Ellie, our Elf on the Shelf, visited for the entire month of December. The day she arrived she brought cocoa fixings. She's so thoughtful!
Santa left all sorts of things for the ultimate snow fun: sleds, shovels, snow pants, gloves, snowball makers, snow brick molds, and a snowman kit. The kids were excited and couldn't wait to play with them all! And, even into February now, they're still waiting to play with them all due to the shocking lack of snow this year. Silly Santa, doesn't he know about global warming?
Here's Jack shoveling the kitchen, a much easier alternative to shoveling snow and always readily available.
Addie with her new piggy bank and a look that says, "This is almost just as cool as the Barbie carriage I've asked for for two years in a row now, but that I forget to ask for until right before Christmas." A look is worth a thousand words. Hey, with all the money she can earn and fit into that bank she'll be able to buy two Barbie carriages! It's the teach a man to fish/ teach a child to work principle. Merry Christmas! You get to buy your own presents after you work for the money!
The kids started a band with their new recorders. You can't even imagine the sweet, sweet recorder duet music pouring out of our house on Christmas morning, the kind that continues to ring in your ears long after the last note has been forcefully blown out like a screeching banshee being hurled into an echoing elevator shaft. It was simply lovely.
Addie recently went to a friend's house to hear her play the violin. On the way home I asked Addie if she would like to learn to play an instrument, too. "Yeah, I want to get really good at playing the recorder!" she announced. That's my girl.
The first present Jack opened was a pack of 20 matchbox cars from cousin Stetson. He couldn't be bothered to open anything else after that.
The few times he did put down the cars for a moment to open another present, he wouldn't stick around long enough to see what he had opened. He was very surprised, for instance, to discover that he had gotten a pirate ship a few hours after he had opened it.
Addie got an United States of America puzzle, and was awesome at putting it together. I know, this is starting to look like a really lousy Christmas for Addie. But, before you all start putting belated Christmas presents in the mail for her, let me also mention that she received an American girl doll, the complete Mercy Watson book series, and a purple unicorn scarf she had been admiring. See? We're not boring parents that ruin all the fun of getting presents!
Jason and I are either old or cold, or both. We unknowingly gave each other a bathrobe for Christmas. It turns out that we are also both old and cold enough to actually really love getting bathrobes for Christmas. Jason also surprised me with a shotgun (by giving me one, not by aiming one at me...just clarifying) and he got 3 bolo ties (because one is just never enough).
It was a fun and happy Christmas. What more could you ask for? Oh, and I saved the best for last:
The kids left out a treat for Santa on the kitchen table the night before Christmas. In the morning Addie ran in and discovered this letter from Santa. She read it aloud for us all to hear, " Merry Christmas Addie and Jack! Thanks for the treats and milk, and thanks for being so good this year! The evils and I thought that you would have the worst fun with some new snow toys.,,," Here she stopped reading and had a confused and slightly horrified look on her face. Jason and I just cracked up, and I still laugh so hard just thinking about it! It was a priceless moment that will be remembered every year, I'll make sure of it! (Come to think of it, there is some truth to her version of the letter since we haven't had any snow...)
