It was still completely dark when we started opening Christmas presents yesterday morning. That's what you get when you live so far north; it's still dark at 7 a.m. After four winters here, I'm still not quite used to it. It gives me a good excuse to sleep later. ;)
To the kids' frustration at times, we make our kids open presents one at a time, from youngest to oldest. After going to all the trouble of finding them the perfect Christmas gifts, I would like a chance to see their reactions when they open them. It's my Christmas present from them.
Rebekah's wish list year consisted of almost entirely 0f Littlest Pet Shop. She got this playset, a Paws Off Diary & a digital pet. And one her favorites was a Webkins, a cat she named Princess. From her aunt & uncle she got a rock polisher, which is completely up her alley. She is always collecting rocks, so it'll be lots of fun for her to do something with them. Her list rounded out with a math game for the Leapster.
On a somewhat sad note, Rebekah figured out that Santa Claus isn't real. We don't overly promote the Santa-Claus thing, but we do pretend with our kids. Rebekah seemed to understand that it's fun to pretend things like that, like magic & fairies, but that it's not real. We sat down & talked with her about it that afternoon after the other kids were busy playing. She kept up the charade for the rest of the kids, but she understood that the true miracle of Christmas was that Jesus came to earth as a baby to save us from our sins. She is a very wise child. :)
Every one knew what to get for Lucas for Christmas: Legos, Star Wars or a combination of the two. He got three Lego Star Wars kits (one of which he is enthralled with putting together here), a General Grievous Transformer and a Luke Skywalker Lego watch (which is super cool!). He also received The Word Factory game for the Leapster, which I'm hoping will do for his reading what The Letter Factory did for his alphabet skills.
Tyler is as big a Star Wars fan as Lucas, so his wish list was pretty similar. He got one small Lego kit that Dad helped him put together. He mostly like people to build stuff for him at this point to play with. He especially likes the little Lego people; those are the ultimate. He also got a Force-Action Light Saber & a blaster which both make realistic noise, so a huge hit. He also got a Lego watch, his a Darth Vader, and some Monster Trucks.
This year Samantha really got into Christmas and the whole unwrapping presents. If we didn't keep a careful eye on her, she would start unwrapping things that weren't her own. LOL. Sammy's big gift from us was what we call a drive-drive (a family name... LOL). Basically it's an electronic car steering wheel. She also got a My Little Pony Baby Rainbow Dash, which made both she & Rebekah very happy. Rebekah has a Baby Pinkie Pie that Sammy has commandeered as her own, so now Rebekah gets it back in place of Sammy's new pony baby. And she finally got something that my mom has been trying to get to her since last Christmas: a sand/water table. Last Christmas Amazon misdelivered it to someone else & we never got it. It was of course sold out all summer. So now we have one, which I'm sure that all the kids are going to enjoy. We're going to set it up in the boiler room which is right off the kitchen because it's warm, has a door to the outside for easier clean-up and I don't mind it being messy. So now we just have to find some sand for it in the middle of winter... maybe we'll just fill it with snow? We have plenty of that this year!
I also got the kids several games that we can play together as a family. Things that are simple enough for the youngest to play with help and that oldest will enjoy too. They also got some Moon Sand, which I'm sure I'll regret buying for them very soon. LOL. I know they'll enjoy it though, especially since we're stuck inside with a foot of fresh snow and more coming down.
Joel hit the mother load this Christmas with three new XBox 360 games: Lost Planet, Orange Box & Call of Duty 4. He also got the movie Blood Diamond, which is one of his favorites, and the series DVDs for Firefly. Firefly was an AWESOME sci-fi show that aired for half a season on Fox in 2002 and is still one of our very favorites. It even won an Emmy, and yet FOX still canceled it. Very annoying. It's almost a guarantee that if Joel & I love the show, it'll get canceled, like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip last year... don't get me started. Anyway, so Joel was very happy about the Firefly DVDs because they contain 3 unaired episodes.
I also got a good haul this year: some Uggs, a pair of Merrells that I've been wanting, a new coat & a 2Peas gift certificate. Oh, and a Lego Star Wars Game for the XBox 360 just for me! :) My favorites were from my in-laws though: a studio light for shooting portraits & a remote for my camera! Yeah! Can't wait to set them up to play!
It was a nice, simple Christmas, and a white one at that. God has truly blessed our family. Even though things are lean right now with our new company taking off, he still provided the money for us to comfortably purchase gifts for our family.
Christmas afternoon we headed over to our in-law's house for Christmas dinner: Roast Beast (Prime Rib) with Yorkshire pudding. YUM! We were even able to squeeze a game of Push Rummy while the kids played with their new toys. I love playing cards.
Well the kids are clamoring to play with the Moon Sand, so I'd better go clear the table...