Christmas 2011

We do our family "Santa Came!" Christmas opening on the morning of the 24th. That way Kurt gets to relax and be a part of it all before he disappears for the next 24 hours at the church. There have been years where he and I were up until midnight on the 23rd assembling plastic pieces or blowing up jumpy things so all would be ready in the morning. This year, however, Myka actually asked for certain things she wanted, none of which required any assembly on our part.

The stockings were opened first, as they should be, and each were satisfied with what was included.

Myka spent most of December making things out of paper and sticking them in the stockings that were hanging by the fireplace. Here Eli is showing off his paper dolls that he has no idea what to do with. But if you look behind him into the fireplace you see how we spent our free time on the night of the 23rd. Myka had asked for a pillow pet from Santa after hearing about them from a preschool friend. Since that was the only thing she asked him for, other than mosaics which I had already gotten for her (Go Me!) and a pink bat which we convinced her would be a better birthday gift, we decided we should get the pillow pet. But rather than just set them by the fireplace we made a little scavenger hunt out of it. They ran all over the house chasing clues until they finally found them under their own beds. That Santa is a sneaky (and very quiet) guy!

Glad to see he didn't disappoint.

The other thing Santa brought was an idea I had that came from the fact that our girl loves to sing and that I wanted something equal in height to Eli's basketball hoop he would be getting. Last year Santa brought Eli a train table and a work bench while Myka got about 20o little craft activities. (Well, maybe not 200 but lets just say the money spent was at least equal, if not in her favor...) But after Christmas when people asked her what she got, she would think for a second, and then say, "Eli got a train table." And sometimes she even added that she got a flashlight. I pretty much looked like mom of the year.

So this year I was going for equal LOOKING presents rather than money spent. I found a basketball hoop for Eli at a garage sale in September for $10. That was a no brainer. It was sneaked down to the (unfinished, very open) basement and covered with a sheet. I then found the perfect microphone for Myka complete with a hookup for music and decent quality speakers. It was slightly more than $10. I was proud of myself, though, for finding them gifts that could flank either side of the fireplace and prove to them that we (and Santa) loved them both equally.

Then in November I came home from a girls overnight getaway to find the basketball hoop unveiled and obviously played with in the middle of the basement. It turns out Eli discovered his present a little prematurely and once he set his eyes on it there was no distracting him from it. I love how Kurt tells how he drug it out from behind the furnace by himself once he discovered it. He has played with it every day since.

So Myka got the "bigger" gift this year. We didn't mind since it was in her favor this time and Eli really doesn't care one bit. However, to my surprise, she seems embarrassed of her own voice at that volume and is reluctant to sing into it, while Eli belts out his own version of Twinkle Twinkle or Old MacDonald daily. Enjoy!

(p.s. - I am working on rotating the video...sorry.)