Christmas Guest Post

*** I’m sticking with my “relax and enjoy” plan, and blogging about the holiday seemed like way too much effort. So, my quality husband volunteered to do it for me. I think he likes the less-stressed me.


We enjoyed a really great Christmas this year. Our traditional Christmas Eve festivities began earlier than we have in years past, each of us picking a different Christmas movie or Christmas special to watch and feasting on yummy finger foods. We finished up just in time to put the kids to bed at about 10:00. They were all very excited for Santa to come.


Christmas morning began at a blissful 7:30 or so. Ben had been up since 4 a.m. but he was a good rule follower, staying in his room reading the new book that Santa had left on his bed. He did admit to coming out of his room one time to go to the bathroom. Nevertheless, he was very serious about not looking at the presents by the tree, demonstrating to us how he put his hands up on one side of his face to block him from seeing in that direction.

The other kids were excited to start, so we roused Abby from sleep and went into the family room. The kids all seemed very pleased with the booty from their stockings, and the Santa gifts were all well-received. Ben got a Razor scooter like the one his sisters got for their birthdays; Emily got some Crayola drawing software for her to do cool drawings on the computer; Elise, after asking Santa for ‘Magic’, got a fun little magic kit for her to learn to do some tricks; Abby’s wish for a kitty was fulfilled in a fluffy white FurReal walking kitty.





Since Ben was pretty sure that he was getting the huge Lego Hogwarts Castle™ from Mom & Dad this year, I was fully expecting him to be champing at the bit to open it. He really surprised us by patiently waiting for all of the other presents to be opened (especially since the girls had lots more presents to open since they didn’t have any expensive items on their lists). He didn’t even ask one time about the castle, until it was the only present left under the tree. With so much going on between family games, meals, and other presents, he didn’t finish putting it together until Sunday afternoon.


Other highlights from our gift-giving and receiving: The kids’ gifts to each other were a big hit. Ben gave Elise a puppy pillow pet which she had been coveting every time we went into a store for the last month; Emily gave Ben Lego Freeing Dobby™; Elise got a Rapunzel Polly Pocket for Abby which she has carried around ever since; Abby gave Emily a cool shrink art kit. Malinda and I gave and got several things that we had purchased over the previous month (a GPS for our trip next summer, a laminator, The Complete Calvin & Hobbes (my favorite!), and a new camera to replace our 5-year-old point and shoot). The only surprise was that I found a great set of hardcover Jane Austen novels (her favorite!) for Malinda on a good deal, and she loved them. We also got a can of Flarp noise putty (courtesy of a co-worker of mine). The kids all think it is hilarious and they have each played with it a dozen times since Christmas morning.

This turned out to be a big family game year. All told, we ended up with 9 new family board/card games (Disney Scene It, Ticket to Ride, Quiddler, Five Crowns, Kerplunk, Apples to Apples, Play that Tune, Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Game, and Mouse Trap), and 3 new games for the Wii (Mario Party 8, Ultimate I Spy, and Scooby Doo First Frights). We have had lots of fun playing them over the last week. Our favorite so far is Ticket to Ride.

Since Christmas we’ve enjoyed a lot of family time, playing games, watching movies, and visiting with some extended family. I had to work Wednesday and Thursday, but Malinda took the kids out to visit their cousins for the day on Wednesday, and then Thursday night we went to Matt & Jenny’s new house for dinner with their family. So far, it’s been a fabulous Christmas vacation.