Christmas this year was simply magical. The gift I enjoyed the most this year was just being able to sit back and watch the Christmas magic through my children's eyes. They didn't receive a lot but they were so excited for what they did get. Anthony and Madeline woke up first and they just sat there in the living room talking about what they saw from Santa but they didn't touch the gifts or the stuff in the stockings-they just sat on the couch patiently waiting for the rest of the family to wake up. When Grant and I went out to the living room at the designated time that we said we would (7:00) we had to tell Madeline and Anthony that it was o.k. to play with the things from Santa. Spencer was a little slow to wake up and needed a little help. When he finally came out of his room, his mind was set on watching Muppets he didn't care what Santa brought and he wasn't interested in all the presents under the tree. He had a one track mind and that was Muppets. We had to do a little coaxing to get him to at least entertain us with Christmas presents. Once the first two presents were opened and he took in what was going on, Muppets went out the window and his focus was on what was under that tree for him. He loved everything as you can see by the expressions on his face, and he had to keep all of his presents gathered in a pile-it was fun to see. It didn't take long to open everything and then it was off to enjoy the new loot. We didn't have church until 2:00 so there was plenty of time to play, explore, and enjoy the new treasures. My everyone was off exploring, I snuck back to my room for a nap. Every year I procrastinate wrapping presents until midnight, mainly because I don't want to listen or deal with kids asking everyday if it is time to open presents. When the tree is empty then there is no nagging questions. However, wrapping all the presents at once is very tiring; hence why there have been a few years where the gifts weren't wrapped. I wasn't going to wrap presents this year, but Grant really wanted the presents wrapped. So Grant and I rang in Christmas wrapping presents until the wee hours of the morning. Then when we finally get to go to sleep ourselves, Grant wakes up to the evil flu bug-Merry Christmas to Grant! I think for next year I am going to wrap the presents then put them in our hiding spot (which is in Grant's car trunk) and then put the out under the tree after the kids go to bed. I am even thinking about using gift bags-quick and easy. Anyway back to Christmas. We didn't do anything fancy, we enjoyed a nice Christmas program at church, a simple stoffer lasagna dinner at home, and lots of time playing together. Christmas was simple and I think that is what made it some magical. No gimmicks, no hype; instead it was filled with time spent together as a family.
A forgotten side note: I kept up our usual treasure hunt and this year in their stocking was their first clue. Their clues led each of the kids to a pair of pajamas that I made for them. I make Christmas pajamas for everyone to wear on Christmas Eve and this year I made the kids an extra pair that I thought reflected them or that they would like. The kids really enjoyed going through the house solving the clues and finding their treasure. After the treasure hunt we opened the rest of the presents under the tree.
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