This has been a pretty good year. Although we had to move again we are thankful to closer to "home" and family and very thankful for gainful employment. Christmas has been a wonderful ending to the year.
I had every intention of having 3 gifts a piece for the kids this year to help us focus more on the true meaning of Christmas. I had the kids involved in the giving tree locally and we really worked on giving to those around us rather than asking for more, more, more. And I heard once that Jesus received 3 gifts so we should follow that example. Well, that is truly how it started out, but then it got a little out of control as Chris and I, and Santa, were just having so much fun with anticipation in surprising the kiddies and showing our love for them.
This little gem is made up of trinkets from the thrift store. Chris bought and created it in the last few days. A lot of love, creativity, time, thought, and energy were put into it. Richard has not been able to take his hands off of his new work bench. He has been working all day and playing with new toys on his breaks.
I fully intended to save this for Hannah's birthday because a lot of work needed to be done. I found this shelf at the thrift store and thought it would be perfect for a Barbie house. Chris had to putty some spots and sanded it for me. Then he painted it yesterday so we decided to go ahead and finish it up last night in time for Christmas. Luckily I had been shopping around to find furniture and made some bed spreads, pillows, and a bean bag chair out of scraps last night. Chris made two beds from 2x4's and we used samples of flooring from The Home Depot as the flooring. I love how it turned out, but I'm a little bummed that Hannah does not appreciate the time, creativity, and love that went into it. I think I like it more than she does.
This morning the kids were up before the sun, as is normal on Christmas. But when Santa's elves are working in the workshop past midnight then they are sluggish getting up to open presents. We did it anyway because we love these monkeys.
Grandma Kia gave them these darling animal pillows/blankets and they are really so excited. They are really soft and I want to take a nap with them. ha, ha
Richard got this cool Mater play house that he gets to color and decorate, a wall-mounted Hot Wheels track, an Air Hog helicopter, Cars Squinkies, and a Harry Potter Legos set. I think he is pretty happy about everything he got.
Hannah got a princess castle, a tea set, a kids Singer sewing machine, a tea set, and a trunk of Tinkerbell dress up clothes.
The kids also got these cool glow in the dark solar systems and digital cameras.
Richard made this great tie rack for Chris today with his new tool bench. You cannot see it but he even wrote "Tis for Dad" next to the ties. So cute!
Santa also brought us an old school Nintendo with 6 games. This is a big step for Santa because he is not in favor of video games in this house, but Mrs. Claus has a differing opinion. Needless to say, it was a big surprise and I have felt like a kid again today. We have had a nice day. I am exhausted from putting all the things together and helping the kids with their new goodies.
Thank goodness Chris took over our turkey dinner and much of the clean up. Otherwise I would have served cold cereal tonight. lol
I hope everyone had a nice Christmas this year.
Yesterday the kids and I made some goodies for Santa: sugar cookies (with cookie cutters of course), yogurt pretzels, and caramel/chocolate pretzels. Buzz snuck a pretzel off the plate and Richard nabbed a picture.
