in your family.  She put a U in ours, as well as an Alex rock because I told her that I'd be adding our little statue of Alex, who had his own plant for 3 years but it died last summer.  He needed a new home.  Best of all, she included an egg for Matthew plus his very own Matthew rock.  

I love making Troy cry on Christmas.

Lisa does all sizes of these awesome terrariums so if you're interested in one, message me and I'll get you her number.  They are the best, and so far, ours is still alive. (Miracle when it comes to me.)

The rest of Christmas day was spent eating and playing legos, which topic I shall cover in the next post....