Christmas Tidbits

1. The song for our neck of the woods was "I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas." I woke at 5 a.m. to a howling wind that was knocking our winter welcome sign on the front door so loudly I thought a neighbor had come calling. The little snow that had accumulated was gone, but there was plenty of rain to take its place.

2. Joel and Sarah have given the big kids their own little Christmas trees in past years, so after breakfast they each brought the trees and blankets to the family room. The passing out of the presents included placing their gifts under their own trees. It was cute.

3. In an effort to encourage Kenna to stop backsliding in her potty training efforts, we bought her two packs of big girl underwear. She was so excited she immediately went to the bathroom and put some on. Since I had wrapped each package separately, she later went to the bathroom to change to a new pair...or so we thought. Turns out she put ALL SIX pairs of underwear on at the same time, as we found out later!

4. Charis was so excited to give the boys the gifts she had bought them--light sabers! She spent $11 of her own money in addition to the amount we had budgeted for the kids to shop for one another. I was glad to see the boys were so appreciative...not so excited to see what objects in the house they will break with their new weapons of mass destruction.

5. My gift from Ted: tickets to see Wicked when it comes to our area next spring. To help pass the time, I plan to read the book first. Can't wait!

6. Lucan was a bit nonplussed by all the extra stuff in the family room. He sat on my lap during most of the unwrapping phase, either playing with my Santa troll earrings or sucking on the ear of his new rabbit from Grandma J.


7. One of Charis's favorite gifts was a "new" pair of rollerblades! She has outgrown her roller skates and has wanted blades ever since trying them at homeschool skate day. I found these for $10. They are adjustable for sizes 2-4, so they should last Charis awhile, since she is barely a size 2 now. No, I am not ashamed to purchase used items for Christmas presents! As I told Charis, it allowed us to get additional gifts for her rather than paying $100 for a new pair of rollerblades. She heartily agreed it was a good deal. I love having a thrifty daughter!


8. Once the boys opened their Mega Blocks King Arthur ship set, we pretty much lost them for the rest of the day. Ted, too.


9. One of my favorite gifts--the picture Charis drew and watercolored for Ted and me. It's the two of us, as you can clearly see by Ted's hair!


10. I also had an "awww" moment when I read the poems Charis wrote for each of us on the back of our picture--click on the image to see a larger version of it, and you should be able to read the words.