We enjoyed a quiet Christmas day at home. Here's a shot of all our loot before the gift-openers descended. This is the first time we've had an actual fireplace where we could hang our stockings (knit by my mom--aren't they cool?).
"Santa Claus" brought that new blue bike for Gunnar. It was a really luck Craigslist find just 2 days before Christmas! Damon was planning to paint a pink Barbie bike, but that was proving complicated, and a quick search found this bike that was perfect. Maggie got the art easel on the right, Holly got some new play dishes, and Adah got a remote control helicopter.
I put Santa Claus in quotation marks because this is the year we decided to come clean with our children--all of them. For several reasons, we decided that we were no longer going to do Santa Claus in our house. When we told them, Maggie was convinced we'd ruined Christmas and forbade us to mention it anymore. However, the season still progressed and Christmas morning dawned with as much magic and with the stockings filled just the same. I think she's okay now. For me, the season was actually much less stressful because I wasn't always watching myself and distinguishing between secrets. I openly bought candy and other stocking stuffers in front of the children. They weren't in on everything, and we had just as much fun surprising and giving as any other year.
I put Santa Claus in quotation marks because this is the year we decided to come clean with our children--all of them. For several reasons, we decided that we were no longer going to do Santa Claus in our house. When we told them, Maggie was convinced we'd ruined Christmas and forbade us to mention it anymore. However, the season still progressed and Christmas morning dawned with as much magic and with the stockings filled just the same. I think she's okay now. For me, the season was actually much less stressful because I wasn't always watching myself and distinguishing between secrets. I openly bought candy and other stocking stuffers in front of the children. They weren't in on everything, and we had just as much fun surprising and giving as any other year.
What is it?
Here's the mess in the living room once all of the presents were opened and we were lounging about and playing. Maggie is reading Gunnar Click, Clack, Moo! Cows That Type. If you haven't read that book, or any of the follow-ups, I highly recommend that you do. Very funny.
I gave Damon Guitar for Dummies and a new set of guitar strings. We have a child-size acoustic guitar that he loves to goof around on, but he doesn't really know how to play. I figured if he could get into the book a little using the small guitar, we'd see if it's worth getting him a big guitar. The verdict now that it's March? He hasn't had a lot of time to learn and practice, but he's also realized he'll need a big guitar to really make any progress. It's a bit of a Catch-22, I suppose, but maybe we'll start keeping our eyes open for an inexpensive guitar.
Gunnar got a dinosaur excavation kit that was a big hit with all of the kids, and Gunnar happily let everyone participate.
They spent a long time hunched over this box, working together with the provided tools and our own paint brushes, scraping and sweeping away the rock and dust until they finally had a T-rex skeleton to put together. Just like real paleontologists!
We spent some type on Skype with my parents in Canada and my brother in Massachusetts. Mostly we just relaxed and played with our new toys and being grateful for so many blessings.
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