Its the most Wonderful time of the Year....sometimes...I was determined to NOT have a stressful Christmas, to lay back and enjoy, to cut back, to be ready for Christmas by December 1 so I could enjoy the month of December...It didn't all quite work out that way!
A couple of last minute gifts I'd forgotten about...dinners to run to people...sick kids and rain and 1 vehicle...and the fact that I DID want to enjoy some time, so I DID. I didn't run to the store every night, and I didn't make 8 million batches of cookies, I didn't get pictures out to the family...
My favorite thing I did do this year was my Advent Calender for the kids. Since I was going to be ready for Christmas by December 1st, I thought it would be nice to have a fun activity planned for every night up till Christmas...great thought, fun idea...not so much in real life. I came up with 24 things to do, like 'Go for a drive and Look at Lights', 'Write Letters to Santa', 'Do a Christmas puzzle', 'Family Game Night'...and we did do some, but since I wasn't quite ready for Christmas and Life Happens, we didn't do them all...but I will try it next year because the kids REALLY liked pulling out an activity, even if it was just something little, we still got to do something fun as a family!
But, whether we got to do all my planned activities or not, Christmas still came and the kids were still excited! Christmas Eve they helped me plan a Concert for their Dad.
Here they are putting on an Airband for Dad...Brody was hilarious! Cooper was being a stink and didn't want to participate...Then they played Christmas songs on the piano, sang Christmas songs to us, and then acted out the Nativity with our puppets...They did a great job!
Then we played a couple of games together...I love this one! You wrap a present over and over and then you try to open it! Whoever gets doubles puts on the gloves and tries their hardest...it was Monopoly Jr. (Brody loves board games) and we played that too!
Then the kids got ready for Santa...when we went to Disneyland earlier in the month, they got a little checklist to get the house ready for Santa...so we went through the whole thing! They were quite funny to watch cleaning up the house, carrying their lists...checking them twice...Then it was one more story with Dad and off to bed!
2:15 came REALLY early....luckily they agreed with their Dad that it was too early and went back to bed till 8 a.m.! Bring on the presents!!
Cooper wasn't so sure, he's not much of a morning person...
Helping Dad unwrap his new putter!
New robes...Gracie has hardly taken hers off...
Its funny, you try and think of the perfect gift for your child...the one they will love to play with...Cooper's two favorite toys came from his brother and sister...We let them go to the dollar store and pick WHATEVER they wanted to give each other...They gave him a gun and a sword...or 'Piwat lite sater' as he calls it!
The kids REALLY wanted a microscope...only thing Brody asked for...Santa delivered...he thought it was pretty cool!
They got alot of games, both for the Wii and board games...they really liked this Guessing Game with the face masks...
I wasn't ready till the 24th, I still didn't get All the cards done, a couple other things didn't get finished...but it was ok. My kids told me it was "The Best Day Ever!' So apparently it was a fun Christmas for them, too!
